National Heart Institute Dietetics and Food Services senior manager MARY EASAW-JOHN and senior dietician FOONG PUI HING analyse the meals of three families to see if they are getting enough nutrition

FOR the Lim family, most meals have all the essential food groups.

There is a good variety of low-fat cooking methods such as stir fry, soups and grilling.

However, the Lims did not have any fruits on July 30 and Aug 2. On other days, they had only one serving of fruit per day, which is inadequate. It would be good if they could increase their fruit consumption to two servings per day to meet daily fibre requirements of 20g to 30g.

Tips to increase fibre in meals:
- Include cucumber or tomato slices or salad leaves in sandwiches;
- Add brinjals, ladies' fingers and tomatoes into fish curry;
- Include long beans, carrots or frozen mixed vegetables in fried rice;
- Include bean sprouts, cabbage, mustard or spinach in fried or soup noodles;

- Use wholemeal bread;
- When eating out, ask for extra vegetables in noodles or order at least two servings of vegetables with rice;
- Add fruits in pancakes for breakfast or in desserts; and,
- Include legumes as snacks between meals -- boiled chickpeas, red or green bean soup.

Continue to enjoy a variety of foods in balance and moderation.

For the Ganesa family, the overall diet is good. They have vegetables almost every day. However, they need to modify their cooking methods by alternating between stir-fried chicken, sambal and curry for instance.

They must not use too much oil when cooking sambal.

They have quite a bit of green leafy vegetables, which is good, but maybe they can introduce other varieties such as french beans and ladies' finger to maximise anti-oxidant content.

When they eat out at the pasar malam, which seems to be a weekly Thursday affair, they should try a different variety of food instead of buying the same items every week.

For the Ayappan family, they have sambar (dhal curry) quite often. That's fine, as long as they vary their vegetables in the sambar. They also seem to take quite a bit of fried stuff. They should try to vary their cooking methods. And they should take fruits after lunch as well.

They should limit cockles to once a month as they contain mercury. They should be able to live without cockles, really.

When they take fried instant noodles, they should not use the seasoning. They should just use fresh vegetables and stir fry it with the noodles.

For the Ganesa and Ayappan families, their protein intake comes from a limited variety -- it is either fish or chicken. They should include lean meat in their diet and items like tempe.

When cooking sambar, they should not just stick to yellow dhal. They should alternate between green peas and kacang kuda, for instance.