Healthy Eating Habits

Archive for the ‘Healthy Diets’ Category

A healthy diet is even more essential for women than men. As well as pregnancy, women have to cope with debilitating hormone irregularities which can impact adversely on both health and weight. Healthy eating won’t eliminate or cure these effects, but it often relieves symptoms. It’s worth remembering that some foods – especially fresh fruits and vegetables, contain chemicals which are believed to exercise a powerful beneficial effect on the human body.

Having a healthy diet is one of the most important things you can do to help your overall health. Along with physical activity, your diet is the key factor that affects your weight. Having a healthy weight for your height is important. Being overweight or obese increases your risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, breathing problems, arthritis, gallbladder disease, sleep apnea (breathing problems while sleeping), osteoarthritis, and some cancers.

Vitamins are organic compounds that your body needs for normal growth and health maintenance, but can’t make itself and must get from food or supplements. The way these vitamins function once ingested varies – fat-soluble vitamins like A and D tend to accumulate in the body and become toxic in large amounts, while water-soluble vitamins like C are flushed through the body on a daily basis. Minerals are inorganic substances necessary for the body to function properly.

Healthy Diet

Lean protein. The more active you are, the more protein you will need. Fresh fish, hormone-free chicken (try removing the skin to reduce the fat content), eggs, and lean meats like turkey or pork tenderloin are all good sources. Soy products can also provide protein, although some people are sensitive to soy and cannot digest it properly. The more variety you can incorporate into your diet, the better – so try and find different sources of lean protein every day.

Water – Most of us are dehydrated and don’t even know it. Fatigue, poor concentration and headaches are signs of mild dehydration. Keep bottled water in your office and filtered or bottled water at home; aim for eight glasses a day. Fizzy water is fine, too, and sure beats coffee or cola!

Nuts – A serving of nuts is 1/3 cup or a level handful for an average adult. A serving of peanut butter is two tablespoons, about the size of a golf ball.

Milk – We’ve all heard that milk products are rich sources of calcium, but did you know that they’re also loaded with protein? A glass of milk or a cup of yogurt has high-quality protein equal to an ounce of meat or cheese or to one egg. Try to choose reduced fat dairy products whenever possible. A glass of whole milk has the equivalent of two teaspoons of butter or three tablespoons of sour cream. That bit of added fat would probably be more enjoyable on a baked potato rather than hidden in your milk!

Bread, cereals, rice, pasta and noodles – grains and cereals come from a wide variety of sources including breakfast cereals (oats, muesli and wholegrain flakes), wholemeal breads and biscuits, rice, barley, corn and varieties of pasta.

Vegetables and legumes – raw or cooked vegetables can be used as a snack food or as a part of lunch and dinner. Salad vegetables can be used as a sandwich filling. Vegetable soup can make a healthy lunch. Stir-fries, vegetable patties and vegetable curries make nutritious evening meals. Try raw vegetables like carrot and celery sticks for a snack ‘on the run’.

Cultured condiments – such as fish sauce, apple vinegar, or homemade ketchup. These delicious condiments have high enzyme potential, which protects us from harmful substances in foods and facilitates absorption of vitamins and minerals.

A healthy diet for children has enough nutrients for them to grow and have energy. The nutrients children need include protein, carbohydrate, fat, vitamins, minerals, and fiber. The amount of nutrients your child needs changes as he grows. His nutrient needs also depend on the amount of physical activity he does every day. A healthy diet also limits unhealthy foods that are high in fat and sugar.

Nutrition for kids is in some ways similar to nutrition for adults. Everyone, regardless of age, needs the same types of nutrients — such as carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamins and minerals — just in different amounts. Children differ from adults in that they have periods of rapid growth and development.

Get children involved at mealtimes – younger children in particular are far more likely to eat something they’ve made themselves so let them help you cook healthy meals such as fishcakes, homemade burgers, fruit muffins, whole meal scones, smoothies and sandwiches. Meanwhile, encourage teenagers to eat with the family.

Take a look at what the whole families are eating – kids rarely have bad eating habits on their own so if your child is gaining too much weight, it’s unlikely the rest of the family is having a healthy diet. If this is the case, encourage a healthy, balanced diet for everyone.

Limit fat intake by avoiding deep-fried foods and choosing healthier cooking methods, such as broiling, grilling, roasting, and steaming. Choose low-fat or nonfat dairy products.

The foods that make up the widest part of the pyramid’s base–breads, cereals, rice and pasta–should be the biggest part of your diet, followed by several servings of fresh fruits and vegetables every day. And as you ‘climb’ up the pyramid you get to dairy products (milk, cheese, and yogurt) and meat, fish, beans, nuts and eggs. And finally, fats, oils, and sweets are at the very top of the pyramid–which means that you should eat very little of these foods!

If a snack is providing 25 percent of a child’s total calories, parents should aim for no more than 600 mg of sodium and between 10 and 15 grams of fat per snack. Sugar is tough because nutrition labels don’t distinguish between naturally occurring sugar and added sugar. You don’t want to restrict sugar from whole fruits, veggies or skim or low-fat milk. For sugar, scan the ingredient list and steer clear of snacks with high fructose corn syrup in the first few ingredients.

Infant formula is the only alternative to breast milk. Cow’s milk is not suitable as a main drink in the first year. Infant formula at reduced prices is available for babies under one year old in families on a low income. It is recommended that you breastfeed your baby for the first six months of their life, after which they will start to need more than just milk. This is the time to begin gradually introducing non-milk foods, a process called ‘weaning’.

Keep healthy food at hand. Children will eat what’s readily available. Keep fruit in a bowl on the counter, not buried in the crisper section of your fridge. And have an apple for your own snack. “Your actions scream louder than anything you will ever tell them,” says Sothern. Remember, your child can only choose foods that you stock in the house.