Healthy eating can be easy and enjoyable

Healthy eating should be easy and enjoyable. You could even become passionate about it!

To get you started, here are some easy-to-follow tips from the Heart Foundation for enjoying a healthy balanced diet.

  • Choose variety. A key to healthy eating is to enjoy a wide variety of foods from a range of food groups.
  • Include vegetables, whole grains, fruit, nuts and seeds every day. These foods should make up the bulk of each meal you eat. Add dried peas or beans, lentils or tinned beans to 2 meals each week. Snack on fresh fruit and vegetables and unsalted nuts.
  • Select healthier fats and oils. Unsaturated fats such as olive, sunflower, canola, soybean, sesame and peanut oils are healthier options than saturated and trans fats. Choose margarine not butter, and opt for low-fat milk and yoghurt or calcium added non-dairy foods. Eat oily fish at least twice a week, and select lean meats when you're shopping.
  • Ease up on sugary, fatty and salty take-away meals. Limit these to once a week or less. Avoid eating a lot of salty, fatty and sugary snacks such as crisps, cakes, biscuits, lollies and chocolate. No need to add salt to cooking or at the table.
  • Drink mainly water. Limit sugary drinks, such as soft drinks and some sports drinks. If you drink alcohol, stick to 2 or fewer alcoholic drinks a day. More than this puts you at increased risk of heart disease, stroke and high blood pressure.
  • Stay with a healthy weight. Balance regular physical activity with healthy eating that matches your activity level.
  • Follow the Heart Foundation Tick Program. Look for foods with the Heart Foundation’s Tick on the manufacturer’s label. Tick-approved products are generally a healthier choice than other foods of the same type. A bread with the Tick, for example, will be a healthier choice of bread, compared with some other breads. To be eligible for a Tick, foods must meet the Heart Foundation’s nutrition and labelling standards and are independently audited to prove they meet strict standards for their food type.

 

myDr, 2003
©Copyright: myDr, UBM Medica Australia, 2000-2012. All rights reserved.


Last Reviewed: 29 October 2010

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