healthy eating

Benefits of healthy diet.

A healthy diet helps you to reduce your risk of some cancers, stroke, heart disease and helps you to keep a healthy weight.
Food has a few different types of nutrients, such as: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals.
Another important element of our diet is fibre. Fibre isn’t classed as a nutrient, but fibre can help to control our blood cholesterol levels. In a healthy diet there are many different food groups: starchy foods, milk and dairy products, protein foods, fruit and vegetables, foods high in fat and sugar.
It is very important to get the right balance between all these groups.
Starchy foods, such as: bread, pasta, rice and potatoes are very important, because they give energy for our body. Starchy foods help to control our appetite and for a long time we feel full. Milk and dairy products, for example: cheese and yoghurts, are very important in our diet, because they have vitamins and calcium which is important for healthy teeth. Some dairy foods, for example: butter and cream, are high in fat, so we shouldn’t eat big portions of these products. Other protein foods, such as: meat, fish, eggs and beans are important in a healthy diet, because protein gives energy and repairs our body. We should eat two portions of fish a week, one of which should be oily. Oily fish (omega 3) can help prevent heart disease. Fruit and vegetables have many nutrients, vitamins, minerals and fibre. Fruits are good snacks between meals. They are low in calories and naturally low in fat. We should eat five portions of fruit and vegetables each day. Everybody has bad habits, especially when it comes to eating, for example: eating on the run, eating large portions, using food to relieve stress, skipping meals and late night eating.
All of these can make you fat and generally unhealthy. If you haven’t enough time to prepare meals or sit down to eat. If you eating in the car or going through a fast food-drive it can become part of your eating habits. If you are eating fast food, you eat more fat and calories without the necessary nutrition. Many people use food to relive stress. After a long and hard day, we like eat something sweet or drink beer or glass of wine. When feeling stressed out, eat some fruits or vegetables or better, find ways to relax yourself like talking with friends or reading books. Another bad eating habit is eating late at night. If you feel hungry it may be better to drink a glass of water, but do not eat snacks like chocolate or ice-cream. In a healthy diet we need some fat. We shouldn’t have too much saturated fat such as: butter, cream and cakes. Unsaturated fats are better, such as: sunflower oil or olive oil. Sugary foods and drinks are high in calories and sugar is bad for our teeth. The last bad eating habit is eating too large meals. Many people eat more food than the body needs. Some people more when they are watching TV or feeling lonely. We must control portion sizes and think how much food will be enough. Many people eat larger meals, because they don’t eat regularly and the skip breakfast or lunch.
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so don’t skip it, especially if you are trying to lose weight.
It is very important to eat meals regularly, about 3-4 times a day and eat small portions. The key to a healthy balanced diet is not to omit any foods or food groups, but to balance what you eat by consuming a variety of foods from each food group in the right proportions for good health. More information and advice about how to put healthy eating into practice and how to change our eating habits can be found in websites: www.bupa.co.uk and www.3fatchicks.com .