FBDG 6

Eat a handful of nuts or oily seeds daily

Everyone needs moderate amounts of fat in the diet.

• The daily requirement of unsaturated fat can be met by the consumption of cashew nuts, peanuts, kottang, pumpkin seeds, gingelly (sesame), and avocado.
• Eating a handful (on average 30g) of nuts and oily seeds is helpful to achieve the required amounts of monounsaturated fats and are healthier options of fat.
• Scraped coconut, coconut milk, and oil are commonly used in the Sri Lankan diet.
• An average family of five can use;

                 – milk from one medium size coconut or

                – scraped and pounded coconut from half of a medium-size coconut and,

               – 1-3 servings (one serving equal to 1 teaspoon or 5ml/g) of coconut oil per day.

• Coconut and coconut milk can be added to food to increase the energy density of the diets of children, adolescents, pregnant and lactating mothers.
• Scraped coconut is preferred over coconut milk and oil as it has fibre.
• Though coconut oil mainly contains unhealthy saturated fatty acids, the risk of formation of trans fat is less. Therefore, it is more suitable for deep frying.