Healthy eating A to Z

Healthy eating terms explained Do you know your monounsaturated fats from your polyunsaturated? Your omegas from your antioxidants? If you are confused by food terminology we\'re here to help with a healthy eating A to Z, we\'ve selected the most frequently used food and diet terms associated with healthy eating to help you to clean up your diet. Alcohol - we all know what this is! \'Alcohol\' is the term used to refer to ethanol and contains a whopping 7 calories per gram! Amino acids - there are 20 different types of amino acid, eight of which are \'essential\' - that is, the body cannot make these, so they must be found in the diet. Antioxidants- these are the good guys, protecting against free radical damage by giving up one of their own electrons, stabilising the free radical and making it less reactive. BMI - a mathematical calculation used to determine whether or not a person\'s bodyweight is suitably healthy for their height. BMI = weight in kg/height in m2. A healthy BMI is considered to be between 18.5 and 25. However, BMI can be unreliable because it measures only weight, not fat. Weight in itself is not always a good indicator of a person\'s health, for example muscle weighs more than fat, so most athletes are deemed as overweight using the BMI; this does not however mean that they are unhealthy. Calorie - a measurement of energy. It refers to the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree celsius. Food calories are measured by combustion, that is, how much heat is released when a foodstuff burns. Carbohydrate - compounds of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. In dietary terms, there are two kinds - complex carbohydrates and sugar. Carbohydrates contain around 4 calories per gram.Cholesterol - this is an essential fat that your body uses for many biological processes. However, in excess, it can be harmful. It is made mostly in the liver from saturated fat, and circulates in the bloodstream. There is more than one kind of cholesterol. Complex carbohydrate - this is a term used to describe larger packages (or molecules) of carbohydrate. There are two kinds - starch and fibre. Starch is found in pasta, rice, potatoes and bread and fibre is explained below. Essential fatty acids - these are fatty acids that the body is incapable of making on its own, and so must take from the diet. There are two - alpha linolenic acid (an omega-3) and linoleic acid (an omega-6) and they are both polyunsaturated. Fats - fats are made up of fatty acids attached to a glycerol backbone. If there are double bonds between any carbon atoms in a fatty acid, it is said to be unsaturated. Fats and oils are the same, except that oils are liquid at room temperature. Examples include butter, cooking oil and lard. Many fats are hidden, for example, in cream and pastry. Fats are required for padding, insulation, nerve function, production of hormones and transport of vitamins. Fat contains 9 calories per gram. Fibre - there are two kinds of fibre, soluble and insoluble. Soluble fibre is found in fruits, vegetables, oats and pulses and helps lower cholesterol and balance blood sugar. Insoluble fibre is \'roughage\' - also found in the above and in bran and other wholegrains. Insoluble fibre aids digestion and can help prevent bowel problems including cancer.