POLOKWANE – Eating right and healthy continues to be one of the biggest challenges people face on a daily basis, however, dietician Lydia Magagane-Sehlapelo invited Review into her office to speak on portion control to help keep to healthy eating habits.

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“In my years of practicing as a dietician, I get a lot of patients who come looking for assistance on how to eat healthy and keep the right portion when it comes to their eating habits. It’s not very difficult nor expensive to keep healthy and eat right, this is what I always tell my clients,” she explained.

She gave Review a few tips and advised on how to eat right and maintain a healthy lifestyle

• Ensure that your plate of food has got all the foods needed by your body such as proteins, fats and starch.
• You can have a palm sized portion of protein (these include meat, fish, eggs, chicken). “Anything larger than your palm size is too much and should be avoided,” she said.
• Thumb size of fats. “To get just the right amount of food for a thumb size of good natural healthy fats, one can snack on nuts such as almonds, peacan nuts or even spreading some natural healthy butter on a slice of bread.”
• A fist of starch is key on your plate. Starch includes pap, rice or even mashed potatoes with your proteins.
• A fistful of fruits is also vital for everyday intake of the right food. “However, if you are having fresh whole fruits through out the day, one can just have two different fruits as they are,” she added on.
• Vegetables are the only food that one does not need to measure as they are beneficial for the body and mind, says Magagane.

For a little treat one can have a palm sized healthy dessert such as yogurt or even fruits.

“Remember to drink as much water as you can, as water is also essential for a healthy eating diet,” she concluded.

Reporter29@nmgroup.co.za