How to eat the right foods to maintain healthy body

POLOKWANE – In celebration of Health Awareness Month, which is commemorated in March, dietician Anke van Waveren shares tips for a healthy diet.

“A healthy diet can be defined as a diet that provides the proper combination of energy and nutrients and is adequate, moderate, balanced and varied,” says Van Waveren.

“Your diet needs to provide your body with the right energy, nutrients, and fibre to be healthy.

“Eating the right amounts of food to maintain a healthy body weight is the basis for healthy eating and living.”

Van Waveren says it is important to include all the different types of food groups.

These are starches, meats, dairy, fruit, vegetables and fats, with a good variety from each group.

For example, you should eat different types of fruit and vegetables, not just one type day after day, to ensure your diet provides you with all the vitamins and minerals you need.

Tips to balance your diet:

• You can eat the right amounts of food to prevent weight gain by eating foods that you enjoy in smaller quantities.

For example: do not stop eating chocolates when you want to lose weight, because it will just make you crave chocolates even more.

Rather follow a balanced diet with a small piece of chocolate, not a slab, every other day.

• Increase your intake of fruit and vegetables by filling half of your plate with food from these two food groups for all meals.

Not only are fruit and vegetables packed with vitamins, minerals, and fibre, these foods are relatively low in calories compared to other food groups.

• Make sure half of the starches that you eat are whole grains, because the high fibre content will fill you up faster and keep you satisfied for longer.

• Use only fat-free or low fat dairy products to minimise your fat intake.

• Drink two to three litres of water daily instead of sugary drinks.

Sugary drinks together with other high sugar and high fat foods are also known as empty calories, because they only provide your body with calories, but no vitamins, minerals, or fibre to benefit your health.

Other empty calorie foods to avoid are cakes, cookies, pastries, fizzy cold drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks, and fruit drinks.

“Last but not least it is important to remember that any diet plan or quick fix diet that excludes a food group might give you fast weight loss results, but these are only temporary in most cases and you could do permanent damage to your health.”

For more information on healthy diets or to find a dietician in your area, visit www.adsa.org.za.