Healthy Diet

General Guidelines to Eating Well

Healthy eating habits include not only the food choices you make on a daily basis, but also the amount of food you choose to eat during the course of a day. Portion control is most likely one of the main culprits for the expanding waistlines and declining health of our population. Here are tips for keeping your plate full of nutritional value while maintaining a sensible caloric quantity:

• Choose fruits and vegetables as often as possible due to their low calorie amounts. One serving equals a half cup of chopped vegetables or fruit or one cup of leafy vegetables. A medium size fruit is one serving. Exceptions include grapefruit, mango, and papaya; ½ of these equals one serving. Three-quarters of a cup of vegetable or fruit juice is considered a serving. One-quarter cup of dried fruit constitutes a serving. Strive for at least 3 servings of vegetables and 2 servings of fruit each day.
• Limit the amount of empty calorie foods, such as sugar from candy and soda.
• Limit the amount of saturated fats and trans fat from baked goods, chips, margarine, hydrogenated oils and other "junk" food.
• Consume lean proteins, such as fish, poultry, and plant proteins over beef for fewer calories and fat. One serving of protein equals about three ounces of lean meat, poultry or fish. Seven ounces of protein is an appropriate daily amount for a healthy diet. When substituting traditional protein sources, keep these figures in mind:

<b>4 ounces of tofu = 1 ounce of meat</b>
<b>1/3 cup of nuts = 1 ounce of meat</b>
<b>2 tablespoons of peanut butter = 1 ounce of meat</b>
<b>1 egg = 1 ounce of meat</b>

• Use whole grains instead of refined, white flour products such as bread, crackers, cereals, and pasta. One slice of bread, ½ of a hamburger roll, bagel, or English muffin, ½ cup cooked rice, pasta, barley, oatmeal, and other whole grains, 1 ounce of dry cereal, and 4 small crackers equal one serving each.
• Drink plenty of water, at least 8 glasses a day.

How To Eat a Healthy Diet

It is widely known that most people know what they should be eating, but the daily grind often leads us down the road of most convenient. This often means fast foods, highly processed packaged foods, or dining out. Below are some tips for making a healthy diet part of your lifestyle:

1. Plan ahead. Know what you will eat most days of the week and shop accordingly.
2. Prepare foods when time allows. For example, it may not be realistic to start cutting up the veggies for tonight’s dinner when it is 7pm already. Instead, consider chopping the veggies when they are brought home from the grocery store.
3. Use the convenience of your grocery store. Spending the extra change on already chopped produce or healthily prepared dishes can go a long way in saving you from ill-health. Many larger grocers have salad bars, which are great places to grab those prepared bell pepper rings or chopped onions.
4. Measure your portions once, but use the same size bowl and plate for every meal. This way, you are aware of proper portions by knowing the point that one cup of soup or cereal fills to.
5. Fill a large pitcher (one that can hold at least 64 ounces) with water and empty it by day’s end. Use this ration not only for drinking it by the glass, but also for filling up portable bottles, making soups, herbal tea, lemonade, or the like.
6. When dining out, divide your entrée portion in half. Eat half and take the other half home for another meal. Consider ordering a favorite appetizer and adding a large vegetable salad to go along with it.
7. To keep fat intake in check when fast foods are on the menu, choose non-breaded, non-fried selections. Many fast food chains offer lite selections, but you must remember to order the lite condiments as well. "Regular" condiments can be particularly high in saturated fats, trans fat, and preservatives.
8. Keep a food journal for a week and record every bite of food and sip of beverage that enters your body. A healthy diet or a not-so-healthy diet can be easily identified when seen in black and white.

Noteworthy Adaptations

On any given day, there seems to be a hot new food or nutrient we are told to consume in moundfuls. However, variety is a major player for getting the multitude of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, phytochemicals, and similar compounds from your food. By supplying your body with a vast range of colorful foods, for example, you will also be feeding it a rainbow of phytonutrients known to lower your risk of cancers, premature aging, glaucoma, and other diseases. Cooking low fat recipes will inevitably help keep our arteries in the best shape possible. Indeed, while many diseases and health conditions are imprinted in our genetic code, our environment is a critical determinant of its unfolding. Remembering that food is meant mainly to satisfy hunger, and secondly to protect and prevent us from acquiring disease, allows a mindful approach to when we eat, why we eat, what we eat, and how much we eat.

Final Note

Without question, a healthy diet provides your body with the nourishment it requires to work properly on a consistent basis. Any diet that proposes a long-term drastic change in your eating habits should be challenged.

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