The library subscribes to these pay-for sites that you can search for information
Better Diet
Switching to an improved diet is consistently one of the top resolutions made around the world each new year, but not many of us manage to stick to eating a healthier range of foods for very long. All the experts agree that making small changes to your diet over a longer period of time will give you a much greater chance of success than hitting 1 January and attempting a radical new diet.
So, where do you start? Firstly, do you really need to change your eating habits? What foods would you instinctively choose if you had just 90 seconds in the supermarket.
OK, so like the rest of us, there’s room for improvement. So what next? The basics for a better diet sound pretty simple more fresh fruit and vegetables, more fibre, less fat, sugar and salt and enough protein and nutrients to keep you healthy. Nothing difficult there, but it’s not always easy to change the habits of a lifetime. Check out our tips on simple changes you can make to your diet.
So what can help you stick to your new plan? Writing it down can apparently help, as can having a ‘support’ person or team (family or friends) keeping an eye on you. Internet-based diet support is also becoming an increasingly popular way of keeping on top of your eating programme. Many sites charge, but there are one or two useful free services such as mypyramidtracker.gov and fitday.com.
Better Diet - simple changes you can make
- For breakfast, choose natural, low-fat and low-sugar cereals (unsweetened muesli, whole-wheat cereals etc) with trim or soy milk instead of toast or cereal bars.
- Take some fruit with you wherever you go for when you feel hungry.
- Eat less food more regularly all through the day so your body can digest it evenly rather than coping with a major meal once or twice a day.
- Less isn’t always more. Feeling full is an essential part of successfully changing your diet, so make sure you still fill up but on healthier things.
- Buy fewer takeaways and processed, pre-packaged foods as they tend to be loaded in fat, sugar and salt.
- Watch out for low-fat foods which substitute more sugar and salt for less fat in order to maintain taste.
- and remember it’s ok to treat yourself once in a while but choose carefully.
We recommend: Better Diet resources
Christchurch City Libraries has lots of books to take home and plan your better diet. See a full list of our resources on:
Diet improving your diet and losing weight
Nutrition making sure you give your body what it needs
Diet therapy eating plans and recipes to improve your heath
We also recommend the following web sites
A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition- Published by Oxford University Press, 1995.
Electronic Resource from Oxford Reference Online.
Access this with your library card number and PIN, or at our libraries. - Food and Fitness: A Dictionary of Diet and Exercise
- Published by Oxford University Press, 1997.
Electronic Resource from Oxford Reference Online.
Access this with your library card number and PIN, or at our libraries. - Food and Nutrition @ Oxford Reference Online
- A collection of reference books covering Food and Nutrition.
Access this with your library card number and PIN, or at our libraries. - Nutrition @ Te Puna Web Directory
- Links to New Zealand organisations and information.
- Agencies for Nutrition Action
- Tool for people who work in the promotion of nutrition and physical activity in New Zealand.
- BBC Healthy Living
- Nutrition, fitness, weight, health at work, travel health and alternative medicine information from the BBC, an informative and easy to use site.
- Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition
- Food and nutrition information from the US Food & Drug Administration
- Choice Food for Kids
- Australian site which reviews food products to help parents choose healthier food for their children.
- Consumer Information - New Zealand Food Safety Authority
- Information for consumers all about food safety, from the chemicals in everyday food through to information on product recall and foodborne illnesses.
- Everybody: Nutrition & Weight
- Written for New Zealanders, Everybody provides fact-sheets/ overviews on a variety of health topics. Articles are written by medical writers and reviewed by consumer health organisations and health professionals.
- Family Doctor: Nutrition
- Written by New Zealand health professionals, Family Doctor contains patient's guides, overviews and links for a wide range of health topics.
- Feeding Our Futures
- Site dedicated to helping parents and caregivers achieve healthy diets for kids. Has simple, practical and low-cost ideas for getting children to eat well.From Ministry of Health.
- FOE : Fight the Obesity Epidemic
- GE Free Food Guide
- Your guide to avoiding genetically engineered food.
- IPCS INCHEM
- IPCS INCHEM Chemical Safety Information is a collaborative venture of the ILO, UNEP and the WHO. It is a means of rapid access to internationally peer reviewed information on chemicals commonly used throughout the world, which may also occur as contaminants in the environment and food. It consolidates information from a number of intergovernmental organizations whose goal it is to assist in the sound management of chemicals.
- Manufactured Food Database (MFD)
- Lists additive free foods, compiled by Nutrition Services, Auckland Hospital from information voluntarily supplied by New Zealand Food Manufacturers.
- Mayo Clinic Food and Nutrition Center
- Nutrition news in the headlines, healthy versions of recipes, and articles about food and cooking.
- Medem: Fitness and Nutrition
- Medem provides useful consumer information on a variety of health conditions and treatments. The information is produced by various American medical societies.
- MEDLINEplus: Diet and Nutrition
- Extensive information from the National Institutes of Health (USA), contains a medical encyclopaedia, dictionaries, news, overviews, information on specific conditions and links to other organisations.
- MEDLINEplus: Food Allergy
- Extensive information from the National Institutes of Health (USA), contains a medical encyclopaedia, dictionaries, news, overviews, information on specific conditions and links to other organisations.
- New Zealand Dietetic Association (NZDA)
- The national professional body of the dietetic profession, currently representing over 450 dietitians and associated professionals practising in related areas of nutritional care, health and disease throughout New Zealand.
- New Zealand Food Composition Data
- The database allows you to view what a particular food is composed of. New Zealand foods are well represented.
- Nutrient Data Laboratory
- Nutrition
- Information from Community Public Health
- Nutrition Foundation
- A non-profit organisation working pro-actively in the nutrition field alongside the food industry, Ministry of Health, other health promotion agencies, schools and the media.
- Nutrition Panel Calculator (NPC)
- Has been developed to provide food manufacturers with the ability to readily calculate the average nutrient content of their food products and to prepare a nutrition information panel as required under Standard 1.2.8 - Nutrition Information Requirements, of the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code. From Food Standards Australia New Zealand
- The Nutrition Source
- Carbs or calories? Fiber or fat? Finally, a source you can trust for information on healthy eating. The Harvard School of Public Health has amassed easy-to-digest information on such matters as food pyramids, exercise, calcium, interpreting the mass media, alcohol and type 2 diabetes. The articles are all straightforward and grounded in real science rather than hype, and technical terms are hyper-linked for maximum comprehension.
- USDA Nutrient Database
- If you need to know what a particular food is composed of then enter a keyword and see your favorite food items broken down into their various minerals, vitamins, amino acids and so on.
