Nutrition November Week 3-

Week 3 Healthy changes can positively influence a balanced diet and help you achieve your weight management goal. These changes may require reading food labels, making food swaps and portion size control.

Food Labels are often displayed on the back or side of packaging. This label provides information on energy (kJ/kcal), total fat, saturated fat, carbohydrate, sugars, protein and salt. 

It may also provide additional information on certain nutrients, such as fibre. All nutrition information is provided per 100 grams and sometimes per portion. Better understanding of food labels can improve your ability to identify foods lower in calories, fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt, helping you make food swaps.

How do I know if a food is high in fat, saturated fat, sugar or salt?

There are guidelines to tell you if food is high in fat, saturated fat, salt, sugar or not.

These are:

Total fat

High: more than 17.5g of fat per 100g

Low: 3g of fat or less per 100g

Saturated fat

High: more than 5g of saturated fat per 100g

Low: 1.5g of saturated fat or less per 100g

Sugars

High: more than 22.5g of total sugar per 100g

Low: 5g of total sugars or less per 100g

Salt

High: more than 1.5g of salt per 100g (or 0.6g sodium)

Low: 0.3g of salt or less per 100g (or 0.1g sodium)

Healthy food swaps- these can help reduce calorie intake without sacrificing nutrition:

– Choose reduced-fat dairy products (e.g., skim milk, low-fat yogurt)
– Option for lower sugar alternatives (e.g., fruit instead of sweets)
– Use smaller plates to control portion sizes (Psychological)
– Increase intake of vegetables and lean proteins

Portion Sizes:

Making Healthy Swaps:
Use the Virtuagym Food App and observation of food labels to introduce healthy swaps, pay attention to how this changes your calorie intake and your macronutrient balance.