A healthy diet may help to prevent certain serious diseases such as heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes. It may also help to reduce your risk of developing some cancers. If you become sick, eating a healthy diet may help you to recover more quickly. Also, a main way of preventing obesity and overweight is to eat a healthy diet. If you are overweight or obese, eating a healthy diet can help you lose weight.
As well as healthy eating, regular physical exercise is also very important for health and to avoid or reduce obesity.
What makes up a healthy diet?
As a general rule, vegetables, fruits and starchy foods should provide the bulk of most of your meals. The remaining part of your diet should be made up from milk and dairy foods and protein foods. As mentioned above, you should limit the amount of foods and drinks that are high in fat or sugar. The dietary guidance to reduce your risk of heart disease is as follows:
Intake of saturated fat to less than 10% of total fat intake (preferably in lean meat and low-fat dairy products):
- Replace saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat where possible.
- Eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables per day (new research has suggested that we should all aim for seven portions per day).
- Eat at least two servings of fish (preferably oily fish) per week.
- Consider regularly eating whole grains and nuts.
- Keep the amount of salt in your diet to less than 6 g per day.
- Limit alcohol intake to less than 14 units per week for men and less than 14 units per week for women.
- Avoid or reduce the following in your diet:
- Processed meats or commercially produced foods (including 'ready meals') which tend to be high in salt and trans fatty acids.
- Refined carbohydrates, such as white bread and processed cereals.
- Sugar-sweetened drinks.
- High-calorie but nutritionally poor snacks, such as sweets, cakes and crisps.
This advice may not apply to you. If in doubt, you should check with your doctor. There are also some changes that pregnant women need to make to their diet.
Apparently, the old suggestion to drink eight glasses a day was nothing more than a guideline, not based on scientific evidence. While we may not need eight glasses, there are plenty of reasons to drink water. In fact, drinking water (either plain or in the form of other fluids or foods) is essential to your health.
"Think of water as a nutrient your body needs that is present in liquids, plain water, and foods. All of these are essential daily to replace the large amounts of water lost each day," says Joan Koelemay, RD, dietitian for the Beverage Institute, an industry group. Kaiser Permanente nephrologist Steven Guest, MD, agrees: "Fluid losses occur continuously, from skin evaporation, breathing, urine, and stool, and these losses must be replaced daily for good health," he says.
When your water intake does not equal your output, you can become dehydrated. Fluid losses are accentuated in warmer climates, during strenuous exercise, in high altitudes, and in older adults, whose sense of thirst may not be as sharp.
Here are six reasons to make sure you're drinking enough water or other fluids every day:
1. Drinking Water Helps Maintain the Balance of Body Fluids. Your body is composed of about 60% water. The functions of these bodily fluids include digestion, absorption, circulation, creation of saliva, transportation of nutrients, and maintenance of body temperature.
When you're low on fluids, the brain triggers the body's thirst mechanism. And unless you are taking medications that make you thirsty, you should listen to those cues and get yourself a drink of water, juice, milk, coffee -- anything but alcohol."Alcohol interferes with the brain and kidney communication and causes excess excretion of fluids which can then lead to dehydration.
2. Water Can Help Control Calories. For years, dieters have been drinking lots of water as a weight loss strategy. While water doesn't have any magical effect on weight loss, substituting it for higher calorie beverages can certainly help.
"What works with weight loss is if you choose water or a non-caloric beverage over a caloric beverage and/or eat a diet higher in water-rich foods that are healthier, more filling, and help you trim calorie intake," says Penn State researcher Barbara Rolls, PhD. Food with high water content tends to look larger, its higher volume requires more chewing, and it is absorbed more slowly by the body, which helps you feel full. Water-rich foods include fruits, vegetables, broth-based soups, oatmeal, and beans.
3. Water Helps Energize Muscles. Cells that don't maintain their balance of fluids and electrolytes shrivel, which can result in muscle fatigue. Drinking enough fluids is important when exercising. Follow the American College of Sports Medicine guidelines for fluid intake before and during physical activity. These guidelines recommend that people drink about 17 ounces of fluid about two hours before exercise. During exercise, they recommend that people start drinking fluids early, and drink them at regular intervals to replace fluids lost by sweating.
4. Water Helps Keep Skin Looking Good. Your skin contains plenty of water, and functions as a protective barrier to prevent excess fluid loss. But don't expect over-hydration to erase wrinkles or fine lines, says Atlanta dermatologist Kenneth Ellner, MD. "Dehydration makes your skin look more dry and wrinkled, which can be improved with proper hydration," he says. "But once you are adequately hydrated, the kidneys take over and excrete excess fluids."
You can also help "lock" moisture into your skin by using moisturizer, which creates a physical barrier to keep moisture in.
5. Water Helps Your Kidneys. Body fluids transport waste products in and out of cells. The main toxin in the body is blood urea nitrogen, a water-soluble waste that is able to pass through the kidneys to be excreted in the urine, explains Guest. "Your kidneys do an amazing job of cleansing and ridding your body of toxins as long as your intake of fluids is adequate," he says.
When you're getting enough fluids, urine flows freely, is light in color and free of odor. When your body is not getting enough fluids, urine concentration, color, and odor increases because the kidneys trap extra fluid for bodily functions.
If you chronically drink too little, you may be at higher risk for kidney stones, especially in warm climates, Guest warns.
6. Water Helps Maintain Normal Bowel Function. Adequate hydration keeps things flowing along your gastrointestinal tract and prevents constipation. When you don't get enough fluid, the colon pulls water from stools to maintain hydration -- and the result is constipation.
"Adequate fluid and fiber is the perfect combination, because the fluid pumps up the fiber and acts like a broom to keep your bowel functioning properly," says Koelemay.
If you love this info, you’ll LOVE my guide 3 Easy Preventative Measures to Stay Healthy!
https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/6-reasons-to-drink-water#3
How I stay Pain Free during and after Gardening!
I love to garden! From flowers to vegetables, I love it all! I anxiously wait for the last frost so I can get outside and plant my flowers for spring. Which is immediately followed by planting tomatoes, peppers, basil, parsley, oregano ….the list goes on… However, sometimes I overdue it!
Common gardening tasks such as digging, planting, weeding and mulching can cause stress on our muscles and joints . Here are some tips I use to mitigate the pain:
- Warm up before gardening (take a ten-minute walk, for example).
- Change positions frequently to avoid stiffness and cramping.
- Take breaks frequently or change tasks to give certain areas of your body a break.
- Use knee pads or a gardening pad when kneeling.
- If kneeling or bending causes pain to your back or knees, consider an elevated planter.
- Keep your wrist straight when pulling weeds or using garden tools.
- End your gardening session with some stretches for your arms, legs, and back.
There are times when even with the precautionary protocol, I still find myself with painful joints and muscles from overdoing it! I guess I am not 30 anymore when I could plow through anything. I use a pain cream that provides cooling relief from minor muscle and joint aches, arthritis, strains, bruises, and sprains. It’s a plant-based formula which combines the power of Wintergreen essential oil with Cool Azul essential oil blend. With two powerful, synergistic active ingredients, this cream provides pain-relieving benefits in two ways: methyl salicylate found in Wintergreen helps alleviate pain deep in the muscles and joints, and natural menthol found in Peppermint provides a cooling effect. I use this because it gives me relief without synthetic ingredients. I call this my magic cream! It’s like instant relief with no harmful effects and it smells great too!
So, get out there and enjoy your gardening! That’s what I’m doing!
If you love this info, you’ll LOVE my guide 3 Easy Preventative Measures to Stay Healthy!
