I hope everyone has a good weekend planned ahead. I certaintly do
But first... plans for this evening. Usually on a Friday night me and my family have pasta with a delicious homemade italian sauce and parmesan cheese. YUM! However, as we are going out for an italian at Marco pierre whites resturant tomorrow we thought we would have something different this evening.Many of you say your takeaway nights are Friday and/or Saturday nights as it seems to be a treat at the end of the week or it is down to takeaways being more convenient. Last week in the healthy weight programme I work on, the nutrition workshop topic was snacking, fast food and processed food. This got me thinking about this country and how many takeaway places there are and how popular, easy and convenient it is for many to just get food in rather than prepare and cook fresh food.
So, hopefully for those of you that are takeaway lovers I can begin to change some of your thoughts towards this type of foods or encourage you to make better choices when ordering either in a restaurant or a take out.
Common take away foods tend to be, chinese, indian, Mcdonalds, KFC, pizza, fish, chicken and chips. All of these takeaways contain high levels of sugar, fat and salt! – all of factors we should be aiming to control in our daily diet.
Salt content: 1.7grams = the amount of salt needed by the body to function each day, however the maximum recommended daily amount of salt for adults is 6g.
SALT SHOCKERS!!:
a KFC box meal contains 11.5g of salt in just one meal!!
Big mac meal at McDonalds with a milkshake and ketchup contains 8.1g of salt.
FAT SHOCKERS:
Chinese takeaway – sweet and sour chicken, egg fried rice, prawn toast and prawn crackers contains 114g of fat!
Indian takeaway – chicken korma, pilau rice, naan bread, poppadum, onion bhaji and mango chutney contains 108g of fat! A naan bread alone contains up to 500 calories. Shocking hey?
The KFC box meal contains 92g of fat!
SUGAR SHOCKERS:
Mcdonalds big mac meal contains 94g of sugar in just the one meal – the majority of people also have a sugary drink with this meal too. That is an extreme amount of sugar.
KFC box meal contains 78g of sugar! Again that is a lot of sugar for just one meal.
So, this concludes that all takeaway foods contain high amounts of sugar, fat and salt and we should be limiting these types of food in our daily diets.
Advice for eating out of ordering in?:
When ordering an indian:
• Try a tikka for main – lean chicken in yoghurt and spices, this makes an excellent choice. But don’t mistake chicken tikka with masala. Masala means cream in hindi and that means ‘fat’ in any language.
• Tandoori dishes – Tandoori means cooked in a tandoor, a traditional clay oven that heats up to 500 degrees, so no oil is necessary. If available, try tandoori fish – its delicious and comes in at under 500 calories.
• Go veggie – most Indian vegetable dishes are a better choice than heavy, meaty ones. Lentils and chickpeas add protein and mushrooms, spinach and tomatoes will maximise nutrients. Stay clear of creamy sauces though!
• Say NO to NAAN! – the average naan has 540 calories and a whopping 20g of fat, so don’t have a whole one to yourself. Or choose a chapatti, minus the ghee and you’ll get around 110 calories, much less than a naan.
Tips for lowering fat and calories when you order food from a Chinese take-out restaurant:
• Order more vegetable dishes or dishes that have a high proportion of vegetables, such as Beef with Broccoli.
• Order steamed rice. Filling up on steamed rice will mean you eat less of the other dishes. Another reason to eat rice is that it is a complex carbohydrate. Besides being low in calories, complex carbohydrates boost the metabolism.
Don't...
• Order fried rice. The eggs in fried rice mean a high cholesterol count.
• Order dishes with heavy sauces.
• Avoid crispy, battered or deep fried foods
• Swap for plan boiled rice, stir fried chicken, vegetables or fish, steamed dumplings and vegetables, soups and chop suey
• Or opt for thai versions which are much healthier such as steamed noodles, fish dishes
Fish/chicken and chips:
• Choose thicker chips as these are healthier and less fat than thin chips, but ask for a small portion with no added salt!
• Choose cod, haddock or place and peel off the batter.
• Ask for mushy peas
• Avoid the cheap or free sugary drinks that may come with your meal
• Avoid putting on sauce in the shop such as ketchup and mayo, use the light options if you must have sauce
Burger and Kebabs:
• Chicken shish kebab with pitta and salad and no added sauces is a good choice for a kebab
• Grilled lean meat burgers with salad are a better option than cheese burgers with mayo etc
So, next time you order one of these takeaways or go to a resturant, have a good think about these facts and shockers and see if this changes what you order and how much you actually consume. This is your health we are talking about here and it is important to limit these types of foods that contain high levels of salt, fat and sugar!!
Remember, our meals want to be a range of different foods and colours. Our plates should look like a rainbow with all the different colours of foods as this way you are guaranteed to get all the nutrients you need to be consuming on a daily basis.
Bare this in mind and have a go at the rainbow challenge. Good Luck.
It would be great to hear your comments so go to the contact us page if you have any questions or comments
Have a good weekend!!
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