Eating healthy is of utmost importance if you want to live a longer healthier life. I already outlined 5 reasons why you should eat a healthy diet earlier on this blog, so now I will explain some basics about nutrition and then explain how you can eat a healthy diet.

For our bodies to function they need energy. The energy required for a body to function normally varies from person to person depending on various factors. For example, quite naturally a person who does a lot of physical activity during the day, let’s say a construction worker, will need more energy to sustain himself than someone who works in an office and spends most of the day sitting.

The energy required varies between different age groups and sexes. Men need more energy than women, and adults need more energy than children. Energy is measured in calories.

The calories provided by the foods are made up from a mixture of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals. Different foods contain varying ratios of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals. For example, all meats are high in protein, whilst starchy vegetables, such as potatoes are high in carbohydrates.

For more detailed information, I suggest that you visit the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) http://www.mypyramid.gov - a web site which contains detailed and accessible information on nutrition.

Now I will outline what you need to do to eat a moderate, balanced, healthy diet.

Avoid fast foods and pre-packaged food

Fast food meals and pre-packaged food contain either large amounts of salts or trans-fats (hydrogenated oils), or even worse … both. Although salt is required by our body, in large quantities it causes high blood pressure. Trans-fats, also known as hydrogenated oils, cause fat to be deposited in your veins and arteries which leads to heart problems, a major death cause all over the world.

So you might ask why they use such ingredients if everyone knows they are bad for our health. The short answer is convenience and addiction. Convenience because salt and trans-fats make food last longer, so you can buy in large quantities and do not run the risk of it spoiling after a week. Addiction, because salt makes food taste better, making it more addictive so you eat more of it, and thus buy more. That is why they put salted peanuts and other salty knick-knacks next to a bar, because they are addictive, you eat more, you get thirsty and you order another drink. Eat some more, get thirsty, order another drink. I guess you got the flow.
One other reason not to eat from fast food restaurants is the fact that they usually contain a huge amount of calories. My take is you could power a mid-size town from a fast food beef burger meal. Seriously though, when you eat a fast food meal, in one sitting you can easily take half your daily calorie allowance. Since along the day you will get hungry again, you can easily eat more calories than are required daily for your personal lifestyle. Extra calories, unfortunately are not discarded by the body, but instead are turned into fatty deposits.

Eat healthy foods

Preferably you should buy fresh food and prepare your own food. Apart from making economic sense, since it is usually cheaper than buying readymade food or eating out, you get the added advantage of knowing exactly what you are eating.

I mean you would not allow a complete stranger roaming around in your house, so why do you allow complete strangers to prepare food which ends up inside yourself.

Now, do not get me wrong. I am not suggesting to never eat out. What’s the point of living a healthy boring life? But if you choose to go and eat out, choose wisely, and eat in a proper restaurant that serves quality food. Also, when you eat out, use the tips in this blog post to choose healthy dishes.

The following are healthy foods:

Grains such as, bread, pasta, and tortillas. Foods prepared from wheat, rice, oats, barley, or any other cereal grain, are called grain products. Ideally half of the grains you eat should be whole grains, such as oatmeal, brown pasta, and brown rice.

All kinds of vegetables - you can never go wrong. It is important to vary the vegetables you eat. So eat some dark green ones, such as broccoli and spinach, and some orange vegetables, such as carrots and pumpkins.

Beans such as red kidney beans, chickpeas, soy beans, and white beans.

Make sure to include plenty of fruit in your diet. They are delicious and nutritious, and you can eat them at any time and serve as a light snack.

Low fat milk, yogurts, and other low fat dairy products. These provide essential calcium for your body framework, i.e. your bones.

You also need to get your daily intake of proteins to build, repair and sustain your muscles, without which movements would be impossible. High protein foods are, lean white meats, such as chicken and fish, and lean cuts of red meats such as beef. Preferably you should eat more white meat than red meat.

Finally, a good source of essential oils and proteins are provided by nuts and seeds, such as almonds, peanuts (and peanut butter), sunflower seeds, and walnuts.

In general try to avoid foods which are high in sugars, saturated fats, trans-fats, and salts.

Vary your diet

To eat a healthy diet, apart from selecting healthy food, you must also vary the foods you eat. For example, if on Monday you eat chicken breast for protein intake, the next day you should vary and eat fish, or a lean beef cut.

The best thing to do is to vary the food throughout the day as well as from one day to the next, so that throughout one whole week you would have eaten a variety of foods. Thus your body will receive a mixture of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals.

During a day you must pick up at least one food from each food type outlined in the previous point.

Moderation and portion size is the key

I cannot stress this point too much. The key to eating healthy and maintaining an ideal weight is to control your portion size and eat in moderation.

Eat slowly and enjoy the food you are eating. This will give proper time for your stomach to signal your brain that it is full, thus you won’t overeat.

Ideally, you should eat 4 to 5 moderate meals daily instead of 3 larger meals per day. This will help maintain your blood sugar level constant throughout the day, thus you will feel more energetic. By avoiding spikes in your blood sugar level, you avoid the release of insulin in your bloodstream which turns the extra sugar in your blood into fatty deposits.

Have breakfast

The first and most important meal of your day is your breakfast. Never skip breakfast. Not only will this meal help you get up to speed and ready for another day full of energy, but it will also control your hunger during the morning. You will thus avoid eating junk food.

Wake up early enough to have proper time to prepare and enjoy your breakfast. A good breakfast should include the right mixture of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates.

If you think about it, breakfast is the first meal you eat after the longest stretch of time without food. On average you have spent at least 9 hours without food before eating breakfast, so your body is really awaiting this moment. Treat your body well, have breakfast.

Drink Water

Drink plenty of clean, fresh water daily. Not only will this help you eliminate other junk drinks such as carbonated drinks, which are full of sugar, it will also provide your body with the liquid it needs to cleanse your body from toxins.

By eliminating carbonated sugary drinks, you will also take good care of your teeth, and eliminate more calories from your diet. This will help you reduce weight if you need to. If not you can replace those calories with healthy calories from fruits, for example.