A healthy diet is synonymous to healthy eating But the great irony with eating healthy is that its benefits are obvious, yet it's easier said than done. For example, it is common knowledge that excessive sweets are bad for one's health, but who gives this a thought when confronted by the ice cream challenge one sizzling hot summer day?

Most of us know what a healthy diet is, yet how many people really walk the talk? To illustrate, you may feel immediately nauseous upon consuming a known toxic substance, but the impact of eating a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts daily may take days or even weeks to show up! And when it does, it's but human nature to blame it on something else!

This explains why the fattening of America took several generations, although experts only discovered it to be an epidemic in the last few years. We will go into this matter in much detail later, for now let's content ourselves with trying to really understand why it's so important to adopt a healthy diet. To accomplish this feat though, we will need to begin from the basics.

Let us ask ourselves the question of all questions, what did your mother tell you about what's a healthy diet? Not trying to be Freudian here or anything like that! If your mother were like mine, she would have fed you the whole gamut of the following diatribe (my mother is an A.B. Social Work graduate).

She would characteristically begin by telling you that recommendations and guidelines for healthy diet vary from time to time (often reflecting new research or a new line of thinking), but the basic rules have not changed. And they are? Low fat

Cutting down on all fats from fatty and fried foods, butter, cream, margarine and oils is agreed on by nutritionists the world over as a way of making the modern healthy diet. Lots of starchy carbohydrate
Rice, pasta, potatoes, bread and cereals play a crucial role in our health.
High fiber
Not just bran! Fiber, that largely indigestible part of our food and often the part that really gets us chewing, is responsible for so much good. It not only keeps our insides moving smoothly but it helps to lower cholesterol, prevent gallstones and bowel cancer, and keeps our weight in check.

Whole meal and grain breads are full of it, as are brown rice, barley, lentils, beans and vegetables are all synonymous to a healthy diet. To start your day, there is a wonderful array of wholegrain and bran breakfast cereals.

Vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants

Vegetables, fruit and grains carry an abundance of vitamins, minerals and numerous other natural substances (called phytochemicals) which scientists are only just beginning to discover.

Variety
Variety doesn't mean 10 different cereal packs in your cupboard, but rather a variety of botanically different foods. Pasta, bread, puffed wheat and couscous all look and taste different but are all derived from the one basic (but versatile) grain (wheat). So they all provide similar nutrients.

Substituting other grains like oats, barley, corn or rye for some wheat adds diversity to your diet and ensures a wider range of nutrients. The nutrients you miss from one food, you can make up from another.

Moderate sugar and sweets
Excessive intake of sugar is definitely not a good part of a healthy diet.

A diet laden with salt is definitely not a healthy diet. It's not until you avoid salt for a few weeks that you notice how it masks the true flavor of foods. As 75 per cent of our total salt intake comes from everyday commercial foods (including bread, biscuits, cereals, butter, deli meats and snack foods), it is imperative to buy salt-reduced or no-added-salt products.

Healthy Diet

South Beach Diet
Lose fat not muscle on the Zone Diet Advantage!
The Slim Fast Plan - eDiets.com

Information on this site is provided for informational purposes and is not meant to substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or dietitian. Information and statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

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