Nutritional Goals

Depending on your current dietary profile, the following guideline may be useful to you in pursuing successful health and fitness.

Since high levels of saturated fats (from animal products) raise blood cholesterol levels and are associated with coronary heart disease, they can be dangerous to your health.  Therefore, you should decrease saturated fat intake to less than 10% of your total daily calories, while unsaturated fats ( from plants) should comprise 10% to 15% of your total daily calories.  Thus, total fat consumption should represent only about 20% to 25% of you total daily caloric intake.

Reduce your cholesterol intake to less than 300 milligrams per day.

Increase your carbohydrate intake to 65% to 70% of your total caloric intake.  The majority of these should be complex carbohydrates (eg: pasta, rice, breads, cereals, potatoes and legumes).  Simple carbohydrates (sugars) should only account for about 15% of your total daily calories.

Maintain protein intake at 10% to 12% of your total daily calories.  This is equivalent to 0.8 to 1.0 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day.  This amount can be increased to 1.5 to 2.0 grams of protein/kg body weight per day for athletes during intense training.

Decrease salt consumption by about 50% to 80% (depending on your current intake to 3 grams per day.

Increase intake of fibre: fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

Increase your consumption of fish and skinless poultry in place of red meat.

Make a habit of eating regular meals, at least 3 average-sized meals, or 5 smaller meals per day, so that you meet but do not exceed your total daily caloric requirement.

NEVER MISS A MEAL:  SKIPPING MEALS WILL INCREASE FAT STORAGE AND WILL ALSO MAKE YOU HUNGRIER LATER ON IN THE DAY.