How To Eat Healthy

Healthy Eating

We all know the importance of eating a well balanced healthy diet but what exactly is a healthy diet? A healthy diet consists of 6 basic components, such as:

Protein - This can be fish, meat, poultry, dairy products and eggs

Fats - This is found in animal products, dairy, nuts and oils

Carbohydrates - Vegetables, fruits, pasta, rice and beans

Vitamins - These are vitamins A, B, C, D, E and K

Minerals - Iron, calcium and potassium

Water

What are proteins?

Proteins are needed by our body to maintain, repair and build our body tissue such as the skin, muscles and internal organs; they also help boost our immune system and our hormones.

Protein consists of amino acid and this is needed by our body, in fact 22 of them are considered essential to our body. The adult body can make 14 of these acids itself while the other eight which are known as essential amino acids can only be obtained from what we eat.

Proteins can be found in a lot of foods but only foods such as fish, meat and eggs have what are called complete proteins. They are called complete because they provide us with the eight essential amino acids we need.

It is essential that your daily diet contains enough protein to be able to keep replenishing these amino acids, vegetarians who do not eat animal products have to eat a variety of different plant products to make sure they receive the amino acids. We need roughly 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight per day.

So is fat good for us?

We need a certain amount of fat everyday in order to keep our bodies healthy, the average adult should get roughly 25% of the daily recommended calories from fat; however some people eat far too much fat in the diet.

Excessive fat mainly saturated fat is bad for us and helps raise the cholesterol level and increases the risk of heart disease. Eating too much fat also increases the body weight.

What are carbohydrates?

Carbohydrates give our bodies fuel in the form of glucose, which is a sugar that is the primary source of energy for our body's cells. Adults should get about 60% of the recommended calorie intake from carbohydrates.

What are Vitamins?

Vitamins can only come from the food we eat our body cannot make them and they help with chemical reactions within the body, in total there are 13 vitamins that are essential to our well being and these are divided into two categories:

Water soluble vitamins - which include all the B vitamins and C vitamin.

Fat soluble vitamins - which are A, D, E and K vitamins.

Water soluble vitamins are not stored in our body and these are the vitamins we must have on a daily basis.

What are minerals?

Minerals must come from our diet just as vitamins do, minerals are vital for our body's health and some must be consumed in huge amounts, such as calcium, potassium and iron. Trace elements such as zinc and copper are only needed in small amounts to maintain our health.

Why is water good for us?

Although water has no real food value it is essential to our body's well being because it keeps the body hydrated. Water accounts for 55% to 60% of our total body weight but the body doesn't store water and so we must provide it in adequate quantities.

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