Australian research has found that focusing on your whole diet rather than obsessing on individual nutrients pays off in terms of obesity and blood pressure. The bad news is that you still have to stay off junk food.
According to Dr Katherine Livingstone of Deakin University, two in every three adults are overweight or obese, and one in every three adults have high blood pressure (hypertension) which is often related to being overweight or obese.
In a study of 5,000 men and women, who were scored by the healthy things they should eat like fruit and vegetables, lean meats etc and by the things they shouldn’t eat such as junk food, high fat cakes and chips. People only had a lower risk of obesity if they had both recommended intakes of the things that they should eat more of and the things that they should eat less of.
So if you’ve had great amounts of fish, fruit and vegetables, it doesn’t mean you’ve an excuse then to go out and eat a whole block of chocolate!
The key messages are to have a wide variety of foods including, plenty of vegetables, fruits, wholegrain foods, lean meat, legumes and low fat dairy products and water rather than soft drinks.