Healthy Eating

A Healthy Diet Helps Maintain and Improve our Overall Health

Healthy diet

A healthy diet helps to maintain and improves our overall health, improves performance and safeguards against a range of conditions. However, increased production of processed foods and changing lifestyles have led to a shift in dietary patterns. The basic principles of what constitutes a healthy diet by the World Health Organisation are:

  • A varied diet to include fruit, vegetables, legumes (lentils and beans), nuts and whole grains. 

  • At least 400g (five portions) of fruit and vegetables per day.

  • Less than 10% of total energy intake (ideally 5%) from free sugars - equivalent to 50g for a person of healthy body weight consuming about 2000 calories per day. Free sugars are all sugars added to foods or drinks, as well as sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices and fruit juice concentrates.

  • Less than 30% of total energy intake from fats. Unsaturated fats (in fish, avocado and nuts, and in sunflower, soybean, canola and olive oils) are preferable to saturated fats (in fatty meat, butter, palm and coconut oils, cream, cheese) and trans-fats of all kinds (in baked and fried foods, pre-packed snacks and foods, such as frozen pizza, pies, cookies, biscuits, wafers, and cooking oils and spreads).

  • Intake of saturated fats should be reduced to less than 10% of total energy intake and trans-fats to less than 1% of total energy intake. Trans-fats are not part of a healthy diet and should be avoided.

  • Less than 5g of iodized salt (about one teaspoon) per day.  

Nutritionist Kate McDaid’s (@Nutrikate) performance nutrition presentation to Club Minors and U16s.

Tips for eating well as well as meal ideas and suggestions for managing snacks and treats are available at Eating Well (www.gov.ie).

Safefood also has a range of nutritious, simple meals at 101 Square Meals interactive recipe ebook (safefood.net).

GAA Recipes for Success - This booklet is filled with tasty, healthy, performance enhancing recipes that are easy to make and aims to support GAA players and members in making the right choices.

 For further details, or to get involved with healthy eating activities at Clontarf GAA, contact Roisin McCaffrey on roisin.mccaffrey@hotmail.com