Dressing up your fishcakes

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Hot cross buns and fishcakes Good Friday just wouldn’t be Good Friday without them, but are they a healthy choice?

Local dietitians tell me every year that the key is not to overindulge and to be mindful of the condiments that you add to them.

Watch the high sodium content of ketchup, especially if you are stressed or hypertensive. One teaspoon of ketchup has 63 milligrams of sodium and one tablespoon a whopping 190 milligrams.

That means if you slather a tablespoon of ketchup on each of three fish cakes you’ve eaten a quarter teaspoon of salt, and that’s just the sodium from the ketchup! (Bear in mind that most fishcakes are made from salted cod, and can have a fairly high sodium content.)

If you prefer mayonnaise or tartar sauce, remember that they are high in fat.

Fat accumulates in the lining of your arteries and can lead to myriad health problems including, hypertension, heart disease and stroke.

Of course no one wants to bother to think about these things on the holiday. We all want to enjoy ourselves.

So my advice is to think about it now and make the decision today to go easy with the add-ons on Good Friday, not only for you, but for your entire family and friends.

Body & Soul tip buy salt-free ketchup or even better, use tomato purée and also cut down the sugar content.

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