Healthy Eating Guidelines

Let’s have a look at a few simple healthy eating guidelines that will give us a clearer understanding of what healthy eating habits are all about and how we can get our family into great health.

We as parents are all too aware that our families should be eating healthy foods - because of the wonderful benefits of healthy eating , but sometimes the task of giving them a healthy meal seems so overwhelming, we feel defeated before we even begin. We just want some basic, easy to understand healthy eating guidelines which will help us build healthy eating habits.

I must confess that I take a very basic approach in preparing food for my family. When I prepare a meal, I try to make sure that the plate has the following:

• Protein – I try to imagine protein to fill ¼ of the plate, making up ¼ of the meal.
• Carbohydrate – Again, this should fill ¼ of the plate.Veggies – These should fill the remaining ½ of the plate.

Using this approach ensures that my family gets just the right amount of everything. I also try to use different colours on the plate as this ensures we're getting lots of different vitamins. It also looks great!

For more healthy eating guidelines and a quick and simple reference to healthy eating, you will enjoy the Healthy Eating Pyramid which gives us a very good idea of what foods we should be eating more of and in what quantities. You can download this printable food pyramid for free.

Healthy Eating Tips

Here are some tips to help you follow your healthy eating plan:

General

• Limit sugar intake.
• Balance blood sugar by eating foods that release their sugars slowly.
• Never skip breakfast
- this is made easy with our healthy breakfast menu ideas.
• Avoid processed foods.
• Limit salt intake.
• Try to avoid food additives – try to keep it as natural as possible. Food additives can trigger a host of negative side-effects from hyperactivity in children (ADD) to increased risk of cancer.
• Try to avoid artificial sweeteners.
• Eat protein with carbohydrates – it slows down the release of sugar into your blood which helps you stay fuller for longer.

Proteins

• Eat low fat dairy products.
• Eat more nuts and seeds.
• Eat more fish.

Carbohydrates

• 5 a day – 5 servings of fruits & veggies – try to eat them raw or lightly cooked.
• Eat as many raw or lightly cooked fruits & veggies as possible to minimise nutrient loss.
• Eat more beans, lentils and seed veggies.
• Eat wholegrain/wholemeal breads, cereals & pastas.
• Add colour to your diet – eat foods of different colours.
• Choose fruit or chopped veggies as a snack.

Fats

• Limit fat intake – eating too much saturated and hydrogenated fats causes an increased risk of heart disease, cancer & inflammatory diseases.
• Eat more essential fats.
• Avoid burnt and fried foods & food containing trans fats. They destroy Vitamins C&E.

Drinks

• Drink at least 6 glasses of water, diluted fruit juice, herbal or fruit teas.
• Limit caffeine intake. Coffee inhibits iron absorption.
• Limit alcohol intake. It destroys B vitamins.
• Avoid fizzy and artificial drinks. Drink only 100% fruit juice – even better is to dilute it with water.

I’ve really tried to get these healthy eating guidelines across in a clear and simple way and hope I have accomplished that. Remember to take it step by step, focusing on one thing at a time. Once you understand these healthy eating guidelines and start implementing them in your daily cooking, it becomes easier and easier. Pretty soon it’ll be second nature to you!

Healthy Eating Guidelines Additional Resources

For some more quality information on a practical approach to healthy eating habits, juicing and physical fitness, I recommend this great site by Nehemiah Maxwell: Healthy Eating Habit - You will never be healthy, eating healthy foods occasionally. You have to make healthy eating a habit if you want to obtain nutritional health.

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An information website on the destructive force of free radicals, the magical healing power of antioxidants, wellness and how to greatly improve your health and longevity with antioxidant-rich foods, proper eating habits and following a healthy lifestyle!

Learning to eat healthy is a skill just like riding a bicycle. The more you think about it and do it the easier and more enjoyable it becomes.

When the digestion process is inhibited due to illness, malabsorption or inactivity the abdomen undergoes immense stress from the muscles, getting an abdomen massage is a good habit, visit Amatouch - A site dedicated to the promotion of relaxation and wellbeing through massage therapy and reflexology treatments.

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