Eating healthy is essential for a healthy lifestyle. But it can be difficult to know where to start. To help you out, here are 20 healthy eating habits that you can adopt right now. First, make sure to eat a variety of vegetables, especially dark green, red, and orange vegetables.
Aim for three or more servings a day. Additionally, eat a variety of fruits, aiming for two or more servings a day. Include wholegrain breads and cereals that are high in fiber in your diet. Men should aim for three to six servings a day, while women should aim for two to four servings a day.
Drink skim or low-fat milk and eat low-fat dairy products. It is recommended that men consume about 2500 calories a day (10,500 kilojoules). Women should consume about 2000 calories a day (8400 kilojoules). Try to include at least one starchy food in every main meal.
Starchy foods provide less than half the calories of fat gram for gram. A serving of fresh, canned or frozen fruits and vegetables is 80 g. A serving of dried fruit (which must be kept during meals) is 30 g. A 150 ml glass of fruit juice, vegetable juice, or shake also counts as one serving, but limit the amount you have to no more than 1 glass a day, as these drinks are sugary and can damage your teeth.
Try to eat at least two servings of fish a week, including at least one serving of oily fish. Oily fish is high in omega-3 fats, which may help prevent heart disease. When looking at food labels, more than 22.5 g of total sugars per 100 g means that the food is high in sugar, while 5 g of total sugars or less per 100 g means that the food is low in sugar. Adults and children age 11 and older should not eat more than 6 g of salt (about one teaspoon) a day. Younger children should have even less.
Being overweight or obese can cause health problems such as type 2 diabetes, certain types of cancer, heart disease, and stroke. Being underweight could also affect your health. Start the NHS Weight Loss Plan, a 12-week guide to losing weight that combines tips on healthier eating and physical activity. The combined total of fruit juice drinks, vegetable juices and milkshakes should not exceed 150 ml per day. Eggs are incredibly healthy, especially if you eat them in the morning. Planning and preparing some of the week's meals can ease the burden of deciding what to eat and prevent you from making less healthy choices when you're out and about or when you don't have healthy food on hand. These 20 healthy eating habits from Sweat Trainers can help you get back on track and make healthy food choices part of your daily life.
