Cooking from the Heart

A healthy diet includes plenty of vegetables, fruit and high-fibre starchy foods, and is low in fat (especially saturated fat), salt and sugar. Take the quiz on the next page to see how healthily you and your family are eating. Your results will show whether you need to improve your eating habits. If you ticked “No” for any of the questions, your and/or your family’s diet can be improved. The more “No” answers you ticked, the more unhealthy your diet is and the higher your risk of chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer. You need to think about changing your diet to improve your overall health. You can make a start by following the healthy eating guidelines (pages 4-13) in this book and by preparing some of the delicious recipes.

If you ticked “Yes” for some questions, you are making good progress, but you can still benefit by making more changes to your eating habits. If you ticked “Yes” every time – well done! You are well on your way to preventing chronic diseases because you are choosing healthier options and avoiding the unhealthy foods eaten by many South Africans. Carry on reading to learn more about healthy eating and why it is important for you and your family …