Hey everyone and welcome to another edition of Caribbean Fit. I know it's been a while since my last post and I hope that you all have been really enjoying the previous posts and trying to incorporate at least one thing into your daily lives. This post is going to be about making wise decisions when it comes to food, so let us jump right in!
When it comes to food we all have decisions to make. "Should I eat out today", or "should I cook", and "what should I even eat". Let's face it, sometimes making a choice about what to eat is really difficult, but this should not be, so my job today is to make your life easier, where food choices are concerned. In the Caribbean our food choices have differed from what it used to be with more fast food outlets and street food popping up on every corner, the culture of eating a home cooked meal almost every day is becoming a thing of the past. This is not necessarily a bad thing, once you have the right information to guide you in making right food choices.
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| Food Choices |
There are two terms you should think about when deciding what to put into your body. These are nutrient density vs energy density. Nutrient density is when a food contains a high amount of a particular nutrient or nutrients and most times low in calories, for example, a mango. However, energy density refers to foods that are high in calories but low in nutritional value or benefits, for example, a doughnut. So whether you are eating out or whipping up something in the kitchen these are the terms you want to consider. To help you better understand the concept of nutrient-dense vs energy-dense foods, because I don't want you guys to get the impression that only vegetables and fruits are nutrient dense, I decided to bring it to you in game form. Let's play the nutrient dense game! 😊😊😊😊 The game is simple, all you have to do is guess out of the pairs of food that will follow below, which is more nutrient dense.
1.
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| Whole Grain Bread |
VS
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| White Bread |
2.
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| Roast Pork |
VS
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| Fried Chicken |
3.
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| Almond and Chocolate Candy Bar |
VS
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| Chocolate Chip Cookie |
*Answers to the end of the post.
The bottom line is we all have decisions to make when it comes to food, and it is important that we think about the nutritional benefit to our bodies and overall health, as opposed to just fulling your stomach. You want to choose more whole grains, fruits, vegetables, lean meats, or legumes and beware of the foods that just add nothing but calories to our diet. Even if its a treat choose a variety that adds some nutritive value, like candy bars with nuts or oven fried chicken as opposed to frying in oil. So the next time you look at a menu or are making a home-cooked meal just think on these principles and let them guide you into making wiser food decisions.
Until Next time, please comment and let me know how you guys did on the game, I'm looking forward to your feedback. 💋😘😗😙😚
1. Whole grain bread vs White bread........ Whole grain the winner though it has a bit more calories than white bread it contains fibre and other nutritive benefits as opposed to the white bread.
2. Roast Pork vs Fried Chicken......... Roast Pork wins the battle because most of the fat is rendered off during the roasting process and pork is a good source of thiamin (vitamin B1) which is really important. Chicken is a good source of protein, but fried chicken is filled with saturated fats and the breading adds extra calories making it more of an energy dense food.
3. Almond and Chocolate Candy bar vs Chocolate-chip cookies.......... Both should never a be a priority in your diet as they are sugary and fatty foods, but if for some reason you had to choose, the almond candy bar is the better option. It will be a good source of protein and this bar, in particular, contains about 4g of protein 😉.
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