What is a Healthy Diet?

What is a Healthy Diet?

 

Walking into most grocery stores these days can be completely overwhelming. Not only are the THOUSANDS of products surrounding you, there can sometimes be dozens of different types of products just like or similar to the one you need. Knowing which foods are good and which are not can sometimes be really tricky, especially if you just buy into the advertising claims on the front labels while ignoring the actual ingredients list and nutritional table. The American public definitely faces challenges when it comes to choosing the right foods, however if educated to understand the characteristics of a healthy diet people can become confident in choosing their foods and can become equipped to overcome these challenges.



 A healthy and nutritious diet is simply an eating pattern with the following five characteristics: adequacy, balance, calorie control, moderation, and variety. To elaborate on these characteristics, Nutrition Concepts and Controversies: The Challenge of Choosing Foods outlines:

• Adequacy means providing all the essential nutrients, fiber, and energy in the amounts sufficient to maintain health and body weight. This means getting enough of each type of food groups to get the nutrients your body needs for that day.
• Balance refers to the amounts of one type of food in relation to others, as a person needs a adequate dose each of more than 40 nutrients, but not too much of one, or too little of another.
• Calorie control is basically making sure energy intakes do not exceed energy needs, or in other words ensures energy intakes (foods eaten) balance energy usage for body functions and any physical activity.
• Moderation just means setting limits with certain foods that are heavy with saturated fats, cholesterol, added sugars and salt and not exceeding them. keeping consumption of these foods low enough for them not to have a negative impact on your health.
• Variety, the last of the five nutritious diet characteristics, is certainly not the least. As humans, we are creatures of habit, however optimum health levels require a wide selection of foods from day to day to provide the range of nutrition that we need for our bodies to work the way they are meant to.  

In "The Building Blocks of a Healthy Diet" author S. Richards describes an ideal nutritious diet that suits the majority of people with a multitude of short and long term health benefits. The Mediterranean diet is rich in plant based foods, (fruits and vegetables, whole grains) and fish, with some olive oil, but  is low in meat and dairy products. People would be wise to look into this diet and make changes to their personal diets to incorporate more of these wholesome types food that will be more beneficial to the body.

NOTE: It has long been established that diet fads do not work. However, long term lifestyle changes  that incorporate eating habits that include nutrient dense foods, like those in the Mediterranean diet while incorporating the other five characteristics will result in optimal health levels compared to those that don't.  


There are many challenges people face when confronted with choices about food. While some people struggle with having too many options, or too many unhealthy options due to time constraints or busy schedules, others struggle with not having any options due to the area they are in or their lack of ability to pay for food. Check out this information from the Nation Health Institute's website for more examples of current challenges.
http://www.nhi.org/online/issues/147/healthyfoods.html

Need ideas for healthy and nutritious meals for a busy person such as yourself? Click the link below for lots of healthy and delicious recipes designed to nourish your body and mind.
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/over-100-quick-and-easy-healthy-foods.html

References:

Richards, S. (2009). The building blocks of a healthy diet. Practice Nurse, 38(3), 12-17. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

 

Sizer, F. & Whitney, E. (2013).  Nutrition: Concepts and Controversies (13th ed.).  Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.