A Healthy Food Diet
A healthy food diet will contain a wide variety of foods. But which ones are the best and in what quantities or combinations? The answers to these questions must be tailored to our individual needs. What is healthy for me, is not necessarily healthy for you. Everyone’s nutritional needs are different, and everyone’s optimum level of calorie consumption is different. In fact, these can differ from day to day or month to month in the same person.
Generally the most natural foods are considered healthiest. We can look at some of the better foods, and offer suggestions as to what particular plans make us the healthiest on average. The average person needs an hour of physical exercise daily, six to eleven servings of grains, two to four servings of fruit, three to five servings of vegetables, two to three servings of meat, two to three servings of milk, and enough water to make it all work.
But consider how different the requirements would be for a 16 year old boy and an old lady of 80. The recommended daily calorie intake is just as vague and generalized as the daily food intake pyramid, and you can see how the average that is recommended might not work for either one. When the published guidelines are so general, it is up to the individual to determine what food plan will keep them at their healthiest, and then implement such a regimen.
According to the guides published by the USDA, caloric needs vary from one age group to another and one gender to another, as well as other factors such as the job that the person does. So how will you figure out what your individual needs are? You could start a journal for recording your daily caloric intake for about a month. Make a note of your weight each day. Weight fluctuations of a couple of pounds either way are normal, but if in general you do not lose or gain any weight during the course of that month, you can consider that you are eating your recommended calorie level in order to maintain your weight. Now, take that calorie information, and check with a nutritionist about the recommended daily allowances of vitamins and minerals that you need, and what foods will provide these. Take both pieces of information, calorie intake and nutritional requirements, use the food pyramid and find a combination of foods that will help you achieve these recommended daily intakes, and still be enjoyable food. You now have a personalized healthy eating plan. This is the unique blueprint for you.
It is at this point that we seem to lack the direction or the discipline to finish what the government started, and put our plan into practice. Maybe we need to incorporate these techniques into a nutrition class taught in high school. Perhaps this would give our young people the direction and tools they need to begin following a healthy eating plan, make it a lifetime habit, and in time pass it along to their children.
Once the importance of a particular food or food group is understood by us, it is as simple as learning our multiplication tables. We simply memorize the benefit, and incorporate it into our daily or monthly intake as needed. As we eat more healthy food, we find our satisfaction from it grows and our desire for fast food diminishes. In this way it becomes easy to keep to a healthy food diet.
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