Our diet is the key to a healthy life and promotes wellbeing. A low-fat diet, together with regular physical exercise, helps promoting a balanced lifestyle. Every day, our body needs a balanced proportion of carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, vitamins, minerals and fibre. The Mediterranean Diet, which is a viable option to obtain those nutrients in the right amounts, is represented by the Wheel of Foods. Also known as the basis for a healthy and complete diet, this model suggests that our meals include essential components such as cereals, vegetables, fruits and other products such as fish, meat, eggs and dairy products. There are countless food combinations able to produce delicious meals, whether traditional or modern, but above all, nutritionally suitable.
Obtained from durum-wheat semolina, pastas are 100% natural and are produced with wheat semolina and water, which make them superior quality products. Quite nutritious, our pastas are enjoyed by people of all ages. When it comes to children, pasta may be the perfect embodiment of "fun food" due to the enormous variety of shapes and sizes available.
The Portuguese Association of Dietitians has created and published the Pasta Product e-book.
You can download it by clicking
download here
Moreover, today we have special pastas with fillings or ingredients intended to alter their looks and flavour. Some examples are powdered extracts from spinach, peas, tomato, beet, egg, olive, chili pepper or curry, giving the pasta typical colours and flavours. There are also other pastas enriched with fibre and beta-glucan, which are beneficial for the intestinal tract and help to control cholesterol levels, respectively.
With ageing, tooth and digestive problems become a daily concern, making this an ideal product for older people. However, pasta is enjoyed by people of all ages, not only for their looks, but also because they are a low-fat source of energy and provide additional sources of vitamins and minerals.
Pastas are part of a sportsperson's diet and play an important role in in maintaining muscular capacity. They are also a source of the vitamins B1, B2, B6, PP and E, phosphate, calcium, iron, copper, magnesium, sodium, potassium and folic acid.
A high intake of complex carbohydrates with a low glycaemic index is recommended. With high doses of this food, athletes acquire the energy they need to achieve their best performance.
Nowadays, cereals are the basis for a healthy diet to a large part of the world population. They are rich in complex carbohydrates and also naturally low in fat. As with as other foods in the Mediterranean Diet, cereals (especially wholemeal cereals) have multiple benefits due to their high nutritional value.
The World Health Organisation recommends especially wholemeal cereals for breakfast with no sugar added. Since they are not subject to the same milling processes as refined cereals, their percentages of vitamins, minerals and fibre are higher, bringing benefits in terms of prevention of some heart diseases, obesity and diabetes.
Today, it is easier than ever to have fresh bread at home, and the aroma of freshly-baked bread is hard to resist. The quality and richness of the ingredients used in flours for bread baking result in low-salt, tasty breads which allow for a healthy and balanced diet. Sweet or salty breads, simpler or more sophisticated, it all depends on your imagination. You can enjoy them as part of a snack or a light meal.
After a long period of fasting, we end up coming to a meal hungrier than usual. The solution to this problem could be to have one or two snacks between lunch and dinner so that you get the energy needed to avoid fatigue, lack of concentration, or even malaise. Cereal-based foods are a good choice! Besides being good sources of iron and calcium, they are also rich in vitamins of the B-complex.
More versatile as a snack, biscuits are ideal for the intervals between meals. As a source of carbohydrates, they can replace bread and toasts, as suggested by the Wheel of Foods. Children's snacks are a good opportunity to include biscuits in their diet.
The Portuguese Association of Dietitians has created and published the Pasta Product e-book.
You can download it by clicking
download here
Cerealis Nutrition Centre is a service that aims to promote food education. We want to help you make a decision, so that you can eat healthier and have a more balanced diet.
The main goals of our Centre are:
1. To provide access to adequate information about healthy eating habits;
2. To contribute in the adjustment process in terms of a more balanced and healthy diet;
3. To answer doubts and debunk fake myths about diet and nutrition.
Send us your doubts about food and diet to this address: Gabinete.NutricaoCerealis@cerealis.pt
We will try to answer all questions, during business days, from 9am-1pm and from 2pm-6pm.
