So why healthy food? Why is eating healthy so important?
If you’re trying to watch your weight, a healthy diet is vital to help you achieve your weight goals. Even if you’re not dieting, a good diet is still important to help give you energy and make you feel your best.
The healthy food facts are that you should:
1. Eat a variety of foods from all the different food groups.
2. Make sure you get enough fibre (found in fruit, vegetables and wholegrain cereals).
3. Make sure you eat lots of fruit and vegetables.
4. Choose foods that are high in iron and calcium.
5. Consume sugary foods and alcohol only occasionally, and then in small amounts.
6. Make sure you limit fatty foods to small amounts, especially saturated fats (found in butter and some oils).
It really is easy to add healthy food to your diet. For example, you can add some sliced fruit to your breakfast cereal (bananas are great, and also strawberries). You can also make a simple smoothie by blending together banana, strawberry and skim milk. Add other fruits like peaches or apricots if you like, too.
If you usually snack on cakes and biscuits during the day, try apples or some dried fruits (like apricot) instead. You could also slice some carrot up into chip-size portions and munch on them. Carrots are actually quite sweet when they’re raw.
A really great fact about fruit and vegetables is that they’re very low in fat, or even fat free! They’re also rich in vitamins and other nutrients your body needs. Once you start getting more of these you’ll start feeling better – less tired and more energetic. If you’re eating because you always feel hungry, then give these a try.
Try to add more fibre to your diet. Fibre is important as it helps your digestive system break food down more quickly. Other than fruit and vegetables, fibre is found is a variety of foods such as potatoes, pasta, wholegrain breakfast cereals and wholemeal bread. You can also leave the skin on fruit and vegetables (like apples, pears, carrots, potatoes) rather than peeling them.
Another important aspect top eating healthy is to reduce your fat intake, particularly the ‘bad’ saturated fats. These fats have been linked to health problems such as diabetes, stroke, heart disease and obesity. Saturated fats are mainly found in takeaway/fast foods, chicken skin, butter & cream and the visible fat in red meat.
Not all fat is bad, though. Unsaturated fat, particularly monounsaturated fat, is beneficial due to its cholesterol-lowering properties. These fats can be found in most nuts, and cooking oils like olive and canola oil.