According to Wikipedia, a healthy diet is one that helps maintain or improve health. People go about having a diet for many reasons but most of the time they engage into it to in order to lose weight. Perhaps at any part of the world, people may have in one way or another, has heard about diet but what is often missed out are the word healthy and balanced. To understand more about a healthy balanced diet, here are some of the important pointers that everyone needs to know.
Why is a healthy balanced diet important?
Having a healthy balanced diet is very essential in order to keep away from chronic health risks. These health risks happen to be very serious diseases such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, cancer and most of the time heart diseases. There is nothing wrong with sticking to a diet but what is important is understanding what a healthy balanced diet really means and it actually include consumption of proper amounts of all the essential nutrients combined with right amounts of water.
Remember that you are what you eat so if you eat healthy, your mind and body is healthy as well. Apart from staying in the right weight, you also keep yourself from having health problems and this is not only about diseases but other issues as well such as poor growth, development and physical and mental health, infections and in worst cases it could eventually lead to death. Even if you are on a diet, it is important that your nutritional requirements are met so this means consuming the right amounts of the various food groups. When you are on a healthy balanced diet, you get the advantage of being able to sleep properly.
Consuming inappropriate amounts of food such as eating high levels of artificial sugar (ex.: candy) can cause not being able to fall asleep while high consumption of really oily foods can cause a lead to difficulty waking-up in the morning. But if you are on a healthy diet, you will be able to sleep right and wake-up more rested. And the most important reason why having a healthy balanced diet is needed is to improve the quality of life. When you have energy and you are low on stress and healthy, you are able to accomplish more things and lesser expenses on medical bills thus having a better life.
What does a healthy balanced diet consist of?
When we say balanced, it is important that we stress out the need of consumption of different kinds of food groups ranging from vegetables to fruits and meat. Dieting does not mean staying away from a particular food group but it means consumption of each kind at appropriate amounts. Basically, there are five main food groups in which a healthy diet should consist of.
Fruits and Vegetables
Whether it’s fresh, frozen or packed, all fruits and vegetables should be welcomed into your diet. They are the perfect sources of vitamins and minerals and even fiber and what’s great is that they are low in fat and calories.
Foods rich in fiber and contains starch
Foods that contain starch especially those high in fiber should be mainly part of your meals and these kinds of food are bread, rice, noodles, pasta, potatoes and cereals.
Milk and dairy products
Dairy products including milk and other foods such as yogurt and cheese are good sources of calcium, vitamins, minerals and protein. 2-3 servings a day are ideally the right amounts of intake. Just a little precaution on overly eating this food group because they tend to be high in saturated fat so go for the low-fat versions if you can.
Different types of meat as well as nuts and beans
Meat comes in different kinds ranging from pork to chicken and fish. If you eat fish, it is ideal that you eat it 1-2 times a week most especially if its sardines, salmon and mackerel which contain healthy oils. Even red meat is healthy if eaten in right amounts and are of lean cuts as it is a good source of vitamin B12 and iron. To complete this food group are peas, beans and nuts.
Fat and Sugar
You may be surprised that this food group is actually included. As mentioned earlier, a healthy balanced diet is simply eating all kinds of food BUT at right proportions. This is where the “tasty” food is found such as ice-cream, cakes, sweets and crisps. They are indeed tasty because they are high in fat and calories. There’s no problem eating them but not all the time and should be taken in small servings. A little tip is if you are out to buy products part of this group such as dressings and mayonnaise, go for the low-fat rather than the fat-free.
Everyone can get into a healthy balanced diet. The trick here is to actually know and understand the different food groups and what kinds of nutrients they give off. Remember, it’s not about removing foods in your meal, it’s about balance and proportion making it a healthy balanced diet.
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