8 Quick Tips to Healthier Eating

Everyone brags on about healthy eating but why shouldn't they? It is in your best interests to keep yourself fit and healthy so that you can achieve what you want and tackle whatever life throws back at you.

The two key things to a healthy diet are:

- eating the right amount of food for how active you are

- eating a range of food to ensure you are getting a balanced diet.

Try out these 8 healthy eating tips and they will help you feel your best!

Having a balanced diet is eating a variety of food all in reasonable quantities.

This includes fruit, vegetables, wholemeal bread, wholegrain cereal, meat, fish, eggs, lentils and some dairy foods.

These guidelines may be unsuitable for some people that may have special dietary requirements for example the young and the eldery.

EAT BREAKFAST

Breakfast is considered the most important meal of the day and nowadays the rush to get to work and school may mean breakfast is skipped.

Breakfast gives us the energy to face the day ahead as well as nutrients that we need in order to keep our bodies healthy.

Missing a meal does not help us lose weight as research actually shows it can help control our weight.

A bowl of cereal with sliced fruit or a bowl of porridge is enough to give us some of the minerals and vitamins needed for good health

DRINK WATER

Drink water. And lots of it.

Although we dont realise it, water does great wonders for our body. We need it to keep from getting dehydrated, aids our digestion and help keep our organs functioning. It is reccomended to drink around 6-8 glass of water a day, either in pure form or in other drinks such as tea or coffee.

Alcohol should also be drunk moderately to keep our bodies healthy. Too much alcohol can cause weight gain and other problems such as liver damage.

EAT MORE FRUIT & VEGETABLES

The problem we have of today is that we have too many processed foods that we are forgetting the basic fruit and veg that keeps us healthy.

Keep up the reccomendation to eat 5 portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables a day.

Try to have more fruit and veg either fresh, frozen, tinned, dried or juiced - these all count.

Great ways to meet your 5 a day are:

- drinking a glass of juice

- adding sliced fruit to your cereal

- having salad as a side at lunch

- snacking on any fruit

- having a portion of vegetables to your evening meal

EAT MORE FISH

Fish is an excellent source of protein and contains many vitamins and minerals aiding healthy living.

Try to have at least two portions of fish a week including a portion of oily fish.

Like fruit and veg, you can have fish fresh, frozen or canned though some canned fish may have a high salt content.

Oily fish are high in omega 3 fatty acids which are essential for a healthy heart. These are important to have in our diet because our bodies cannot produce them.

Examples of oily fish are:

- salmon

- mackerel

- trout

- herring

- sardines

- pilchards

- eel

- fresh tuna

EAT LESS SALT

Try to cut down on salt in all your food. Get rid of your salt shaker that has its place on your table!

Having too much salt in your diet is not good for your blood pressure which is more likely to lead to heart disease or stroke.

High salt content is classed as anything more than 1.5g of salt per 100g. Read your food labels!

EAT LESS SUGAR AND SATURATED FAT

Sugars can also be described as sucrose, glucose, fructose, maltose, hydrolysed starch, invert sugar, corn syrup and honey so watch out for these on labels.

We do need fat in our diet, just not saturated fat. Saturated fat leads to high cholesterol in the blood which in turn leads to an increased risk of heart disease. Try to have unsaturated fat instead to lower your cholesterol levels.

Examples of unsaturated fat are:

- vegetable oils (including rapeseed, sunflower and olive)

- oily fish

- nuts and seeds

- avocadoes

High fat content is classed as anything more than 20g per 100g

High saturated fat content is classed as anything more than 5g per 100g

High sugar content is classed as anything more than 15g per 100g

Want to know more on the benefits of nuts and seeds? Browse through these guides...

BASE YOUR MEALS ON STARCHY FOODS

Starchy foods are a good source of energy as well as giving us a range of nutrients in our diet. Starchy foods also contain fibre, calcium, iron and B vitamins. Although starchy foods are thought to be fattening, they are not, as they contain less than half the calories of fat. It is the added fat to the starchy food that increases the calorie content.

Starchy foods help us feel fuller for longer because our bodies digest these more slowly.

Examples of starchy foods are:

- wholegrain breakfst cereals

- wholemeal and wholegrain bread and pitta

- wholewheat pasta and brown rice

GET ACTIVE!

Being underweight and overweight is not good for you body. Being at any extreme affects your health.

If you are thinking of losing weight, remember:

- only eat as much food as you need

- eat healthy, always choose the healthy option - less fat, less sugar, less salt

- be more active

Try to walk more where possible, this will help use up calories and control your weight.

Don't crash diet as this will do your body more harm than good.

Change your lifestyle gradually and build up your amount of activity every day