During a summer program of the Ministry of Health, a prominent clinical nutritionist advised diet-conscious people to have their meals in time and avoid taking too much food.
Amal Kenanah, clinical dietitian and director at King Saud Medical City, was interviewed recently at the ministry's Information Media and Health Awareness Center, as part of its Summer Health Awareness Program.
The ministry has been organizing a call-in program for the benefit of the public on various health issues, such as diabetes, renal and cardiac diseases, pediatrics, post and pre-natal problems and common health problems facing the people throughout the Kingdom.
During the interview, Kenanah told diet-conscious people to depend mainly on vegetables and fruits and have as little carbohydrates (rice and bread) as possible.
Besides, she underscored drinking much water and walking for not less than 30 minutes a day – a duration to be regularly increased. “People should also drink a cup of low-fat milk at least once a day and keep away from candies, sweets and chips as much as possible. People need to be less dependent on processed, manufactured and unnatural foods,” Kenanah added.
She also stressed that people should predetermine the quantity of the meal they are about to have and not exceed the required quantity. She advised people to take regular physical exercises along with a balanced diet to keep them hale and hearty in life.
In an advice to skinny people who are interested in gaining weight, Kenanah said they should have six diverse meals a day and have few candies and potatoes, especially between meals. “They should also increase their intake of carbohydrates (rice, bread, pasta,) and eat enough to attain satiation. It is also recommended for such individuals to have complementary nutrients (drugs) to help increase minerals that ignite the feeling of hunger, she noted. Besides these guidelines, she said they should drink less tea and coffee and refrain from drinking juice and soft drinks while having their meals. Consuming such drinks during meals would help them feel satiated quickly, she added.
In addition, Kenanah had received numerous tweets from people suffering from anemia who are reluctant to take iron tablets. She advised such cases to compensate the iron deficiency with consumption of fruits three times a day to absorb iron from food. She also advised these individuals to walk for 20 minutes every day to stimulate blood circulation, and eat raisins, honey, leafy vegetables (spinach, molokhia, arugula) and red meat (3 times a week), especially offal (liver, heart, kidney), and keep away from tea, coffee and soft drinks.
Answering a question about giving children full-fat or skimmed yogurt, Kenanah pointed out that it is advisable for children under two years to have full-cream yoghurt, since it is important for their growth. For older children and adults, low-fat – rather than skimmed – yoghurt would be better, since today's foods are already full of saturated fat, she indicated.
Moving on to the recommended foods in summer, Kenanah stressed the importance of having a cold salad and fruits every day, keeping away from candies, carbohydrates and ice cream, since such foods are high in calories and increase the feeling of heat.
Nutritionist advises cold salad and fruits for summer
