There is masses of dietary advice about. Finding the right advice can be something of a jungle. So you may find a simple rule of thumb useful - the Y plate.
An invisible Y
600 g fruit and vegetables a day is good for your health. In the course of a day, it can often be difficult to estimate the quantity of meat, vegetables and cereal products that you eat at mealtimes. The Y plate is a model that can help you make an estimate.
The Y plate makes it easier for you to eat more healthily. Imagine a Y when piling food up on to your plate. If you eat according to the Y plate, it is also easier to have a varied diet.
- 1/5 meat, poultry, fish, eggs, cheese and gravy/sauce.
- 2/5 bread, potatoes, rice or pasta.
- 2/5 vegetables (preferably two different types) or fruit.
Hot food
The Y can also help you when piling hot food on to your plate. Hot meals typically consist of three parts: vegetables, potatoes (rice, pasta or bread) and meat or fish. Whether a meal is healthy or not depends on the balance between the three parts. If you use this system, there is also a greater chance of a healthy balance between nutrients.
The size of portions is still important. If you take an ordinary medium-sized plate, you will generally get a suitable amount of food. Remember the Y, too, if you pile on second helpings. If you want to lose weight, forget second helpings or take more vegetables instead of the bread, potatoes, rice or pasta.
Stews make it harder to imagine the individual parts because the meat and vegetables are mixed. So a good tip is to take twice as many vegetables, rice, potatoes and bread as meat or fish. For example, take four spoonfuls of rice to two spoonfuls of chilli con carne and preferably vegetables as well.
Tips and tricks for stewards
The steward is an important player when it comes to the right balance on the plate. When the galley is busy, it can be difficult to find the time to prepare lots of vegetables. So it is better to buy in pre-sliced vegetables, root vegetables and deep frozen vegetables rather than not see them on the buffet. There are also many more products that the vegetables industry has developed especially for commercial kitchens.
Here are a couple of tips for how to introduce more vegetables in food:
- Always serve two or more kinds of vegetables with meat or fish.
- Mix vegetables in with rice and pasta, and put root vegetables in with mashed potato.
- Put more vegetables in favourites such as goulash.
- Place a bowl of mixed salad or other vegetables alongside the hot food - for those who do not visit the salad bar
- Find inspiration in Asian or Mediterranean cookery. They use masses of vegetables there.
- Serve baked root vegetables as hot side dishes - or marinate them for the salad bar.
- Use lots of cabbage; steamed, raw, marinated or in low-fat sauces.
Put a bowl of mixed salad or other vegetables that go with the day’s specials alongside the hot food - for those who do not visit the salad bar.
11/08/10