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Listen to this siteMonday 21 November 2005
Here is the transcript of the Eat Well 10-minute film presented by TV's Lorraine Kelly and dietitian Nigel Denby.
Music.
Lorraine Kelly
Hello there, nowadays many of us have such demanding lifestyles, with work, kids and if you're lucky, a busy social life, that we don't get much time left over to make sure that we get the nutrition and the exercise that we need. In this film, Nigel, a registered dietitian and I, with the practical help of our audience, are going to show you that the key to good health is as simple as making sure you get a good balanced diet and you keep active. We'll also be giving you a few great tips about what to watch out for on the supermarket shelves, we're going to help you stay on the road to feeling your best and being healthy. So Nigel, where do we begin with this healthy diet?
Nigel
First things first, let's base our meals on starchy foods.
Lorraine Kelly
Ah, like rice and pasta and bread?
Nigel
Yes, that's right, cereals, potatoes as well.
Lorraine Kelly
I thought though that these were considered to be a bit fattening?
Nigel
Well a lot of people think that but actually gram for gram, starchy foods have half the calories of, of fat.
Lorraine Kelly
Ah right, so it's what you're putting on.
Nigel
It's when we start adding things to starchy foods we run into problems.
Lorraine Kelly
Oh so that, if you put lots of butter in bread.
Nigel
Exactly.
Lorraine Kelly
Ah.
Nigel
Sauces on pasta.
Lorraine Kelly
Right.
Nigel
Another good tip is to try and include more wholegrain foods as well into your, into your diet and the best place to start with those is with your breads and your cereals.
Lorraine Kelly
I see, as oppose to sort of refined white varieties, just try to get more of this.
Nigel
That's right, yeah, the whole grains are gonna give you much more fibre and they�re also gonna keep you feeling fuller for longer.
Lorraine Kelly
Of course and then also keep you regular.
Nigel
Absolutely.
Lorraine Kelly
I think we should move swiftly on don't you.
Nigel
I think so.
Lorraine Kelly
I think we should, now for some reason, I don't know whether it's a throwback to school, but if you mention fruit and vegetables, you can almost hear people groaning can't you?
Nigel
You can and yeah, I think it goes back to school dinners, soggy cabbage, overcooked carrots, all those kind of memories.
Lorraine Kelly
Now I wonder, does anybody here know how many portions of fruit and vegetables we're supposed to have a day? What do you think?
Woman
Five.
Man
Five.
Woman
About five.
Lorraine Kelly
About five, the message is getting across.
Nigel
It is.
Lorraine Kelly
So when we're doing that, what are the benefits?
Nigel
Well there is good evidence to show that people who eat plenty of fruit and vegetables have got a much, much lower risk of developing diseases like heart disease and some cancers.
Lorraine Kelly
But you know for some people, five portions, that's a bit of a mountain to climb isn't it?
Nigel
It can seem like it.
Lorraine Kelly
Yeah.
Nigel
But let me show you how easy it is, chuck me over those raisins will you.
Lorraine Kelly
Okay.
Nigel
And a banana.
Lorraine Kelly
Yep.
Nigel
Let's start with breakfast then.
Lorraine Kelly
Yep.
Nigel
And I'm gonna put dried fruit on my cereal and there's one portion.
Lorraine Kelly
Oh so that's one already?
Nigel
Yep, that's it.
Lorraine Kelly
Oh that's good.
Nigel
Peel a banana.
Lorraine Kelly
Right.
Nigel
And simply just chop it up and that gives us two.
Lorraine Kelly
That's really good.
Nigel
Now fruit and vegetables, they can come in dried, canned, fresh, frozen, even juice, add a glass of fruit juice, on your way out the door in the morning, maybe grab an apple, then at lunchtime have a side salad with your lunch, if you can't manage the side salad though, no worries, just when you get home at night, open a bag of frozen veg and have a portion with your tea and there's your five portions done.
Lorraine Kelly
Easy peasy, of course it's very important you mustn't forget breakfast, don't skip it.
Nigel
Never, never skip breakfast, a lot of people do, thinking that that might help keep them slim but actually it works in the reverse, you'll probably end up making up for it on snacks later on throughout the day.
Lorraine Kelly
Mmm, and you don't want to do that, so the big tip, eat your breakfast.
Nigel
Eat your breakfast, yep, it'll give you energy and it'll give you lots of extra vitamins and minerals.
Lorraine Kelly
Exactly, okay now I know that a lot of people have trouble with our next tip that we're talking about, I mean I, I love eating fish but a lot of people don't.
Nigel
That's right, but fish really is an important part of the diet.
Lorraine Kelly
What's so good about fish then?
Nigel
Well it's a really great source of protein and it's also full of essential vitamins and minerals so it kind of speaks for itself I think.
Lorraine Kelly
It does, now I tell you what, who here doesn't eat fish? Who doesn't eat fish? You don't, why not?
Woman
It's, it's boring and fiddly.
Lorraine Kelly
Boring and fiddly and do you like fish, do you like the taste?
Woman
It's, it's alright, yeah.
Lorraine Kelly
It's alright.
Woman
It's just boring.
Lorraine Kelly
Okay, boring, boring and fiddly.
Nigel
Boring, I'll show you boring, what could be boring about this, look, I've got –
Lorraine Kelly
Ooh, lovely.
Nigel
– a lovely turbot and salmon kebab.
Lorraine Kelly
Mmm.
Nigel
I've got a beautiful tuna salad and if you're really pushed for time, I've got good old fashioned sardines on toast, now wouldn't you fancy trying some of that?
Lorraine Kelly
Okay, so they all look fantastic, how much fish though should we actually be eating do you think?
Nigel
We really need to look for about two portions a week and if we can, try and make one of them an oily fish.
Lorraine Kelly
Well right what's the difference then?
Nigel
Well the white fish, things like cod erm, haddock, plaice are, are low in fat, the oily fish, that's things like salmon, herring, mackerel, sardines, they're full of vitamins and minerals but they're really good rich sources of those omega 3's, they're the fatty acids that really help look after the heart.
Lorraine Kelly
Exactly, so there's lots of advice and some special advice on fish for children and some women, take a look at the website, eatwell.gov.uk to find out more. Now, fat, this can be very confusing because there's so many different types isn't there?
Nigel
Can be but it doesn't need to be, so let's keep it simple and just talk about two types, that's saturated fat and unsaturated fat.
Lorraine Kelly
Right, and what's the difference?
Nigel
Well saturated fats tend to come from animal sources so that's things like sausages, meat, cheese and butter er, they can also raise blood cholesterol levels, which in turn can lead to heart disease.
Lorraine Kelly
Mmm, mmm, we don't want that.
Nigel
We don't, but as you can see, saturated fat, this is a really good way to see what it's like, it goes hard at room temperature. Now these types of saturated fats, they're also found in biscuits, cakes and pastries.
Lorraine Kelly
Exactly so, what about the other kind?
Nigel
The unsaturated fats, they come from vegetables, nuts and seeds like rapeseed oil, corn oil and olive oil, you can also find them in oily fish, they can help lower blood cholesterol and they tend to be liquid at room temperature.
Lorraine Kelly
Ah, so what you want to do is eat less of the saturated fats, things that we find in cakes, in biscuits, in pies and all of that and just get a nice healthy balance?
Nigel
That's right, with healthy eating of course it's a balancing act, so we try not to have too much fat in general.
Lorraine Kelly
Right.
Nigel
Best thing to do is look where you can replace saturated fats with unsaturated fats and of course the best place to see that is on the label.
Lorraine Kelly
Exactly, so it's a balanced diet and you should always check these labels. Now does anybody here drink fizzy drinks?
Woman
Yeah.
Man
Yeah.
Lorraine Kelly
Right okay, that's not good for your teeth.
Nigel
Well no, I think they all know about dental health and sugar but it's also not just in drinks, it's also in food, too much sugar in the diet really can just make it difficult to get that overall balance we're looking for in a healthy diet.
Lorraine Kelly
Sure, so how do we find out how much sugar's in the food we're eating?
Nigel
What do you think?
Lorraine Kelly
Check the labels, I would guess.
Nigel
Yep, but when it comes to sugar erm, you might find it's, it's got some different names, you're obviously looking for sugar but you might also see fructose, glucose, corn syrup and a really good tip here is see how far any of those words come up in the list of ingredients –
Lorraine Kelly
Oh I see, so the higher up the list of ingredients, the more sugar there's likely to be –
Nigel
That's it.
Lorraine Kelly
� in that product, right okay. We talked about sugar, what about salt because we�ve heard so much about the health implications of having too much salt in the diet?
Nigel
Well like a lot of foods, we actually do need salt, it's when we have too much that we start running into problems, too much salt in the diet can lead to raised blood pressure which in turn can lead to heart disease and strokes.
Lorraine Kelly
So how much is too much?
Nigel
Well adults should have no more than six grams a day.
Lorraine Kelly
You'd never sprinkle that much on your food though would you?
Nigel
You're right and that's where the problem is, a lot of the salt in our diet actually comes from foods we buy, let me show you. Now look, these are fairly typical sausages and in each sausage, you've got over half a gram of salt so let's imagine you were gonna have them for your tea, you could probably get through three of those and there you are, you're already on the way to nearly a third of your six grams a day.
Lorraine Kelly
It's not just the sausages though is it?
Nigel
No, most of the salt in our diet comes from processed foods so let's have another look at our evening meal, we've got our sausages, let's add some baked beans, some bacon, a couple of slices of toast and in just that meal alone, we've already got our six grams.
Lorraine Kelly
So how much salt do you think the average person is eating in a day?
Nigel
We think around about nine and a half grams a day.
Lorraine Kelly
But we're not saying don't eat this, we're not saying don't eat the beans.
Nigel
Not at all no, what we are saying is when you look at your labels, compare one product with another and always choose the one with the least amount of salt.
Lorraine Kelly
Well that makes perfect sense doesn't it, again check your labels, that's the thing to do.
Nigel
Absolutely.
Lorraine Kelly
So, I�m eating more fruit and vegetables.
Nigel
Yeah.
Lorraine Kelly
I've cut down on my saturated fat, I'm cutting down on my salt intake, that's me, happy days.
Nigel
You're nearly there but there's one more thing I want you to think about to get that perfect healthy balanced lifestyle and diet.
Lorraine Kelly
I know what you're gonna say, exercise, I've got to join a gym haven't I?
Nigel
No, I'm not talking about exercise, I'm just talking about getting active.
Lorraine Kelly
Right, so it doesn't mean I have to slog it out on a treadmill or anything like that?
Nigel
Some people love the gym and that's great but if it's not for you, the chances are you'd throw yourself in there, overdo it in a couple of weeks and then just give it up and that's no good at all.
Lorraine Kelly
So the advice is really just to get moving.
Nigel
That's right, yeah, just get active, you might choose to use the stairs, you might walk to the shops, get off the bus a stop earlier, any of those things that just gets you moving and gets you active.
Lorraine Kelly
I guess the best exercise is really something that you enjoy doing?
Nigel
Perfect, something you enjoy, something you can fit into your routine and ideally you're looking for about thirty minutes most days of the week.
Lorraine Kelly
Take the dog out for a walk should you be lucky enough to have one.
Nigel
Absolutely.
Lorraine Kelly
That's what I do I must admit.
Nigel
Take someone else's.
Lorraine Kelly
Well being physically active is a vital part of a healthy lifestyle and one of the best ways to help you maintain a healthy weight. If you want to know more, go to eatwell.gov.uk, my thanks to Nigel and of course to you for watching, eat well and be well.
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