What is a healthy diet?
My daughter has decided she wants to eat in a more healthy way. She knows fruits and vegies are good, although she already eats them. In any case she has asked me to buy more berries. I don’t know how good the out-of-season berries are, healthwise. She is doing this because she has been eating a lot of cookies for snacks, and she wants to cut that down. Also, she wants to reduce the amount of ice cream she is eating
Finally, she is thinking of doing more exercise. She did some tonight, but we’ll see how long that lasts. It’s a good thing, anyway.
But what is healthy, as far as diet goes? Is it all about fat and the right amino acids and anti-oxidants and stuff that keeps cancer away? Is it about being a vegan or a vegetarian? Is it about weight or something else? Are there other things to be considered when figuring out what “healthy” is?
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@dpworkin Very good, I usely read some of his too.
Nuts are almost always a good snack, unless you are prone to allergies. Get the unsalted nuts from the baking section not the salted in the can nuts from the snack aisle, or the in the shell nuts.
@dpworkin Jinx, you owe me a Coke.
A sugar cane Mexican Coke from my neighborhood carniceria!
I think that eating healthy is as simple as eating in moderation and balance, the good things as well as the bad. Also, I think it is individual- what may be good for you may not be good for someone else depending on any conditions or diseases one might have.
Eat whole foods and a variety of them – no processed stuff, no sugary drinks, no fast food, nothing that will freak your body out – it’s all about fruits and veggies and grains and some protein (as an informed vegan, meat and chicken in the U.S. are a nightmare – you can read Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer) and supplements (vitamins and minerals and flax oil and calcium and D3 and probiotic powder, etc.).
This is a berry delicious idea…I wash fresh blueberries and fill them in snack size ziplock baggies and freeze. Frozen bite size treats!
COOL BEANS huh!!
Here is good advice you won’t hear many places:
Don’t drink too much fruit juice.
Orange juice and grape juice are really high in sugars. They are good in small amounts, but people who try to get healthy sometimes go nuts with these, and end up with a higher sugar intake than before they dieted.
Stay away from Mexican food. Amazingly high in sugars and flour.
Keep your salt low, and walk a lot, and you will be amazed at the results.
@OneMoreMinute This is a berry delicious idea…I wash fresh blueberries and fill them in snack size ziplock baggies and freeze
Ummm, blueberries!
Lay them on a cookie sheet so they freeze separately, not as a big chuck! Works for corn, asparagus, cherries…EVERYTHING!!
@jaytkay I have a side by side fridge/freezer, so cookie sheets don’t fit.
I just take out the baggie of frozen blueberries and slam on the counter. It scares the blueberries so much, they instantly unstick!
Stick mostly to fresh foods and stay away from things packed full of perservatives. Eat very little red meat. Spinach is a good replacement. Chicken, eggs and fish are great choices. Drink plenty of water and definetly kick drinking soda. People don’t realize but when your body is well hydrated it helps with weight loss and helps the over all health of your body. Sodas do the opposite. She may get bloated a little at first because her body isn’t use to drinking so much water and she’ll pee a lot but then her body will get use to it and use the water as it was meant too. In a short while she will notice how nice her skin is. (of course this is assuming she doesn’t drink 8 glasses of water a day) Avoid greasy food.
Fruits known to help with dieting are grapefruits and apples. There is another fruit but I don’t quite remember.
“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
It’s partially a matter of needs and partially a matter of individual biology. Generally speaking the best diet involves vegetables, fish, good quality meats, water, milk, bits of fruits and sugars; everything we know to be wonderful and full of rainbows basically.
Something that often isn’t made mention of however is the importance of adapting a diet to oneself. It’s been shown repeatedly that our genetics and physiology affects our digestion. Some people are naturally more prone to becoming fat, others are short and thin yet become confused by the fact that they’re easily fatigued despite following the same basic diet as that of those who are taller and burlier than them. Sex also plays a role. Males are typically known to metabolise certain proteins faster and also gain muscle mass rather than fat mass more easily than females. It’s all quite specific to the individual. So though the clinically prescribed guidelines of a diet rich in vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates and so on is to be followed to some extent, always take note of the fact that they remain a guideline and not a rule that applies to everyone.
In short, a healthy diet is one that is designed for the individual so as to provide them with the optimum quantities of what is necessary to live and maintain a healthy fulfilling lifestyle.
The whole idea is “clean” food. Meaning steam your chicken or grill your meat. High portions of vegetables steamed. Salad with low oil dressing. Avoid overeating carrots and corn in high quantities.
Carbohydrates can be eaten midday/morning only.
Read labels carefully and keep fat below 2%. Yoghurt’s and dairy must be “fat free” not low fat. Also check sodium, sugar and fat in products. There are guidelines on the net. Cottage cheese fat free. There are snacker breads for dieters with low sodium and low fat content.
Check so called “healthy foods” like muesli for fat and sugar content. It is better to stick with zero sugar and low fat cereals. Like natural Oats.
Go for five fruits and five vegetables a day.
Drink lots of water to minimise bloating.
A great weight loss booster is to liquidize cucumber and celery sticks each morning Acts as a natural diuretic but the celery maintains potassium levels. So you start feeling a bit thinner already which is encouraging.
No fizzy drinks or artificial drinks unless sugar free.
A half an hour walk a day is excellent exercise as is swimming or rowing. (I mean to keep it simple or my post will never end!).
Lot’s of natural whole-grains, vegetables, good positive attitude towards ones body; keep hydrated. If I feel good about myself I just seem to look better! (?). Vegetarian is always better, for me anyway. Education about food is a good start!
@Justine I think your right. Thanks
@Pandora yeah I also think so loll. Thanks for reminding me, it’s something about the enzyme that helps digest food or something? burns fat? I also heard cayenne pepper speeds metabolism. I am currently trying to shred a few kgs!
This is not about losing weight. That may be my problem, but she’s naturally thin, like her mother. They can eat as much as they want and not put on weight.
This is about health. We already do eat a lot of vegies, and those that we eat are always fresh, except peas, or corn or other vegies I have frozen myself. Most of our vegies and meats are organic, if that matters. I don’t think we eat a lot of meat, but we could probably cut that back a bit. I know the kids don’t eat much.
I do like stir-fried vegies, though. I use canola or olive oil. I like cooking with butter. That’s probably our biggest source of fat. Worse, I use the high-fat European style of butter. Oh well.
@wundayatta oh dear, then scrap my answer sigh :) oh I meant to mention that berries are great anti oxidants whatever they are.
@wundayatta Sorry, so many people go on a health kick when trying to loose weight. It sounds like they are already on a healthy diet. There are a few foods that are currently said to fight cancer. One of them sounds odd, but its coffee. Decaf works the same. There is the usual round of suspects, oranges, grapes, blueberries, etc.
Only how much you need to eat is unknown. Some seem to work only on some types of cancer. So you may eat enough for one type but get another type of cancer. Over all, eating a balanced diet, should suffice. (btw, ask a million dietians what is a balance diet and you’ll get a few hundred ideas) Eating healthy does not mean she has to cut out icecream. So long as she’s not sitting there eating it all day, everyday, she should be fine. A treat every once in a while if fine so long as she’s not binging.
Avoiding smoking, suntanning and excessive drinking or foods packed in perservatives will probably help most. Its amazing how many people get on a health kick and then burn thier bodies in the sun in the name of looking healthy. Later they discover they have skin cancer.
The one on the National Diabetes Association’s website.
I read about one guy who said that wild blueberries and some nut—walnuts? That’s what you need to stay perfectly healthy. He goes and picks his wild blueberries (only wild will do since the farmed ones are fat like us and are not in good shape) and freezes them so he has some for all winter (must be a big freezer).
I bought a lot of berries today. I also bought mangoes. I think mango is a wonderful fruit. I wonder if it appears on anybody’s healthy diet.
FYI girls have a high need for calcium. You can search for what foods are calcium rich. Girls have slightly different nutritional needs than boys.
@wundayatta have you enjoyed a mango shake? peeled & cut up fresh mango and natural vanilla ice cream in blender. it is sure to make you irresistable and fortunate and younger!
@OneMoreMinute Oh yes! Many a time.
But I’d love to hear more explanation on the irresistable and younger part! ;-)
@wundayatta Well, I can’t speak for you, but this is how they certainly effect me!!! LOL!
Kick it up with a shot of Amarretto into it then!
Tried fresh mango salsa yet? not from a jar.
The first time I brought that to my family reunion, everyone was gobbling it up, you’d think there wasn’t any other food there!
@wundayatta most tropical fruits are really-really good for the skin. that’s the younger part!
@OneMoreMinute It’s just that I could do with a bit more irresistability around the house.
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