Healthy Diet Plan - How to eat a balanced diet
A healthy diet plan will not only help you eat a more balanced diet, but it will help you live a long and healthy life. The idea behind this, is that the two biggest determining factors in helping an individual increase the liklihood that they'll will reach a grand old age, is to keep active and to eat the aforementioned balanced diet. First of all, to be able to grasp the concepts discussed within this healthy eating article, we first need to understand what constitutes a healthy diet. Many people - chiefly through the media - have had their ideas of a balanced diet distorted somewhat by contradicting reports. Many people ask the question. Does a healthy diet plan have to consist of a life without crisps, chocolates and sweets to be considered as balanced? Or does it mean you have to eat your own body weight in vegetables, fruit and brown rice every month? Well, when it comes to a healthy diet, we need to cut through the media led myths surrounding foods and remember that no particular food is good or bad. As with anything in life, a balance is made by making sure one factor doesn't considerably outweigh another. Therefore eating the odd bar of chocolate or bag of chips, every so often, will not do you much damage, as long as the rest of your diet is healthy. If you're devising a healthy eating plan, then you need to bear in mind the following information in order to strike the right balance. Food can be divided into the following 5 groups, with a weighting added to each in order to ensure the balance we are searching for is reached. N.B. - The weighting is just for guidence, because as you can appreciate, the rigours of life will make it extremely difficult to stick to them religiously - but where possible keep the weightings in mind in order to maintain a balanced diet. Fruit and Vegetables (Weighting 35%) - The individual foods within this group need little explaining. The usual suspects are contained here, such as apples, oranges, bananas, peas, cauliflower etc. However it is worth noting, that for the purpose of this article potatoes are classed a starchy food product, so are omitted from this category. Bread, Rice, Pasta and Potatoes (Weighting 35%) - This particular group include other starchy produce, such as tubers, legumes, cereals and nuts too. Milk and Dairy Foods (Weighting 15%) - Again doesn't take much explaination; milk, cheese, yogurt, fresh cream etc Meat, fish, eggs and beans (Weighting 10%) - Includes all other sources of protein other than dairy products. Foods and drinks high in fat or/and sugar (Weighting 5%) - Unfortunately most of the tastey things we like in life are included here, such as chocolate, crisps, biscuits, sweets, fizzy drinks etc Now that we have gained a better understanding of how the five groups relate to the food balance equation, we can now go about trying to fit them into a healthy diet plan. In order to keep our bodies functioning at their optimum levels, thus staying as healthy as possible we need to eat plenty of fruit and vegetables. Most people already know that nutritional experts recommend that we eat at least five portions of fruit and / or vegetables per day. But did you know that the same recommendation includes eating a variety? To ensure you're including a variety of fruits and vegetables in your healthy diet plan, there is one simple rule of thumb to assist you. Different coloured fruit contain different vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals. These all have constituent properties that help keep you healthy. So keep your daily meals and fruit snacks colourful and you shouldn't go far wrong. Which fruits and vegetables count towards my 5-a-day? In addition, frozen vegetables are a god send in a world where we have less and less time to do anything. They are nearly always packed and frozen within hours of being picked, so often contain higher levels of nutritional goodness than the ones deemed as "fresh" by your local green grocer. This food group provide us with plenty of dietry fibre, along with vitamains, minerals and protein, so are vital for a balanced diet. They have a high weighting, where the balance of food is concerned, because they provide the majority of our calories, therefore it is recommended that we try and eat them every meal. Additionally foods in this group - as we've already outlined, above - include pasta, noodles, rice, breakfast cereals, couscous, pearl barley, bulgur wheat and chapatis. How does eating wholegrains help in maintaining a balanced diet? Slowly introduce wholegrain varieties into your diet by swapping wholemeal bread for white; brown rice for white and try eating wholegrain cereal for breakfast. As foods such as milk, yogurt, cheese and fromage frais provide plenty of calcium, it is important that you eat three portions of it per day. Why is calcium important with regards, to a healthy eating plan? It is also a very important component in the battle against osteoporosis (brittle bones), which can be a real concern for women post-menopause. In order to achieve the daily requirements needed to maintain a balanced diet i.e. the "three portions", the rule of thumb to follow is a 150g pot of yogurt, 30g of cheese and 200ml of milk are all equal to one portion. A good tip here is to try and opt for low fat varieties in order to stay nice and trim. What tips do you have, to help me get my 3-a-day? If you're not too keen on the taste of milk. Why not jazz it up a little by blending it with fresh fruit, to make a tasty smoothy. Not only will this go towards your dairy food 3-a-day, but will put you on target for your daily fruit and veg intake too. What can I do if I can't eat dairy products? Every healthy diet plan needs to contain sufficient protein levels to maintain the balance and more importantly it promotes cell regeneration and growth, as well as essential minerals and vitamins. Foods which are high in protein include meat, fish and other sources such as eggs, beans, nuts, pulses and seeds. How much from this group should I eat per day, to maintain a balanced diet? I'm concerned that red meat is bad for me? Many people think that these foods should be avoided like the plague, so to speak; but they are fine where maintaining a balanced diet is concerned, as long as you eat them every so often. Which foods are contained within this category? *These healthy eating tips are suitable for adults and children over the age of 5 Thanks for reading OPH Good Housekeeping's article on creating the healthy diet plan, I hope you found the information useful.
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