Miss Uganda - Healthy Eating

Pageantry and fashion has always been related to strict diets and Anorexia. Anorexia nervosa, also known as simply Anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by refusal to maintain a healthy body weight and an obsessive fear of gaining weight. A beauty contest is a competition not only based on the physical attributes of the contestants but also though talent, personality and question responses which are also judged.

Most models and beauty queens suffer from some form of eating disorder for luck of proper information and guidance. Ideally, beauty contestants should be healthy role models.

The new Miss Uganda organization is making efforts to change this perception and has partnered with Afdal Restaurant to emphasis health eating habits using the Miss Uganda 2011 – 2012 as specimens.

The Miss Uganda partnership with Afdal Restaurant was motivated by the fact that Afdal’s mother company SEFA ORGANICS has a wealth of years in research and development of products for a health body most of which revolve around food and nutrition among others.

We belong to the school of thought that, Healthy eating is not about strict nutrition philosophies, staying unrealistically thin, or depriving yourself of the foods you love. Rather, it’s about feeling great, having more energy, and keeping yourself as healthy as possible– all of which can be achieved by learning some nutrition basics and using them in a way that works for you. Afdal Restaurant the official Miss Uganda catering team developed this balanced yet health menu.

Miss Uganda 2011 - 2012 Residential Camp Menu

Click Menu - Thumbnail above to magnifiy

Planning a Healthy Diet and Sticking to it

Healthy eating begins with learning how to “eat smart”—it’s not just what you eat, but how you eat. Your food choices can reduce your risk of illnesses such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, as well as defend against depression. Additionally, learning the habits of healthy eating can boost your energy, sharpen your memory and stabilize your mood. You can expand your range of healthy food choices and learn how to plan ahead to create and maintain a satisfying, healthy diet.

How do you adapt general food guidelines to your individual eating needs and habits? Share your tools, tactics, and your own ideas of what the food pyramid looks like for you in the comments

The food pyramid was designed to offer an easy-to-understand look at healthy eating, but for the average person it's too simplistic, vague, and sometimes way off. Here's how food pyramids work and how you can actually use them in your day-to-day eating.

How to Use the Food Pyramid

The biggest fault of any food pyramid, like any set of diet and health guidelines, is that everybody is different, and encounters different eating experiences throughout their day. There are enough similarities to make some general recommendations, but acting on any of those recommendations without factoring in your own specific needs is not the best course of action. Here's how to take the information you find in a food pyramid (preferably the rebuilt pyramid previously mentioned) and actually use it for better eating.

Focus on Simple Foods

You don't have to take up a macrobiotic diet to do real tracking of your intake, but when you're considering what you eat, you should still consider its parts, rather than the whole.

Food pyramids break up macronutrients into more specific categories. Problem is, you don't necessarily eat a whole zucchini as part of your meal. Take a turkey sandwich, for example. Eating one of those could end up giving you a serving of protein (the turkey), a serving of dairy (a piece of cheese), and a serving (or more) of carbohydrates (the bread), but it also varies if you're swapping contents and toppings in and out.

If you're cooking, try to stay on top of everything that goes into that particular dish. It'll help you know the impact on your body once you eat it, but it'll also help you understand what can be added or subtracted to make the meal healthier. While you don't necessarily want to give up cooking, uncooked and unprocessed whole foods can make a great contribution to a healthier diet.

Factor In Your Problems

In theory we digest and process food in the same ways, but a lot of us have allergies and dietary restrictions. Whether your restrictions are voluntary or not, you probably have to substitute a normal item you find on the food group pyramid for something else. It's important to remember that substitutes can have a major difference in nutritional value and to know what those differences are.

Let's take lactose intolerance and milk as an example. If you're replacing milk, your most obvious choices are soy milk and rice milk. Rice milk has significantly higher levels of carbohydrates than regular milk and soy milk often has a lot of sugar added (not always the case, but it's always worth checking first). If you don't eat meat and are looking at substitutes, many of them have a very high sodium content that you wouldn't find in actual meat. This isn't necessarily worse, just different. It's important to be aware of the differences in substitutions and not assume you're getting the exact same nutrients you'll find in the item it was designed to replace.

Healthy Eating Tips

Healthy eating tip 1: Set yourself up for success

To set yourself up for success, think about planning a healthy diet as a number of small, manageable steps rather than one big drastic change. If you approach the changes gradually and with commitment, you will have a healthy diet sooner than you think.

Water. Water helps flush our systems of waste products and toxins. It’s common to mistake thirst for hunger, so staying well hydrated will also help you make healthier food choices.

Exercise. Find something active that you like to do and add it to your day, just like you would add healthy greens. The benefits of lifelong exercise are abundant and regular exercise may even motivate you to make healthy food choices a habit.

Healthy eating tip 2: Moderation is key

People often think of healthy eating as an all or nothing proposition, but a key foundation for any healthy diet is moderation. Despite what certain fad diets would have you believe, we all need a balance of carbohydrates, protein, fat, fiber, vitamins, and minerals to sustain a healthy body.

Try not to think of certain foods as “off-limits.” When you ban certain foods or food groups, it is natural to want those foods more, and then feel like a failure if you give in to temptation. If you are drawn towards sweet, salty, or unhealthy foods, start by reducing portion sizes and not eating them as often. Later you may find yourself craving them less or thinking of them as only occasional indulgences.

Healthy eating tip 3: It's not just what you eat, it's how you eat

Healthy eating is about more than the food on your plate—it is also about how you think about food. Healthy eating habits can be learned and it is important to slow down and think about food as nourishment rather than just something to gulp down in between meetings or on the way back from shopping.

Listen to your body. Ask yourself if you are really hungry, or have a glass of water to see if you are thirsty instead of hungry. During a meal, stop eating before you feel full. It actually takes a few minutes for your brain to tell your body that it has had enough food, so eat slowly.

Healthy eating tip 4: Fill up on colorful fruits and vegetables

Fruits and vegetables are the foundation of a healthy diet—they are low in calories and nutrient dense, which means they are packed with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fiber.

Fruits and vegetables should be part of every meal and your first choice for a snack—aim for a minimum of five portions each day. The antioxidants and other nutrients in fruits and vegetables help protect against certain types of cancer and other diseases.

Greens: Greens are packed with calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, zinc, vitamins A, C, E and K, and they help strengthen the blood and respiratory systems.

Sweet vegetables: Naturally sweet vegetables add healthy sweetness to your meals and reduce your cravings for other sweets. Some examples of sweet vegetables are corn, carrots, beets, sweet potatoes or yams, winter squash, and onions.

Fruit: A wide variety of fruit is also vital to a healthy diet. Fruit provides fiber, vitamins and antioxidants. Berries are cancer-fighting, apples provide fiber, oranges and mangos offer vitamin C, and so on.