Salad days: what’s life like following the new calorie guidelines?

Public Health England’s new calorie guidelines – 400kcal for breakfast, 600kcal each for lunch and dinner – put me right off my 474kcal bowl of muesli this morning. Especially when I found out I could have had a butter croissant, which has a mere 309kcal.

Dr Frankie Phillips, a dietician and spokeswoman for the British Dietetic Association, cautions against going too far down this road. “Having some guidance is useful, but calorie content isn’t the whole story – you could easily stay within the limits and have a lot of crisps, chocolates and fizzy drinks, and miss out on essential nutrients. We need to make sure those aren’t empty calories.”

She recommends filling up with high-fibre foods and making sure that vegetables are a key player, “not just a condiment”. As someone who regularly eats as much leafy green stuff and roasted veg as I can physically fit in on a fast day as part of the 5:2 diet, I can confirm vegetables do indeed fill you up surprisingly well.

Investing in smaller plates will also help those struggling with serving sizes: one survey found they cut calorie intake by as much as 9%, simply by making portions look bigger.



Source: theguardian

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