What you ingest has a direct impact on both your physical and mental state so this page is dedicated to a very important aspect of our lives as it impacts all areas.

The three keys to a healthy diet are:

1. Get active and be a healthy weight: Eat the right amount of calories for how active you are, so that you balance the energy you consume with the energy you use. If you eat or drink too much, you’ll put on weight. If you eat and drink too little, you’ll lose weight.
2. Eat the correct foods: Eat a wide range of foods to ensure that you’re getting a balanced diet and that your body is receiving all the nutrients it needs.
3. Keep your body hydrated

Thousands of books have been written trying to tell us what we should or shouldn’t be eating to stay healthy, thousands of diets have been tried to transform people’s bodies by changing their diets. I am not going to try and show what’s out there or what the best ones are because it depends on the person. If you find a diet that works for you and it is healthy and sustainable then use it.

Switching to a healthy diet doesn’t have to be all or nothing. To help you stay with a diet plan, know that you don’t have to be perfect, you can still eat foods you enjoy, and try take it slow, you don’t have to change everything all at once. See your healthy diet as a number of small, manageable steps – like adding a salad once a day, reducing the sugar in your coffee over time. As your small changes become habit, you can continue to add more healthy choices.

1. Get active and be a healthy weight

Being overweight or obese can lead to health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, certain cancers, heart disease and stroke. Being underweight could also affect your health.

Your body weight (or rather body fat percentage) is a simple energy balance.

Energy balance: In (food) = Out (basal metabolism and exercise) + accumulation (additional body weight)

If the energy in is greater than the energy out, it must be stored somewhere and your body stores energy in the form of fat.

In

According to this, it doesn’t matter in what form you consume the energy, just how much you consume… This is true to a point.

The “poor quality” foods, may have the same calorie count as “good quality foods”, but they will make you feel worse, will be quicker for your body to process leaving you with peaks and troughs in energy levels, and may not have the required nutrients that the body needs.

Everything in moderation. This means eating only as much food as your body needs. You should feel satisfied at the end of a meal, but not stuffed. Constantly stuffing yourself stretches your stomach and you end up eating more and more. Reduce the amount you eat for a while and you will find that you don’t feel like eating as much as you previously did. It also means eating foods that you enjoy but not overindulging in them, for example, eating bacon for breakfast once a week could be considered moderation if you not eating a lot of other fatty foods with it, and having a healthy lunch and dinner – but not if you follow it with a box of donuts and a sausage pizza.

These tips may help keep in moderation

• Don’t think of certain foods as “off-limits.” When you ban certain foods from your diet, it’s natural to want those foods more, and then feel like a failure if you give in to temptation. Start by reducing portion sizes of the unhealthy foods and eat them less often. As you reduce your intake of unhealthy foods, you may find yourself craving them less and when you do have them, you may find that you don’t enjoy them as much or that your body reacts badly to them, this will help you have them less.
• Take your time. Slow down and enjoy your food, think of food as nourishment rather than just something to gulp down. It takes time for your brain to tell your body that it has had enough, so eat slowly and stop eating before you feel full.
• Eat with others when possible. Eating alone, especially in front of the TV or computer, often leads to mindless overeating.
• Limit unhealthy snack foods that you have at hand. Be careful about the foods you keep at home, in your desk drawer, in the car. It’s more challenging to eat in moderation if you have unhealthy snacks and treats close by. Instead, surround yourself with healthy choices and when you’re ready to reward yourself with a special treat, go out and get it. You can also start by making it very difficult to get to the snacks you do have at hand.
• Control emotional eating. We don’t always eat just to satisfy our hunger. We often use food to try and relieve stress or cope with unpleasant emotions such as sadness, loneliness, or boredom. Finding healthier ways to manage stress and emotions, will help you regain control over the food you eat.
• Alcohol is also high in calories, so having this in moderation is also important and can help you to control your weight. Avoid overindulging every weekend, rather have a good glass of wine with dinner, you’ll enjoy it more, feel better the morning after… there are a number of other health benefits of reduced overindulgence.

Out

Physical activity can help you to maintain weight loss or be a healthy weight. Being active doesn’t have to mean hours at the gym: you can find ways to fit more activity into your daily life. For example, taking the stairs instead of the lift, when walking, making it a brisk walk.

After getting active, remember not to reward yourself with a treat that is high in energy. If you feel hungry after activity, choose foods or drinks that are lower in calories, but still filling and nutritious

2. Eat the correct foods

While some extreme diets may suggest otherwise, we all need a balance of protein, fat, carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, and minerals in our diets to sustain a healthy body. You don’t need to eliminate certain categories of food from your diet, but rather select the healthiest options from each category.

Eat a variety of natural products (more fruit and veg)

Fruits and vegetables are low in calories and nutrient dense, containing vitamins, minerals and other nutrients (including fiber, potassium, folate, and vitamin A and C) that help prevent heart disease, cancer and a host of other illnesses. The best way to get all the various nutrients is to eat fruits and vegetables of different colors.

Some tips to increase your intake:

• Add antioxidant-rich berries to your breakfast cereal
• Eat a tasty fruit salad for dessert
• Swap your usual french fries/chips, rice or pasta side dish for a colorful salad or side of vegetables
• Replace processed snack foods with vegetables such as carrots, snow peas, or cherry tomatoes
• Find recipes to make vegetables more tasty

Eliminate trans fats and cut down on saturated fat:

We all need some fat in our diet, but it’s important to pay attention to the type of fat we’re eating. There are three main types of fat: trans, saturated and unsaturated; and these have varying impacts on health. In short, unsaturated fat is preferred to saturated fat, both of which are preferred to trans-fat.

Trans fats

This is the worst type of dietary fat. Trans fats are a byproduct of hydrogenation, used to turn healthy oils into solids and to prevent them from becoming rancid. Trans fats have no known health benefits and there is no safe level of consumption, they have therefore been banned by a number of countries. You can find trans fats in the following, so look out on the labels:

• Cakes, pies and cookies (especially with frosting)
• Biscuits.
• Margarine
• Crackers
• Microwave popcorn
• Doughnuts.

Saturated fats

Saturated fat is found in many foods, such as:

• hard cheese
• cakes
• biscuits
• sausages
• cream
• butter
• lard
• pies.

Try to cut down on your saturated fat intake, and choose foods that contain unsaturated fats instead

Unsaturated fats

These can be found in:

• vegetable oils,
• oily fish
• avocados.

When you’re having meat, choose lean cuts and cut off any visible fat.

Cut down on sugars

Regularly consuming foods and drinks high in sugar increases your risk of obesity, tooth decay, and a number of other health issues.

Many packaged foods and drinks contain surprisingly high amounts of free sugars. Cut down on:

• sugary fizzy drinks
• alcoholic drinks
• sugary breakfast cereals
• cakes
• biscuits
• pastries
• adding sugar to your coffee

Eat at the correct times

3. Keep your body hydrated

We need to drink plenty of fluids to stop us getting dehydrated. It is often recommended to drink 2 litres every day in addition to the fluid we get from the food we eat. All non-alcoholic, non-caffeinated drinks count, but water is the healthiest choice.

Try to avoid sugary soft and fizzy drinks that are high in added sugars and calories, and are also bad for teeth. Even unsweetened fruit juice and smoothies are high in free sugar.

The daily intake should increase in warm weather or when we are physically active.