What you eat each day affects your health and how you feel now and in the future.
Good nutrition plays a major role in helping you lead a healthy lifestyle.
Your diet combined with physical activity can help you reach and maintain a healthy weight.
This reduces your risk of chronic conditions such as diabetes or heart disease and promotes overall health and wellbeing.
Healthy eating includes maintaining a balanced diet which is a diet that contains differing kinds of foods in certain quantities and proportions.
Tips for maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
Add More Fruits & Veggies
- Mix veggies into your go-to dishes. Swap meat for peppers and mushrooms in your tacos or try veggie pasta instead of grain pasta like one made out of black beans for more plant-based protein.
- Use fresh fruits and veggies whenever possible. Watch for sodium in canned veggies and look for canned fruit packed in water instead of syrup.
- Pack your child’s lunch bag with fruits and veggies: sliced apples, a banana or carrot sticks.
Prepare Healthy Snacks
- Teach children the difference between everyday snacks such as fruits and veggies and occasional snacks such as cookies and sweets.
- Keep cut-up fruits and veggies like carrots, peppers, or orange slices in the refrigerator.
- Prepare your meals for the week by making them ahead on weekends or on a day off.
Control Portion Sizes
- When preparing meals at home, use smaller plates.
- Don’t clean your plate if you’re full, instead save leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch.
- Portion sizes depend on the age, gender, and activity level of the individual.
Reduce Fat, Salt, and Sugar
- When eating out, choose baked or grilled food instead of fried and do the same at home.
- Make water your go-to drink instead of soda or sweetened beverages.
- Read labels on packaged ingredients to find foods lower in sodium.
- Reduce amounts of salt added to food when cooking and use herbs and spices instead to add flavor like paprika, turmeric, black pepper, garlic or onion powder.
Practice Healthy Eating in School
- Bring healthy snacks into your child’s classroom for birthday parties and holiday celebrations, instead of providing sugary treats.
- Pack healthy lunches for children including whole grains, fruits and veggies, and fat-free or low-fat dairy products.
Importance of a healthy lifestyle
- Reduced cancer risk
Eating foods that contain antioxidants can reduce a person’s risk of developing cancer by protecting cells from damage.
2. Heart health
The foods people eat can reduce their blood pressure and help keep their heart-healthy.
3. Improved gut health
The colon is full of naturally occurring bacteria, which play important roles in metabolism and digestion
A diet rich in vegetables, fruits, legumes, and whole grains provides a combination of prebiotics and probiotics that help good bacteria thrive in the colon.
4. Improved memory
A healthful diet may help maintain cognition and brain health.
5. Strong bones and teeth
A diet with adequate calcium and magnesium is important for strong bones and teeth. Keeping the bones healthy can minimize the risk of bone issues later in life, such as osteoporosis.
6. The health of the next generation
Children learn most health-related behaviors from the adults around them, and parents who model healthful eating and exercise habits tend to pass these on.
7. Diabetes management
A healthful diet can help a person with diabetes in:
- managing blood glucose levels
- keeping blood pressure and cholesterol within target ranges
- preventing or delaying complications of diabetes
- maintaining a moderate weight
