AFFORDABLE HEALTHY LIFESTYLE
The ongoing Economic crisis in Greece is taking the toll on the Greek household. Specially, the middle and the lower classes are profoundly affected and left shorthanded while planning and setting their priorities due to meager income. The questions like what food will be on the table for a dinner? Can I afford to buy a given amount of food item and save money for other priorities? Do I have economically sound choice to buy healthier food items while fulfilling my calorie need? Is healthy lifestyle cheap at all? -are raised when someone budgets their income. Even if these questions seem important to someone who wants to have a healthy lifestyle, we see that middle and lower class society tend to have unhealthy dietary habits and suffer from chronic diseases and generally have lower quality of life. So, we try to give information to this group about affordable healthy lifestyle. By the time they finish reading this brochure, we expect that the readers will have at least understood the choices they have and that some will be more motivated to change their lifestyle. Wossenseged N.B Jemberie Department of Dietetics & Nutrition Science Harokopio University Intern Student
2012
Cereals and their products are important source of nutrients such as iron, magnesium, selenium, B vitamins and dietary fiber. While refined grain is a poorer source of these nutrients, whole grains are important source. Furthermore, the dietary fibers from whole grains give the feeling of satiation and also prevent constipation. Researches If you have a child who show that people who consume whole grain have goes to school, you have lower risk of being exposed to cardiovascular big responsibility to teach them about healthier disease, obesity and type 2 diabetes. So, when lifestyle, to prepare balanced you buy flour, bread, cereals and other grain lunchbox, to offer fruits and products ask for whole grain product. Nuts and seeds are also important source of dietary fiber. They are also calorie dense foods, and thus can substitute meat and animal fat. If it is possible, roasting nuts and seeds at home may reduce the salt added to them and is cheaper. If it is not possible to prepare them at hom, you can choose unsalted nuts and seeds from the vendor.
whole grain products as snack than to give them pocket money to buy themselves whatever snack they want to buy, to limit the time they spend infront of tv, and to be a role model for them.
What benefits does eating vegetables and fruits give me? Vegetables and fruits are nutrient-dense food items. They provide us vitamins and minerals which are otherwise difficult to be obtained from other food items. Moreover, researches show that they reduce the risk of many chronic diseases like cardiovascular diseases. By consuming vegetables and fruits, you can also prevent some type of cancers.
Meat, specially red meat like beef, mutton and pork are fat-laden. If it is processed meat, it contains a very high amount of salt and chemical preservatives. Since these meat products are high in fat content, i.e, calorie dense, they may satiate your hunger. However, they can increase the risk of obesity, heart diseases, hypertension and cancer. The Cretan people, before 1960, consumed red meat less frequently than any other food item (in monthly basis), and substituted it with legumes, cheese, yoghurt, seafoods and starchy vegetables. They suffered less from heart diseases and lived longer. Legumes like black eyed beans and lentils are very rich in proteins.The fat from the meat and butter can be substituted by olive and linseed oil, which do not have as arteriosclerotic effect as the fat from meat and its product.
As mentioned in the previous page, fruits and vegetables consumption reduces different types of disease risks. Even if they have higher price per calorie, they are much cheaper than meat if we consider their price per kilogram. The calorie density can be increased by consuming legumes, whole grains, starchy vegetables cheese and yoghurt which are still cheaper than meat. When seasonal items are bought from street markets, specially after 1:00 pm, significant price reduction is observed in these perishable foods. When you buy red meat, choose lean cut and do not consume more than one serving in 2 weeks. Prefer poultry, egg, milk and cheese. Consume seafood at least once in a week. Avoid frozen, processed and canned products. Legumes such as beans, peas, lentils and chickpeas are also important source of protein.
Alcoholic beverages are second to fat in their calorie density. Anybody who wants to maintain a healthy lifestyle must limit their daily alcohol intake. If you do not drink at all, do not start! Even if a moderate intake of alcohol [1-2 glass of dry wine] is shown preventing heart diseases, it is known that alcohol affects our health drastically. A continuous higher consumption of alcohol increases the risk of osteoporosis, ulcer, cirrhosis and liver cancer.It is addictive, economically unsound and leads its abuser to be a social pariah.
Beverages like soft drinks, energy and sport drinks, coffee, milk and fruit based drinks and juices are all dense in calorie. They contain much added sugars that they are risk factors for obesity, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and other diseases. At any given time if you want to consume a beverage, prefer the light product, but better if you don’t any.
Milk-a much more nutrient dense food item- is cheaper, with a price tag around â‚ 1.20/L for the light or whole milk. While milk is rich in calcium and other nutrients researches also show that intake of milk and milk products is related to lower cardiovascular and type 2 diabetes disease risk and with lower blood pressure in adults.
Fast foods and ordered foods might seem practical if someone is in a hurry or tired. These food items seem cheaper choice for those who do not have the opportunity to sit and dine in a restaurant which serves quality foods. But it must be known that if you cook them at home, you will understand that cooking at home is much more cheaper. With the money that buys you one souvlaki, you are able to purchase the ingredients for two souvlakis. Besides, cooking at your home provides you a chance to eat fresh food, to take control of your lifestyle, to reduce the risk factors for chronic diseases like saturated & trans fats, salt, added sugar and refined grain, to spend more time with your family privately, to save more money and to have fun. Delivery food is not fast at all.It takes 25 to 50 minutes to reach your home, roughly the same measure of time which takes to prepare a casserole or grilled food. When you start from easy recipes, it will be an enjoyable process as you learn a more sophisticated recipe.
Sedentary lifestyle increases the risk of heart disease and its factors, and type 2 diabetes.When you increase your physical activity, you reduce this risk and avoid both high amount of healthcare cost and premature mortality. If you have bicycle, avoid using public transport system and ride to whereyou want to go. If you do not have one and your destination is a few stations away from the bus stop you are at, stride to there. You will probably save your time, will be â‚ 1.20 richer and maintain an affordable healthy lifestyle. Generally, walk for at least 30 minutes per day and 5 days in a week or 150 minutes per week to get Smoking is very dangerous substantial health benefit. for your health. It leads to
diseases affecting the heart and lungs. It is a risk factor many types of respiratory organ cancers. It burdens the smoker economically. If you smoke, quit!