There is an increasing awareness about maintaining health and
wellness, and the best way to stay healthy is to eat healthy. There are
three main factors, which helps us in developing a complete healthy
body: good diet, regular exercise and a healthy lifestyle.
Let us
begin with diets and have a look on some healthy food groups, which we
should consume. It is also essential to see the calorie-content of
various foods as elevated calories in food results in health problems
such as obesity and diabetes. Health experts believe that a healthy diet
can lower the risks of number of life-threatening diseases such as
diabetes, heart attack and osteoporosis. Hence, developing, managing and
maintaining a good diet has become an essential part of our health
routine.
And for doing this we should know the basic difference
between a well-balanced diet and a nutritious diet. Although, most of us
believe that a well-balanced diet and a nutritious diet are one and the
same, in reality they are not!!! A nutritious diet would comprise of
foods, which contain all the essential nutrients such as protein,
vitamin, fats, carbohydrates and minerals. A well-balanced diet implies a
diet that not only contains foods with all the essential nutrients, but
also, in correct proportions and adequate amount. Even if you take all
the essential nutrients through your daily foods, but if they are not in
correct proportions or adequate amounts, you may still have to face the
health problems. Therefore, instead of opting for just a nutritious
diet, every health-conscious person should opt for a well-balanced diet.
The ingredients of a well-balanced diet differ according to the
sex, age and physical fitness of an individual. An older adult may be
unable to eat certain foods required to fulfill his/her nutritious
requirements. However, a well-balanced diet can help an older adult to
get the essential nutrients even through a sparse diet. For example, 100
grams of wheat and 100 grams of rice contain nearly 12 grams and 6.4
grams of protein, respectively. Similarly, 100 grams of ragi and 100
grams of rice contain 344 mg and 9 mg of calcium, respectively.
Therefore, by planning a well-balanced diet we can give all the
essentials nutrients even with the small amount of foods.
To
derive all the essential nutrients from the foods, we shall always need
to choose a variety of healthy foods. All the five essential nutrients
can be derived, if a diet includes foods from the following groups:
· Green leafy vegetables
· Fresh or seasonal fruits
· Cereals and pulses
· Fish and meat products
· Dairy products such as curd, cheese etc.
Today,
obesity and overweight are one of the major factors for
life-threatening diseases such as atherosclerosis, heart attack and
diabetes. Obesity and overweight problems are essentially caused due to
not eating correctly and consuming lot of calories. Calories are needed
everyday by our body for proper metabolic functioning. However,
over-consumption of calories can lead to various health problems. Daily
calorie needs of an individual depend on various factors such as age,
physical fitness, height and weight and body composition. Hence, you
also need to be conscious about the foods, which are calorie rich. Take a
look at following figures:
· 28 grams of butter = 200 calories
· 37 grams of potato chips = 200 calories
· 75 grams of burger = 200 calories
· 66 grams of hot dogs = 200 calories
· 385 grams of apples = 200 calories
· 357 grams of green peas = 200 calories
· 588 grams of broccoli = 200 calories
· 1425 grams of celery = 200 calories
