Diet Plan Secrets for a Healthy Life
Most of us know pretty much what a healthy diet consists of, and that take-outs, fast foods and chocolate are not meant to be a big part of our daily intake. What to eat? Generally that’s not the problem. Take a look at the 5 Food Groups Pyramid reproduced below.
For many of us it’s getting the motivation. If we have developed really bad eating habits, even if we are not overweight, it’s hard to make changes. It can sometimes seem like a huge impossible idea. In the end it really boils down to moment-by-moment decisions to stay on track to eat well. That’s the hard part.
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Key Recommendations for Diet Plan Secrets
- Eat foods from all Food Groups every day, and where feasible, every meal
- Eat three meals per day, with about 6 hours between meals. Often when a meal is long overdue, we dash to the take-away shop. Do eat a good breakfast every day
- Three to five times per week exercise for 20 minutes – aerobically. This means any exercise that will get your heart beating faster for 20 minutes straight
From Government Guidelines and the Food Pyramid, these are strong suggestions for good health
- Select portions from each food category in the recommended quantity
- Create as much variety as possible. e.g. if you are eating grains – vary your grains often
- Eat smaller portions
- Eat three or more ounces of whole-grain foods daily
- Chew your food slowly, saliva aids significantly with digestion
- Avoid added sugars, salt and alcohol
- Eat 2 to 2½ cups of fruit and vegetables per day
- Eat a diet low in saturated and trans fats and cholesterol less than 10% of your daily calories should come from saturated fats. Cholesterol should be less than 300 mg per day
- Your total daily intake of fat should be less than 20-30% of your calories
- Eat ‘good’ fats which contain monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids e.g. nuts, fish, and vegetable oils. Eat lean, low-fat, or fat-free meats, poultry, lentils, dry beans, and low-fat milk products are preferable
- Reduce the amount of processed foods in your diet
- Keep alcohol consumption to one or less per day for women and two per day for men. This does not mean you can ‘save up’ your drinks and have a binge at the weekend – the very worst kind of drinking
- Cut down on salt to less than 2,300 mg (1 teaspoon) per day
- Exercise regularly, three to five times per week, gradually increasing your aerobic exercise
- Consume three cups per day of fat-free or low-fat products – cheese, milk, yoghurt etc
- Learn about nutrition, and begin to read the back of the packet to see exactly what it is you are eating
- Sleep – get quality, regular sleep xxxxx link here to the Sleep page
