WHAT IS HEALTHY EATING?

To me it’s the idea of being healthy from the inside out. Eating lots of fruit and veg, cooking from scratch where possible and eating less additives and preservatives.

The NHS use the Eatwell Guide/Plate and their daily guidelines are 2000kcal for a woman and 2500kcal for a man.

 

NHS Guidelines:

Eat at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day, they should make up a third of the food we eat daily. Full of vitamins, minerals and fibre. These can be fresh, tinned, dried or juiced (only 150ml juice or smoothie a day).

 

Starchy carbohydrates should also make up a third of the food we eat daily and they advise basing our meals on them. Potatoes, bread, rice, pasta, oats, barley, rye, wheat, couscous, bulgur wheat etc Wholewheat pasta and whole grain or brown bread contains more fibre, as does leaving the skins on potatoes.

 

The last third is made up of:

Milk and dairy (or alternatives that are unsweetened and calcium-fortified) foods like cheese and yoghurt are good sources of protein and calcium. They advise picking low fat and low sugar options,  semi-skimmed, 1% fat or skimmed milk, low fat hard cheeses and cottage cheese. Read the labels carefully as low fat can often have increased sugar.

 

Other protein sources are beans, pulses, fish, eggs, meat, tofu. The NHS advise lean cuts of meat and skinless poultry where possible and to eat less red and processed meats like bacon, ham and sausages.

 

2 portions of fish are encouraged each week, with one being an oily fish like salmon or mackerel, rich in omega-3 fatty acids.

 

Oils and spreads should be unsaturated as we generally eat too much saturated fat. Saturated fats tend to be solid at room temperature and come from animal sources like meat and dairy. Unsaturated fats include vegetable, rapeseed, olive and sunflower oils.

 

What do you do every day to eat healthy?