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ESSENTIALS OF HEALTHY EATING : A GUIDE - Coggle Diagram
ESSENTIALS OF HEALTHY EATING : A GUIDE
“What is a healthy diet?”
there are now enough solid strands of evidence from reliable sources to
weave simple but compelling recommendations about diet
it isn’t enough merely to consume the calories needed
to sustain the body, build it, and repair it.
The foods that supply these calories can influence the risk of developing chronic conditions
Diet, of course, is just one approach to preventing illness. Limiting caloric intake to maintain a healthy weight, exercising regularly, and not smoking are three other essential strategies.
Compelling data from the Nurses’ Health Study show that women who followed a healthy lifestyle pattern that includes these four strategies were 80% less likely to develop cardiovascular disease over a 14-year period compared to all other women in the study
DIETARY FAT
The message “fat is bad” is problematic because there are four main types of dietary fat with dramatically different effects on health.
Trans fats
Saturated fats
Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated
polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids
a low intake of trans and saturated fat and a higher intake of unsaturated fats reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
Dietary fat is a terribly misunderstood and mistakenly maligned nutrient.
CARBOHYDRATES
The Glycemic Index
The glycemic response refers to the measurable increase in blood sugar after consuming carbohydrates
The greater the postprandial spike in glucose a food generates, the greater that food’s glycemic index.
PROTEIN
results from the Nurses’ Health Study suggest that eating more protein from beans, nuts, seeds, and the like, while cutting back on easily digested carbohydrates reduces the risk of heart disease
VEGETABLES AND FRUITS
provide fiber, slowly digested carbohydrates, vitamins and
minerals, and numerous phytonutrients
have been associated with protection against cardiovascular disease, aging-related vision loss due to cataract and macular degeneration, and maintenance of bowel function
Fruits and vegetables should be consumed in abundance, which means a minimum of five servings a day...and more is better
BEVERAGES
The ideal beverage provides 100% of what the body needs—H2O—without any calories or additives.
Water has all of those qualifications.
Two problematic beverages are sugar-sweetened drinks and alcoholic drinks
daily consumption of sugary beverages has been associated with weight gain and increased risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and gout.
VITAMINS AND MINERALS
An optimal diet generally provides all the vitamins, minerals, and other micronutrients
needed for good health.
WEIGHT CONTROL, EXERCISE
Body weight sits like a spider at the center of a web of health and disease.
Excess weight predisposes an individual to the development of a host of chronic conditions
Under the current national guidelines, a BMI between 18 and 25 kg/m2 is considered optimal,
the best health experience is achieved by avoiding increases in weight during
adulthood
Maintaining a healthy body weight, or losing weight, is a direct function of calories consumed and expended.
Portion control is essential for weight maintenance.
Regular exercise and the avoidance of extreme inactivity are also integral strategies for weight control.
A supportive social and
physical environment are also important.
DIETARY PATTERNS
Although it is harder to study dietary patterns than it is to study nutrients, new research has
shown how some dietary patterns are good for long-term health.
For individuals who would rather follow a set dietary pattern instead of building their own based on the Healthy Eating Pyramid, (a Mediterranean-type diet or the DASH diet) can have profoundly positive effects on health.
DIET AND FERTILITY
A total of 3,209 of the women (13%) had difficulty becoming pregnant, including 438 diagnosed with ovulatory infertility, the leading cause of female-factor infertility
DIET AND PREGNANCY
Good nutrition can optimize maternal health throughout pregnancy, reduce the risk of birth defects, promote optimal fetal growth and development, and prevent chronic health problems in the developing child.
DIET AND WEIGHT CONTROL
Almost any diet will result in weight loss, at least for a short time, if it helps the dieter take
in fewer calories than she burns.
Few dieters, however, are able to sustain weight-loss diets
for long periods.