THIS DIET COULD CHANGE YOUR LIFE

Make one major change to what you eat to boost your health and live longer. Are you ready?

Breakfast: Toast, eggs and a russian sausage

Lunch: Cheeseburger and chips Dinner: Chicken curry and rice. You’ve probably heard the latest diet mantras: cut out meat and all animal-derived products and stay away from dairy – practically everything mentioned above. Or eat foods high in fats and cut out carbs. But, if cutting out what’s a typical diet for nearly all of us, we might as well stop eating altogether. Right?

Not exactly. It’s worth keeping in mind that these seemingly harmless meals are sending millions of South African parents to an early grave and placing children on a one-way track to obesity. It’s no secret that foods like fried potato chips, amagwinya and chocolate are unhealthy and should be eaten in limited quantities. They pile on the kilos and play a role in diseases like high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.

But snacking on fried food is not our main problem. We’re actually eating too much meat. Yes, that’s right. But before you get upset, consider that the ‘inyama’ we consume is so processed, it bears little resemblance to the original animal source.

According to the Healthy Living Alliance (HEALA), there’s a direct link between the excessive consumption of foods high in salt, sugar and saturated fat; and illness. From iFrench to viennas to fish fingers and burger patties, much of the meat we eat contains salt, sugar and saturated fat. Then, given that we include meat in at least two meals a day, we’re making a bad health situation worse.

KNOW WHAT YOU’RE EATING

So, to help people make informed decisions about their consumption, HEALA started the #WhatsInMyFood campaign. It aims to raise awareness and encourage dialogue about the harmful contents of unhealthy food and beverages.

Sbongile Nkosi, health advocate and former executive director at HEALA, believes manufacturers have a responsibility to label

goods honestly, and consumers have a responsibility to read those labels. “The availability of unhealthy food, combined with aggressive marketing and advertising and incomprehensible food labels, makes it difficult for consumers to make healthy food choices. We want everyone to begin to examine the contents of their food, and to cut down on foods high in sugar, salt and saturated fat.” For many of us, food isn’t just about sustenance; it’s also about a story. Every meal choice is imbued with context and for the post-democracy generation, our choice is to celebrate access and success. Registered dietitian and author of Eat Ting: Lose Weight, Gain Health and Find Yourself, Mpho Tshukudu, explains that many of us carry psychological scars from less affluent times.

“The black middle class has risen rapidly. This means there are considerable numbers of relatively affluent and successful South Africans who’ve experienced childhood poverty. Many such people are averse to staples they associated with during that time and will go out of their way to avoid such ‘poverty foods’. Cupboards and fridges are packed with chips, cool drinks, viennas and other treats that symbolise wealth and plenty.” Such choices mean we’re eating to try correct the past, but in doing so we’re sabotaging the future and our chances of a long healthy life. Instead, we should recognise where we come from, and eat in a way that celebrates success while fostering future health.

BRING BACK SOME OF THE PAST

Breakfast: Porridge Lunch: Cheese and tomato sandwich

Dinner: Rice, spinach, tomato and onion gravy, with one piece of umleqwa. Three decades ago, this would likely have been the typical food intake of a working professional such as a teacher or nurse.

Meat was a treat; perhaps twice a week when finances were good. Going without it for days on end was normal. Nowadays, meat is so readily available and the finances for it so appreciated that it’s become not just a feature, but the star on every plate.

We need to rethink our plates, and blend in some culinary practices from the past into our modern kitchens to boost health. We need to eat less meat and more plants.

HOW TO EAT LESS MEAT There are many ways to do this, such as following a pescatarian, vegetarian or plant-based diet. Chef Mokgadi Itsweng has cut out red meat, game, pork and dairy from her diet; rather filling her plate only with plant-based foods, sustainably sourced fish and organic chicken. Having attended the EAT-Lancet Commission Report in Rome in 2019, Itsweng is a champion of a diet recommended by this institution. It recommends a diet rich in plant-based foods with fewer animal sources of protein. A typical meal consists of 95% plants and 5% meat.

Eating like this can lead to improved health benefits. Itsweng says she’s seeing the payoff. “I’ve more energy and my digestive system is more regular. I used to suffer from allergies and would have breakouts at least once a month, but I haven’t had any since adopting a more plant-based diet.”

Embracing a plant-based diet requires changing how you cook and think about meals. Instead of identifying the meat that holds the meal together, think about how to accommodate as many vegetables as possible. These can be all in one pot, like a stew, stir-fry or in the samp; or they can be a rainbow of options on a plate.

Eating less meat is viable; even for our beloved Sunday lunch! Itsweng makes a meatless Seven Colours feast that pleases the body and the palate. “My Sunday lunches include pumpkin and beetroot leaves cooked in a peanut sauce, roasted butternut, chakalaka made with beans, carrots, green beans, red cabbage, chilli and herbs; cauliflower steak, roasted beetroot and herb salad. Everyone always leaves happy and blown away by how delicious everything is. No-one ever misses the meat.”