- Healthy Eating and Exercise
Our life and health is impacted every day by the food we eat.
Your body needs a constant supply of energy to fuel your
heartbeat, breathing, digestion and to help repair body tissue.
This energy is measured in calories. To maintain a healthy
balance with calorie intake and fat intake in mind, you need to
find a balance in the food you choose to eat.
There are five main food groups which people should be eating a
varied mixture of on a daily in order to maintain healthy
eating. Starchy foods make up one of these groups. Starchy foods
refer to bread, potatoes, rice and pasta. These foods are your
main source of carbohydrates and make up half of your daily
energy intake. You need a sufficient amount of starchy food just
like you need a strong amount of dairy products. Dairy products
are rich in protein and your best source of vitamin D and
Calcium. As well as starchy foods and dairy products you also
need some intake of fats and sugar. Your fat intake should not
exceed 35% but you should not cut it out of your diet completely
as fat is the most energy dense nutrient that your body can get.
Probably the most important out of the five food groups however
is fruit and vegetables. It is said that you should have at
least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. There is
strong evidence that by doing this you are reducing the risk of
things such as heart disease.
There is strong evidence that suggests by eating healthy you
are reducing the risk of illness such as diabetes, obesity,
heart disease and several types of cancer, including bowel
cancer. Having a healthy diet is important and can potentially
extend your life.
Healthy eating can however be overlooked when it comes to
dieting. The image of slim women is all that greets us in
fashion magazines, the music industry and the film industry.
These images are burned into our minds as what we should all
look like and women and men across the country are doing
anything they can to lose weight, including risking their
health.
Every where we look there are new diet fads appearing, this is
especially evident across the internet. The list of these diets
seems never ending and most offer a quick fix to lose weight
fast. One of these diets is the Atkins diet. On the Atkins diet
you are encouraged to eat all types of meat, cheese, eggs and
fats (butter or oils); completely throwing out the fact you are
supposed to keep your fat intake down to around 35%. You are
also told to limit the amount of carbohydrates you eat on this
diet, which again throws out the fact that carbohydrates make up
half of your daily energy intake.
Another diet fad that has grown in popularity is the liquid
diet. Even though medically it is only really safe to go on this
diet if you are going to undergo a medical procedure such as a
colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy; people are using it as a way of
losing weight fast. In certain cases of extreme obesity, a
liquid diet is used to make the person lose weight. A liquid
diet either partially replaces meals or completely does meaning
that your only intake will be fluids such as teas and juices.
A liquid diet could possibly disrupt the natural flow of your
body and will not provide you with enough nutrients, energy or
protein to get you through the day. A liquid diet will also not
teach individuals the requirements of healthy eating to maintain
weight loss over a long period of time.
Diet fads are growing more popular but these are just quick
fixes and will not help you in a long term sense. The best way
in order to loss weight as well as keeping a good balance of the
five food groups is to eat the right foods in the right
quantity. Cut out sugary snacks and replace them with more fruit
intake; vary your diet so you aren't eating the same things over
and over.
As well as eating the right type of food you should also start
a regular exercise programme which will get you in shape faster
than any diet fad will. Regular exercise will not only keep you
healthy it could also be the reason as to why you live longer as
taking regular exercise will help to prevent against things such
as diabetes, heart disease and certain types of cancer.
Medical guidelines state that healthy adults should be getting
at least 30 minutes of intense activity five days a week. This
exercise can be anything from walking, mowing the lawn, dancing,
cycling, any type of sport, aerobics or even weight training.
The key to exercise is finding one that best suits you.
Exercise combined with a good diet, which incorporates all of
the five food groups is all you need to maintain a healthy
lifestyle and to lose the weight that you want.
Author: Helen Cox Website: articlealley.com
