Snapshot of Men’s Health Risks & Nutritional Needs
When it comes to giving general healthy eating advice, it is the same for men and women: eat plenty of fruit and vegetables, wholegrain carbohydrates, lean protein and some healthy fats.
There are however, some nutritional needs that differ with gender.
Men’s Nutritional Needs
Because men are generally of a larger stature and have more muscle mass than women, they may have higher energy and protein requirements. In other words, men may need to eat more food.
But, this does not mean men need to eat double what a women eats. Unless you are an 6 ft 5 extremely active athlete, you probably only need an extra serving of:
- grainy carbohydrates (e.g. one slice of bread or an extra half a cup of pasta or rice)
- protein (e.g. chicken breast the size of your palm).
- vegetables – the more the better when it comes to veggies for everyone!
There are also other differences between males and females that men should be weary of, such as some higher health risks men have.
Men’s Health risks
Currently in Australia:
More Men are obese than women.
75% of men are obese or overweight compared to 60% of women.
Men have a higher risk of developing cancer.
1 in 2 men will develop cancer compared to 1 in 3 women.
Men have a higher prevalence of heart disease.
5.4% men have heart disease compared to 4.2% women.
There are lifestyle factors which can reduce these health risks:
- Eating plenty of healthy food and minimal processed/junk food and beverages
- Exercising regularly
- No smoking
- Limiting alcohol
- Managing stress levels
Men’s Healthy Eating tips:
When it comes to healthy eating our tops tips are to:
- Increase fruit and vegetables.
- Try to reduce red meat and include more veggie based meals.
- Eat lots of fibre from wholegrain breads, pasta, cereals and legumes.
- Include more healthy fats like those from nuts and seeds.
- Reduce packaged processed foods and takeaways.
Check out this week’s healthy recipe full of flavoursome noodles and packed with fibre!
Stir-fry Tofu & Soba Noodles
Serves: 4 Time: 25mins Cost: $17.30 approx. ($4.30/serve)
Ingredients:
- 270g pack of soba noodles
- 500g firm tofu
- 300g mushrooms
- 1 bunch of Asian greens (Chinese broccoli, wombok etc.)
- 1 red capsicum
- 2 TBSP olive oil
- Salt & pepper
Stir-fry sauce:
- 1 red chilli
- 1 TBSP crushed garlic (2-3 large garlic cloves)
- 1 TBSP grated ginger (or ginger paste)
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup vegetable stock
- 1 TBSP honey
Method:
- Boil saucepan of water, add noodles, cook for 3 mins.
- Prepare vege: Slice mushrooms, capsicum and greens, put aside.
- Prepare sauce: Finely dice chilli, crush garlic cloves. Whisk together chilli, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, vegetable stock, and honey. Put aside.
- Drain noodles once they are cooked. Put aside.
- Chop tofu into bite size cubes, pat dry with paper towel, sprinkle over pinch of salt and pepper and mix through.
- Heat 1 TBSP olive oil in Wok or pan, add tofu, stir-fry for 5 mins or until golden, remove from pan and put aside.
- Add another TBSP of oil to the wok, add mushrooms, capsicums and Asian greens, stir-fry for 5 mins.
- Add sauce, mix through noodles (you may need to run water through them to separate them if they have clumped together), add tofu and cook for 1-2mins until mixed together
Serve!
References:
https://canceraustralia.gov.au/about-us/news/mens-health-week-men-more-likely-develop-and-die-cancer
