You need a small amount of fat in your diet but too much of it, particularly saturated fats can increase cholesterol. This can raise the risk of heart disease, also too much fat in the diet can increase your risk of obesity.
Try to replace saturated fats with unsaturated fats
| Saturated fat-examples of some food sources | Unsaturated fat-examples of some food sources |
| Fatty Meat | Rapeseed oil |
| Lard | Avocado |
| Palm oil | Nuts |
| Coconut oil | Seeds |
| Ghee | Oily Fish |
| Cheese | Sunflower oil |
| Ice cream | Olive oil |
| Butter | Sesame oil |
Click on the button below to find our more about fats
Watch this video about saturated fat
Sugar
Having too much sugar can contribute to weight gain and tooth decay. The type of sugars we are consuming too much of are referred to as free sugars. This includes sugar that has been added to foods/drinks, syrups, honey, unsweetened fruit and vegetable juice/smoothies. It does not include the sugar found in milk and its derivatives, or fruit and vegetables which are intact.
Free sugars can be added in foods such as chocolates, sweets, cakes and biscuits. They can also be found in some fizzy and juice drinks.
The guidelines for the maximum amount of free sugars from 11 years onwards is 30g (7 sugar cubes per day)
Salt
Our body needs salt to function properly, it plays a major role in functions such as transporting water in the body. However, when we have too much salt in our diet it can lead to health problems such as high blood pressure and water retention.
Many foods we eat are not obviously salty, as the salt has already been added. Examples include some crisps, salted nuts, ready-made meals and sauces.
The maximum guideline for the amount of salt for those aged 11+ is 6g per day:
This is about a teaspoon as shown by this image
Try some of the suggested salt swaps below.
Tasks
- Make 2 snack swaps which are lower in sugar and salt
- Instead of having a ready-made pizza try out this wholemeal pizza recipe
