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Basics of a Healthy
Diet
What’s in a
healthy diet? It’s hard to know these days,
isn’t it? Regardless of the type of diet you
eat, most all nutrition professionals agree on
three basic concepts:
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Balance: Providing balance in your diet involves
an intentional inclusion of different foods in
proportion to each other based on the value that
each food has to your total goal. For some, food
choices might include a specific macronutrient
balance. Most health organizations recommend a
diet consisting of a balance from Carbohydrate
at 55-65%, Protein at 10-15% and Fats at no
higher than 30% of total calories. Other
programs sometimes recommend that the nutrient
balances be altered to a 40: 30: 30% or 75: 15:
10% Carbohydrate: Protein: Fat total calorie
percent balance, respectively. Lastly, balance
refers to choosing healthier foods more often
than foods that are less healthy.
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Moderation: With obesity
incidence growing at epidemic rates, one of the
biggest concerns for Americans should be portion
control. Moderation first involves learning how
much food is enough and how much is too much.
Many dieting programs are very successful simply
because they are very good at helping clients
learn to plan food portion sizes appropriately.
Because the feeling of fullness in the stomach
can take as long as twenty minutes to register
to the brain, it is important to regulate how
much food is ingested before waiting for a
full-feeling. Moderation, therefore, also
involves learning the distinct difference
between hunger satisfaction and fullness.
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Variation: All healthy diets involve the
inclusion of several food-types. The primary
reason for this is health. Including a
wide-variety of foods increases your likelihood
of obtaining the required amounts of essential
nutrients. It is well recognized that vitamin
and mineral composition is food-specific. While
some fruits are high in vitamin C, they are low
in Calcium. Also, variation helps to avoid
food-boredom: trying new foods can be
interesting and exciting.
Who knows, you might discover that you really do
like spinach!
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