Carbohydrates, fats, proteins….what to eat and how much?
Healthy food is one that provides enough energy for fulfilling body’s requirement, and also equip our body to fight against diseases and protect itself. But food has more role in our life, its the one that may uplift our mood and make us happy. Good healthy food has to be tasty, varied, and nutritious. It has to satiate our mind as well as our body.
Healthy food consists of various nutrients in the balanced amount. To sustain a healthy body we all need a balance of protein, fat, carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, and minerals in our diet. Certain food may be good for one but not for all.
A healthy diet plan needs to consider so many factors. Nutritional requirements of the body, particularly keeping in mind age, gender, medical conditions, need to be kept in mind. For example, proteins are important building blocks of our body and very helpful for body growth and repair of all the wear and tear body encounters but people with kidney disease should avoid it, while others may need high-quality protein in more amounts.
Then taste is another important factor as our mind get satisfied only with the taste it wants. Especially with children and elderly, one has to give it a priority. These fussy guys if gets rigid will not eat anything and diet plan will land to a dustbin.
Our digestive machinery is adapted to a particular environment, there is an influence of cultural traditions, as well as geographical, social and economic factors on dietary habits. Similarly, dietary patterns could not be changed abruptly, individual preferences and beliefs, have to be considered. If one fine day, we start feeding a strict vegetarian some eggs and meat to enhance their nutritive intake, they might not be able to digest it well, as their enzyme system has no memory of digesting such foods.
Some Practical advice on maintaining a healthy diet
Fruits and vegetables
Variety of fruits and vegetables should be included and these should be preferably eaten raw.
Fats
To prevent unhealthy weight gain in the adults, fats consumption should be checked. Healthy cooking strategies must be followed, such as, remove the fatty part of meat; use vegetable oil (not animal oil); and boil, steam or bake rather than fry; avoid processed foods containing trans fats; and limiting the consumption of foods containing high amounts of saturated fats (e.g. cheese, ice cream, fatty meat).
Salt, sodium, and potassium
Unbalanced consumption of sodium salts and less of potassium causes high blood pressure and increases the risk of other heart diseases. Salt consumption must be reduced to the recommended level of less than 5 g per day.
Most of the excess salt is consumed in the form of processed foods (e.g. ready meals; processed meats like bacon, ham, and salami; cheese and salty snacks or bread), during cooking or at the table (e.g. table salt).
You can reduce salt consumption by:
- avoid adding salt, soy sauce or fish sauce during the preparation of food
- not having salt on the table
- reduce the consumption of salty snacks
- choosing products with lower sodium content
Fresh fruits and vegetables help in maintaining Potassium levels, which can alleviate the negative effects of high sodium intake on blood pressure.
Sugars
Intake of free sugars need to be minimized, consuming free sugars increases the risk of dental caries (tooth decay), overweight and obesity. Sugars intake can be reduced by:
- limiting the consumption of foods and drinks containing high amounts of sugars (e.g. sugar-sweetened beverages, sugary snacks, and candies); and
- eating fresh fruits and raw vegetables as snacks instead of sugary snacks.
Eating food with wide variety and as close to its natural form is definitely a healthy choice.
Mediworks 