Need More Protein and Sugar and Cut Down on Sodium

Hi

Firstly the sugar amount is the MAXIMUM you can have, you do not (and really should not) try to meet this amount (this is the same as with fats, you should not aim to meet the fat target as it is also a maximum). However, it might be worth knowing that the website doesn't distinguish between the sugars which are a natural part of fruits and the sugars which are added to foods. For example, I ate a banana and an apple yesterday and exceeded my sugar intake according to the website, but as I ate no added sugars and didn't exceed my overall calorie aim it's not a problem. I hope that makes sense.

In terms of protein, easy sources are meat and fish (if you eat it), soya products (like tempeh and tofu), eggs, and pulses such as lentils and beans. You should try to have a portion of one of these protein containing foods with each meal.

Sodium is basically part of salt and salt is often high in processed foods. Things like bread, salted/cured meats (like bacon and salami), tofu that has been marinated, miso, soy sauce, most other sauces and condiments, stock cubes and other packet flavourings, foods containing monosodium glutamate, canned foods that are in salted water (like canned tuna and sometimes canned beans and vegetables). If you are eating processed foods try and check the packaging if it lists sodium or salt: it is high if it contains 1.5g salt (0.6g sodium) per 100g of food, it is low if it contains 0.3g salt (o.1g sodium).

Too much sodium is linked to high blood pressure and the resultant heart disease and stroke risk so it's really important to keep the amount we eat as low as possible.

Hope this helps.