Guide To Choosing The Best Diet Plan
A healthy diet plan is an essential part of good health. It makes you feel good, keeps your energy levels up, and helps you stay in shape. Contrary to what most people think, healthy eating can be simple, once you understand the basics of nutrition. Here’s our guide to help you choose best diet plan.
Two keys to a healthy diet plan:
Balance is essential in getting the most effective diet. That means you should eat a wide range of foods in the right proportions. For example, a diet based on starchy foods, lots of vegetables and fruits, some protein-rich foods (including animal proteins and plant proteins), nuts, and dairy foods, your body will get all the nutrients it needs.
Quantity is another important factor in a balanced diet. Depending on how active you are, you should eat the right amount of calories. For example, men need around 2,500 calories per day, and women needs about 2,000 calories.
Basics Of Nutrition
To understand more about healthy eating, it’s helpful to first learn about the basic food groups. What we eat can be divided into six groups and you should eat these groups in the right proportion. These food groups include:
- Carbohydrates such as pasta, rice, cereal and bread
- Proteins such as meat, fish, eggs and legumes (beans)
- Fats such as milk and dairy products, animal oils and plant oils
- Fiber such as whole wheat bread, brown rice, oatmeal, quinoa, vegetables, fruits and legumes
- Vitamins including Vitamins A, B, C, D, E, K, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Biotin, Choline and Folate
- Minerals such as Calcium, Iron, Zinc, Potassium, Phosporus, Sodium, Iodine, Copper, Chloride, Floride, Magnesium, Chromium, Selenium and Molybdenum
To help get the right proportion of the six food groups, refer to the food pyramid above so you know what amount of which food groups you should eat.
How To Choose The Most Effective Diet
Here’ are some practical tips to help you make good choices for a healthy diet:
Based your diet on starchy foods – Rice, pasta, cereals, potatoes provide good sources of carbohydrates and fiber. They are “slow” carbs as they keep you feel energetic and full longer. Ideally carbohydrates should make up about 30% of your daily diet. While many people think that carbohydrates make you fat, they are good carbs and contain only half the calories of the same amount of fat.
Eat lots of variety of vegetables and fruits – Leafy green vegetables and yellow vegetables offer a variety of nutrients such as fiber, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Fruits are also excellent sources of vitamins and minerals. You can incorporate these foods in your meals. For example, a glass of fruit juice with breakfast, a huge sald for lunch, or a banana as a afternoon snack.
Eat more fish – Fish provides a good source of quality protein and a variety of vitamins and minerals. Salmon, mackeral, trout, sardines and herring are good choices of oily fish that contain high levels of essential fatty acid Omega-3 (DHA) that helps prevent heart disease. Non-oily fish such as cod, skate and plaice should also be eaten regularly. Try to eat two portions of fish per week and choose from a wide range of fish as much as possible.
Limit your intake of saturated fat – Fat is an important part of a healthy diet, but you should learn the difference between good fats (unsaturated) and bad fats (saturated). Saturated fats when taken in excessive amount can cause high cholesterol. Many foods contain saturated fats. Hydrogenated vegetable oils (refined oils), cream, butter, margarine, cakes and pies are filled with saturated fats. The American Heart Association recommends to limit saturated fats to less than 7% of total calories. For example, for an average caloric intake of 2,100 kcal, your daily consumption of saturated fat should be less than 16 grams. So make sure you choose unsaturated fats such as cold pressed vegetable oils, oily fish, raw nuts and seeds, and avocados instead of saturated fats.
Cut down your intake of sugar – Foods high in sugar such as cakes and soft drinks are high in calories. Not only can they cause overweight, but they can also deteriorate some health conditions such as diabetes. For an average adult consuming 2,000 calories daily, you should take less than 32 grams (about 8 teaspoons) of sugar a day. To help you know how much sugar a food contain, use food labels as reference. For every 100 grams of a particular food, it should contain less than 15 grams of sugar. Otherwise the food is high in sugar.
Cut down your intake of salt – The foods you eat daily already provide about 75% of your salt requirement. For instance, the bread and cereals in your breakfast contain a fair amount of salt, even you don’t put salt in them. Too much salt in your diet can cause your blood pressure to rise and increase your risk of heart disease. Again, you can use food labels to help keep track of the salt amount. If every 100 grams of a food contains more than 1.5 gram of salt (sodium), you’ll know that it’s high in salt. In general you should not eat more than 6 grams (approx. 1.5 teaspoon) of salt per day.
Drink plenty of water - Try to drink about eight glasses of water per day to help hydrate and detoxify your body. Your body also needs enough water to aid digestion. Remember however that soft drinks that are high in sugars are not substitutes for water. Also, drinking too much alcohol can cause overweight and also dehydrate your body.
Eat breakfast – According to studies, eating breakfast is not only beneficial for your health but also helps weight control. People who skip breakfast are likely to develop weight problems and other health conditions. A nutritious breakfast is an essential part of a healthy diet. It provides good sources of energy and nutrients from the six food groups.
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