Good nutrition plays a major role in helping us lead a healthy lifestyle. When combined with physical activity, the diet can help us reach and maintain a healthy weight and reduce our risk of chronic conditions such as diabetes or heart disease, and promote overall health and wellbeing.
Creating and maintaining healthy eating habits are not hard. Start incorporating small changes into daily habits, to make a big impact on eating patterns and create lasting, healthy eating habits. Try including at least six of the following eight goals into the diet by adding one new goal each week.
1. Make half of the plate fruits and vegetables: Choose red, orange, and dark-green vegetables along with other vegetables for meals. Add fruit to meals as part of main or side dishes or as dessert. More the colours in plate, more the vitamins, minerals, and fiber in the body to be healthy.
2. Make half grains into whole grains: Switch from a refined-grain food to a whole-grain food. For example, choose whole-wheat bread instead of white bread. Look for things like: whole wheat, brown rice, oatmeal, rolled oats, etc.
3. Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk: Both have the same amount of calcium and other essential nutrients as whole milk, but fewer calories and less saturated fat.
4. Choose a variety of lean protein foods: Protein foods group includes not only meat, poultry, and seafood, but also dry beans or peas, eggs, nuts, and seeds.
5. Compare sodium in foods: Use the Nutrition Facts label to choose lower sodium versions of foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals.
6. Drink water instead of sugary drinks: Drink water to cut back on unnecessary calories from sugary drinks. Soda, energy drinks, and sports drinks are a major source of added sugar and calories. To add flavour to your water, add a slice of lemon, lime, apple or fresh herbs like mint or basil.
7. Eat some seafood: Seafood has protein, minerals, and omega-3 fatty acids (heart-healthy fat) instead of red meat.
8. Cut back on solid fats: Eat fewer foods that contain solid fats. The major sources are cakes, cookies, and other desserts; pizza; processed and fatty meats and ice cream.
Need more advice or treatment? Many health care experts at antarnaad are always here to help you out. Antarnaad is a growing network of experienced physiotherapists, dietitians and nutritionists, fitness trainers and Yoga experts providing treatment for all the conditions. For more information visit our website www.antarnaad.net or call our Consultant: Mb: 9899700187
