The key to eating healthy is balance, variety and moderation, basically meaning eating a wide variety of foods without getting too many calories or too much of any one nutrient.
These 10 tips provided by RealTime.net, can help you maintain a healthy, and maintainable eating pattern, while still enjoying the foods you love.
- Eat a variety of nutrient-rich foods: your daily food selection should include bread and other whole-grain products; fruits; vegetables; dairy products; and meat, poultry, fish and other protein foods.
- Enjoy plenty of whole grains, fruits and vegetables: do you eat 6-11 servings from the bread, rice, cereal and pasta group, 3 of which should be whole grains? Do you eat 2-4 servings of fruit and 3-5 servings of vegetables?
- Maintain a healthy weight: Excess body fat increases your changes for high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, some types of cancer and other illnesses. But being too thin can increase your risk for osteoporosis, menstrual irregularities and other health problems. If you’re constantly losing and regaining weight, a registered dietitian can help you develop sensible eating habits for successful weight management.
- Eat moderate portions: If you keep portion sizes reasonable, it's easier to eat the foods you want and stay healthy.
- Eat regular meals: Skipping meals can lead to out-of-control hunger, often resulting in overeating. When you're very hungry, it's also tempting to forget about good nutrition. Snacking between meals can help curb hunger, but don't eat so much that your snack becomes an entire meal.
- Reduce, don’t eliminate, certain foods: If your favorite foods are high in fat, salt or sugar, the key is moderating how much of these foods you eat and how often you eat them.
- Balance your food choices over time: When eating a food high in fat, salt or sugar, select other foods that are low in these ingredients. If you miss out on any food group one day, make up for it the next. Your food choices over several days should fit together into a healthy pattern.
- Know your diet pitfalls: Write down everything you eat for three days. Then check your list according to the rest of these tips. Do you add a lot of butter, creamy sauces or salad dressings? Rather than eliminating these foods, just cut back your portions. Are you getting enough fruits and vegetables? If not, you may be missing out on vital nutrients.
- Make changes gradually: Changing too much, too fast can get in the way of success. Begin to remedy excesses or deficiencies with modest changes that can add up to positive, lifelong eating habits.
- Remember, foods are not good or bad: Select foods based on your total eating patterns, not whether any individual food is "good" or "bad." Don't feel guilty if you love foods such as apple pie, potato chips, candy bars or ice cream. Eat them in moderation, and choose other foods to provide the balance and variety that are vital to good health.
