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What's a Healthy Diet?

Eating Healthy is Not Hard

Is there an easy way to determine if you're eating a healthy diet? Fortunately yes.

First a list of the obvious factors in an unhealthy diet: too much sugar, too much fat, too much alcohol, too much caffeine and too much salt. Nobody recommends that you cut out any of these things entirely, but you must control your intake.

Some antiaging experts such as Dr. Nicholas Perricone think American women, in particular, eat too little fat. This leaves them looking gaunt and older than their age.

Alcohol and caffeine have been shown to be good for cardiovascular health.

Salt is necessary to life.

So everything in moderation.

Now, How Do You Determine What Is a Healthy Diet?

Do you eat a variety of different foods? No one food contains all the nutrients you need to be fit and healthy.

Fruits, grains, breads, vegetables, diary products, protein from meat and fish and poultry, beans, nuts and even herbs and spices should all be consumed.

There is some speculation that some of these foods interact in such a way as to improve their antioxidant or their disease fighting power.

Also by consuming all the food groups you are getting at least the minimum recommended dosage of vital vitamins and minerals as well as sufficient dietary fiber to not only help digestion, but also to prevent gastrointestinal diseases.

If possible, the optimum healthy diet consists of fresh foods, but you have to balance this out with the rest of your life. Few people can shop daily for the freshest ingredients for their meals.

A healthy diet will contain 5 to 9 servings of fruits and vegetables every day.

When shopping follow Dr. Perricone’s advice and buy a rainbow of dark, rich colored produce. Those dark colors mean you are consuming healthy amounts of vital nutrients such as vitamins A and C as well as natural beta carotene.

Like your mother used to say (or maybe it was Kellogg’s) you have to start off your day with a good breakfast.

Maybe you can’t face poached fish in the morning, but you can eat a healthy diet of whole grain bread or cereals, an occasional egg and a cup of coffee.

Are Prepared Foods Worse Than Fresh?

Many experts say yes.

Prepared foods do seem to have excessive salt if nothing else. But you can buy healthy prepared foods by reading the labels and looking out for high fat, sugar or sodium content.

We finally come to water. Our bodies are mostly water, as is the world around us. Drinking plenty of water is essential.

You will feel less hungry. You skin will look healthier and plumper (this is good once you start to age). It flushes toxins from the body. So drink as much as you can. It's an essential part of a healthy diet.

One way to determine if you’re on the right track is if you gain weight without trying or even while dieting. This will not happen if you are eating right and exercising regularly.

Now For the Goodies

• Have a piece of rich dark chocolate for dessert once in a while. It's rich in antioxidants.
• A glass or two of red wine a day is good for your heart.
• Coffee is also rich in antioxidants.
• And sex is one of the best exercises you can do.

Again: all in moderation (except maybe for the sex).

As Mr. Spock used to say: “Live long and prosper.”

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Low Fat Diet Update

On February 8, 2006, as reported in the New York Times, the Journal of the American Medical Association has released the results of a long-term study of women and diet.

The surprising results were that those women assigned a low fat diet had the same rates of breast cancer, colon cancer, heart attacks and strokes as those who ate whatever they pleased.

Dr. Jules Hirsch, physician in chief emeritus at Rockefeller University in New York stated: "These studies are revolutionary...They put a stop to this era of thinking that we have all the information we need to change the whole national diet and make everybody healthy."

The study investigators agreed that the results do not justify recommending low-fat diets to the public to reduce the risk of heart disease or cancer.

They feel the best advice is to follow guidelines for healthy eating and consume more grains, fruits and vegetables.

So we have once less thing to worry about, at least as far as our diets are concerned.

[Note this study was about the effect of fat on the development of disease: it had nothing to do with the relationship of fat consumption and obesity.]

This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to be taken as medical advice.

 

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