Health and food: Making an informed choice of food items part I

Eat healthy and eat plenty of nutritious food. Eating unhealthy food will lead to a host of diseases and sometimes death. As a rule of thumb, eating packaged foods and fast foods is bad. 

How to choose healthy foods

Pick out vegetables and fruits you are safe there. Vegetables and fruits have lots of essential minerals and vitamins that your body ordinarily does not process. You also need your daily dose of carbohydrates and proteins in addition to fats. Make sure you choose healthy fats that are monounsaturated fats and not trans fats or saturated fats. Olive oil, nuts and fish contain good fats while deep fried foods and animal meat contain bad fats.

Many reasons exist why one should avoid packaged foods and fast foods. The fast foods contain plenty of sugar and additives, preservative and coloring many of which are not good for your healthy existence. They have lots of trans fats and saturated fats. 

Balance your food

Food must contain enough carbohydrates because these are metabolized within the body and become energy. The proportion of this energy source must be 30 –40% while proteins that take part in the tissue building process must be 25 – 35 %. The rest of your food is made of fats. Fats are important because they play a significant role in metabolizing of vitamins and in synthesis of hormones.

Proteins, carbs and fats

Whole grain food items are best source for carbohydrates. Among fruits bananas is the preferred item especially for those who are training for an event. For your fats, take nuts, olive oil and seeds (example flax seeds and groundnuts). Proteins are essential for cell and tissue building process. Use lean meat, beans, grams and pulses to give you your proteins. You can eat leafy green vegetables in plenty and be sure that you have got plenty of nourishment.

Remember, you need at least 2453 Calories of food (for men), otherwise your body goes into starvation mode. For women, the minimum is 1963 Calories.

For more articles refer these given in the list below.

Article 1  Article 2

Article 3 Article 4 Article 5