What is a healthy diet?

Let’s begin with the most basic questions of all… What is it in food which our minds and bodies need? Well, the answer comes in six parts: - Carbohydrates – Protein – Fat – Vitamins – Minerals – Fibre.

Naturally, different foods contain different amounts and combinations of these six. Some are high in protein or carbohydrates, for example, while others are low in fibre or fat. It can all seem very confusing, it isn’t really. All you need to know are a few simple facts, then it’s easy to:

(a) avoid what’s bad for you;

(b) choose a balanced, healthy diet.

Fibre

Adults need 30 grammes of fibre per day. Why? Because it helps the digestive system to work properly and protects it against diseases like cancer. Here’s a list of foods which have a high fibre content (notice that they’re all grown either directly or originally in the ground): - Vegetables – Nuts – Cereals – Beans – Fruit – Wholemeal bread – Pasta.

Fat

There are two kinds of fat – saturated and unsaturated. The healthy kind is unsaturated and you can find this in fish which contain a lot of oil (e.g. trout and mackerel), nuts, soya oil and some kinds of margarine. Saturated fat, on the other hand, is found in meat, dairy products, crisps, cakes, biscuits and chocolate. Too much of this variety can cause your body serious problems.

Here’s how:

(a) Fat contains a lot of calories and too much of these can make you overweight. Seriously overweight people often suffer from a long list of health problems.

(b) Fat also contains cholesterol. Too much of this can gradually start to block your arteries. This means that your heart has to work harder than usual to pump blood around your body. The result: heart disease and in some severe cases, heart attacks.

To reduce the saturated fat in your diet: (1) Grill food, don’t fry it; (2) Choose low-fat products (cheeses, milk, etc.) whenever possible.