Healthy Eating Tips
December 14, 2009 by admin
Filed under Healthy Eating
Healthy eating is eating the appropriate balance of foods and nutrients in your diet. The key to eating healthy is not to stop yourself from eating the foods you like but rather balancing what you eat with a combination of healthy foods.
There are five food groups you should be concentrating on. Fruits and vegetables should make up one third of your daily diet. You should be eating at least five portions of fruits and vegtables each day. There has been research shown that these foods will protect against cancer, obesity and heart disease.
Bread, rice, potatoes and pasta should also make up about a third of your diet. You want foods in this category that are unrefined because foods that are refined contain all of the whole grain.
Milk and dairy foods need to be eaten in moderation because they are highly saturated in fat but at the same time they are a rich source of calcium which of course helps your teeth and bones. It is best to choose foods that are low-fat or reduced-fat.
Meat, fish, eggs and bean contain both animal and plant sources of protein which is a major necessity for the cells in your body. Protein proved the body between 10-15% of its energy and is needed for growth in children and teens. Fats, oils and sweets are foods that need to be eaten in very small moderation.
Eating an maintaining a balanced diet includes basing your meal on starchy foods like potatoes or pasta, eat lots of fresh fruit and vegetable, eat more fish and seafood, lower your intake of saturated fats and sugar, eat less salt and foods rich in sodium, do not skip breakfast which is the most important meal of the day, drink plenty of water and exercise at least 20 minutes a day five days a week.
When it comes to portion size, less is better. In today’s world, it seems everything in the grocery store is getting larger in portion. They have king size candy bars, family size bags of chips and super size ready to eat meals. Energy density is the amount stored energy in food. Just one gram of fat provides nine calories so it does not take long for the calories to add up.
Healthy eating may not always be fun but it is necessary for our bodies to run more smoothly and if we are healthy, we have more energy to do our everyday things in life.