By committing to eating better, you can reduce your risk of many chronic diseases – including heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis and certain cancers – while increasing your energy and stamina. Healthy eating can even lower “bad” LDL cholesterol as much as low-dose statin drugs!

By developing your own plan for healthy eating, you’ll be able to expand your range of healthy choices to include a variety of foods, especially delicious vegetables, grains, and fruits that you may have previously ignored. This article provides guidelines and tips for creating a healthy, satisfying diet.

Tips and advice for a healthy diet

A healthy diet helps improve your overall health and well being. A healthy diet can help you feel better, provide you with more energy, help you stay fit and active, and help you fight stress.

Healthy eating can prevent most cases of heart disease and diabetes and help ward off high blood pressure, osteoporosis, and some forms of cancer.

Eating smart: The first step towards healthy eating

Healthy eating begins with learning how to “eat smart”. — It’s not just what you eat, but how you eat.

• Take time to chew your food: Digestion begins in the mouth. Chewing breaks the food into smaller particles and mixes the food with saliva that contains digestive enzymes. Thorough digestion is key to the absorption of nutrients and to good health! Chew your food slowly, savoring every bite. We tend to rush though our meals, forgetting to actually taste the flavors and feel the textures of what is in our mouths. Reconnect with the joy of eating.
• Avoid stress while eating. When we are stressed, our digestion can be compromised. Avoid eating while working, driving, or watching TV (especially disturbing programs or the news). Also avoid confrontations, serious discussions or worry during meals. If you feel stressed or upset, stop eating and relax before continuing with your meal. Try taking some deep breaths prior to beginning your meal, or light candles and play soothing music to create a relaxing atmosphere.
• Listen to your body: Stop eating when you feel full. It actually takes a few minutes for your brain to tell your body that it has had enough food, so eating slowly can help you get a more accurate read on this, as well. Eating just enough to satisfy your hunger will help you remain alert, relaxed and feeling your best, rather than stuffing yourself into a “food coma”!
• Eat early, eat often: Remember this old saying: breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dinner like a pauper. Starting your day with a healthy breakfast can jumpstart your metabolism, and eating the majority of your daily caloric allotment early in the day gives your body time to work those calories off. Also, eating six small, healthy meals throughout the day, rather than the standard three large meals, can help keep your metabolism going and ward off snack attacks.

Basic Healthy Eating Tips

You don’t need a degree in nutrition to ensure that you get a well-balanced diet that provides the daily nutrients you need – simply focus on six basic food groups:

1. Whole Grains: Whole grains include whole wheat, brown rice, oatmeal, whole grain barley and millet. Avoid food with refined grains including many breads, pastas, and breakfast cereals.
2. Vegetables: Go for the brights: the deeper the color, the greater the concentration of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Dark green and orange vegetables, from broccoli, kale and mustard greens to butternut squash and sweet potatoes, are several excellent choices.
3. Fruits: Enjoy fruits in a number of ways: fresh, canned, frozen, dried, whole, cut-up, or pureed. Fruit juices can contain up to 10 teaspoons of sugar per cup; avoid or dilute with water
4. Milk and other dairy: Choose low-fat dairy products. It is important to choose dairy products that DO NOT contain rBST (bovine growth hormone). Organic dairy is best. If you’re lactose-intolerant, choose lactose-free and lower-lactose products, such as hard cheeses and yogurt.
5. Protein: Vary your healthy eating protein choices with a variety of fish, poultry, eggs, beans, peas, nuts and seeds. Minimize red meats containing high levels of saturated fat.
6. Oils: We’ve been taught to fear fats and oils, but fresh, high quality fats from olive oil, avocado, raw nuts & seeds, coconut and fish actually provide excellent (and necessary) sources of healthy fatty acids in your diet.

Popular guidelines and healthy diet pyramids

Food pyramids are color-coded visual aids to help us understand how to eat more healthily. Most experts believe that the “new” 2005 USDA Food Pyramid has major flaws. The following are some respected alternatives; there are links to these and more in the “Related Links” section below.

The Harvard Healthy Eating Pyramid

The Harvard School of Public Health provides their own Healthy Eating Pyramid, which is intended to fix fundamental flaws in the USDA pyramid. For example, they disagree that it is fine to consume half of our grains as refined starch; they also take issue with lumping together red meat, poultry, fish, and beans, rather than encouraging people to replace red meat with a heart-healthy combination of fish, poultry, beans, and nuts.

The University of Michigan Healing Foods Pyramid

Some foods are believed to have “healing” properties. The University of Michigan Integrative Medicine team developed a Healing Foods Pyramid which emphasizes foods known to have healing benefits or essential nutrients; plant-based choices; balance and variety of color, nutrients, and portion size; support of a healthful environment; and mindful eating.

The MediterrAsian Pyramid

Mediterranean and Asian diets and lifestyle practices have been linked to a lower risk of heart disease and certain cancers. Many experts advocate following a similar diet, and a MediterrAsian food pyramid has been developed to help those with Western diets learn to eat more healthfully.

Vegetarian and Vegan Pyramids

If you’re a vegetarian or a vegan (someone who avoids all forms of animal protein and dairy products), there are also pyramids designed specifically for you. Normal pyramids emphasize protein from animal sources, so it can be difficult for those who avoid animal products to gauge how healthfully they are eating. Plus, vegetarian diets are often lower in fat and higher in fiber. It’s important to find a pyramid that keeps the advantages and special needs of vegetarian diets in mind.

Healthy Diets for Weight Loss

While it would be nice to pop a pill and wake up 20 lbs lighter, the truth is that healthy weight loss takes time and effort, as well as a commitment to lifelong maintenance and “mindful eating”.

Healthy Weight Loss Myths and Facts

MYTH: Fasting is a great way to lose weight.

FACT: Hollywood starlets swear by “fasts” or “cleanses” where they eat practically nothing for days. Starving yourself can help you drop a few pounds fast, but usually you will regain that weight as soon as you start eating again. Also, losing a lot of weight rapidly usually means you’re losing muscle and water rather than fat.

MYTH: To lose weight, stop eating fatty foods.

FACT: Fat-free does not mean calorie-free, and many fat-free versions of your favorite products have the same or more calories as the originals. Fat-free foods are high on the Glycemic index and create a spike in your blood sugar. This promotes weight gain.

MYTH: Sugar-free foods and artificial sweeteners are great for avoiding weight gain.

FACT: Diet soft drinks and artificially-sweetened yogurts, ice cream and other snacks are often lower in calories. But sugar substitutes can have many negative side effects. For example artificial sweeteners may interfere with the body’s natural regulators and make you prone to overindulging in other sweet foods and beverages.

MYTH: Coconut oil is a saturated fat and should be avoided.

FACT: Misinformation about coconut oil’s contribution to raising cholesterol released in the 1950’s gave the coconut a bad name. In reality, fresh, raw coconut oil increases the beneficial HDL cholesterol. Coconut oil contains the medium chain fatty acids which destroys numerous disease causing organisms. Coconut oil is also highly stable under heat, making it perfect for cooking.

Vitamins, minerals and supplements for a healthy diet

Vitamins are organic compounds that your body can’t make itself and must get from food or supplements. Minerals are inorganic substances necessary for the body to function properly.

The following chart explains the different vitamins and minerals needed for a healthy diet, their functions in the body, and their sources:

Essential Vitamins and Minerals for a balanced diet

Vitamin	Function	Sources
Vitamin A (Beta Carotene)	Helps regulate the immune system.	Carrots, peppers, green leafy vegetables such as spinach.
Vitamin C	Essential for the healing of wounds, and the repair and maintenance of cartilage, bones, and teeth.	Citrus fruits, tomatoes and spinach.
Vitamin D	Helps maintains bone health and need for the absorption of calcium. Most people are deficient.	Vitamin-fortified dairy products and cereals, or supplements
Iron	Helps red blood cells carry oxygen to all parts of the body	Green vegetables, beans, poultry and red meat; best sources are supplements
Calcium	Considered one of the most important minerals for the growth, maintenance, and reproduction of the human body.	Dark leafy greens (Collard, kale, spinach, dairy products and supplements
Potassium	Helps with muscle and nervous system function and helps balance water in blood and tissues.	Bananas, other fruits and vegetables
Zinc	Helps in the proper functioning of the immune system and plays a role in the metabolism of carbohydrates.	Red meat and supplements
Magnesium	Helps with muscle and nervous system functioning and the production of energy and protein.	Fruits, vegetables and whole grain

A well-balanced diet will often provide the right amount and type of vitamins and minerals for the body—if you are taking the time to shop for and prepare a “well balanced diet.” containing fresh fruits and vegetables. Many people may benefit from supplements.

Healthy diets for women, children, and seniors

Certain groups – specifically women, children, and seniors – have additional or different nutritional needs. The following chart discusses these differences in greater detail:

Healthy Eating for Women, Children and Seniors

Women	Children	Seniors
Women have specific nutritional needs at different times in their lives – especially during pregnancy, breastfeeding, and menopause. In addition, many diseases common in women – heart disease, breast cancer, and osteoporosis – are affected by diet.	Good nutrition is the bedrock of lifelong health, and it begins in infancy. Getting children to eat well can be difficult. However, there is a lot that parents and children can do to develop and maintain healthy eating habits that last well into adulthood.	Obstacles to proper diet, including emotional, lifestyle and physical factors, crop up as we age. Our metabolism slows down, activity levels are often reduced, and digestive issues can make it hard to process certain vitamins and minerals.

Healthy eating plans to prevent illness

Healthy Diet for a Healthy Heart

A four-pronged approach – eating less fat, less sodium, fewer calories, and more fiber – is a smart way to improve heart health and lower cholesterol.

Certain foods can be very detrimental to a healthy heart diet. The worst offenders are:

• Red meat, pork, or bacon
• Liver and other organ meats
• Fried or overcooked egg yolks
• Full-fat dairy products, such as milk, butter, and ice cream
• Refined sugar and flour products
• Artificial sweeteners

Eggs that are poached, soft-boiled or slightly hard-boiled are a healthy choice. Watch out for the gray coating around the yolk on a hard-boiled egg – that is oxidization! Go for organic Omega-3 enriched eggs from naturally raised chickens.

Diets to help prevent and control diabetes

A healthy diet for diabetic patients is a crucial component to preventing, controlling, and healing diabetes. Both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes are affected by glucose, so a diet for diabetes should keep blood glucose from rising too high or dipping too low. This can be a tough balance to strike, but you can help yourself stay on track by:

• Eating approximately the same amount of food each day
• Eating your meals and snacks at about the same times each day
• Consuming a meal or snack every 2 to 3 hours
• Not skipping meals or snacks
• Balancing carbohydrate foods with healthy protein and fats

Foods that help prevent some cancers

While lifestyle factors such as smoking, alcohol use, exercise level, obesity and heredity play a pivotal role in the risk of developing cancer, substantial information exists about the links between certain types of cancers and nutrition. There are certain foods that appear to have a powerful cancer-preventative effect, including:

• Beans (or legumes) are rich in fiber and contain several chemicals that boost immunity to cancer.
• Some berries have been found to prevent cancers of the skin, bladder, lung, esophagus and breast.
• Cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, kale,etc) have shown the ability to stop the growth of cancer cells in laboratory studies, particularly by regulating a complex system of enzymes that provide a good line of cancer defense.
• Grapes, especially red and purple varieties, contain high levels of resveratrol, which has been shown to slow the growth of cancer cells and inhibit the formation of tumors in lymph, liver, stomach and breast cells.
• Tomatoes contain the photochemical lycopene, which lowers the risk of cancer of the prostate, stomach, and lung.

Diets to prevent bone loss and osteoporosis

Along with weight-bearing exercise, diet is a major component in preventing bone loss and osteoporosis. Treating and preventing osteoporosis requires ensuring that there are sufficient amounts of calcium and Vitamin D in your diet – but this is not always easy for some people. Often, adequate calcium and Vitamin D need to be acquired from both supplements and food.

Add more bone-strengthening calcium into your life by:

• Using low fat milk instead of water in recipes such as pancakes, mashed potatoes, pudding and instant hot breakfast cereals.
• Blending a fruit smoothie made with low fat or fat free yogurt for a great breakfast.
• Sprinkling grated low fat or fat free cheese on salad, soup or pasta.
• Choosing low fat or fat free milk instead of carbonated soft drinks.
• Serving raw fruits and vegetables with a low fat or fat free yogurt based dip.
• Complementing your diet with calcium-fortified foods such as certain cereals, orange juice and soy beverages.

Healthy eating while eating out

Generally, fast food meals are higher in calories, sodium and fat, and often lacking in important vitamins and minerals. And sit-down restaurants offer their own challenges, with large portions and overflowing bread baskets. It’s possible to eat a fairly nutritious meal on the go, by keeping the following in mind:

Tips for eating healthy while eating out

Avoid buffets	All-you-can-eat buffets promote overeating. If the temptation isn’t in front of you, you are less likely to overindulge.
Stick to the light menu / make careful menu selections	Many restaurants indicate healthy fast food restaurants now offer a wider range of healthy choices and most will provide nutritional information on all of their offerings by request.
Don’t be afraid to special order	Ask for your vegetables and main dishes to be served without the sauces. Ask if things are fried or cooked in oil or butter – if they are, see if you can order them in a more healthy way.
Share with others	Sharing entrees, appetizers and desserts with dining partners is a great idea. It allows you to sample something that you really want to have while also helping you avoid the temptation to overindulge.
Watch high fat and calorie sauces, dressings, and sodas	Eliminate sauces/dressings or take them on the side and use sparingly; drink water or low fat milk rather than high-sugar sodas.