A healthy diet is a balanced diet. The purpose of eating healthy is
not to starve yourself or to keep yourself deprived of your favourite
foods, but to make yourself look and feel better while improving your
overall health. A healthy diet helps protect against malnutrition in all
its forms, as well as noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), including but
not limited to such diseases as diabetes, heart disease, stroke and
Learning to eat healthy isn’t just about consuming the right foods,
but also knowing how much and when to eat. A healthy diet will not only
help prevent illnesses, but it will help prevent mood swings,
forgetfulness and boost your energy levels. Poor diet, on the other
hand, can contribute to a bunch of health risks like:
- Being overweight or obese
- Heart disease and stroke
- High blood pressure
- Tooth decay
- High cholesterol
- And much more!
You are what you eat!
What you eat goes into your system and affects the “mechanism” by
becoming a part of it. Changes can either be good or bad for your
health, depending on what you eat. These changes can affect the way you
think, the way you feel and the way you act. For example, by consuming a
large amount of sugar you are likely to get mood swings as the sugar
levels change in your body. After consuming fast food you are likely to
feel tired as your digestion slows down and most of your energy goes to
digesting the food. Also, fast and fried foods tend to be much lower
levels of vitamins, minerals and other essential nutrients while being
higher in calories due to the high amounts of added sugar or fat in
What should be included in a healthy diet?
Drink plenty of water! Water doesn’t just help us to stay hydrated
but it also helps our bodies flush our systems of waste products and
toxins. Dehydration can cause tiredness, low energy, and headaches.
Consuming plenty of water can also be good for our weight as it is
common to mistake thirst for hunger, so staying well hydrated will also
help you to make healthier food choices.
We need fibre in our diets is to keep our digestive system in good
working order. Fibre also helps us feel fuller for longer, it can
improve our cholesterol and blood sugar levels and can also assist in
preventing some diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and bowel
Protein is basically an important component of every cell in the
body. It is an important building block of bones, muscles, cartilage,
skin, and blood. Protein provides us with energy and supports our mood
and cognitive functions.
While not all fat is good for us, healthy fats provide us with
essential fatty acids (that we can’t make ourselves but need in small
amounts) as well as energy. Fat is required for a range of bodily
processes and to maintain the normal structure of cells in the body. Fat
also carries essential fat-soluble vitamins and is important for their
As well as being good for our bones, not getting enough calcium in
your diet can also contribute to anxiety, depression, and sleep
When putting together your diet plan keep in mind:
Mix up your diet
Eating a variety of different foods has a positive effect on our
health. If you continue to eat the same food over and over again, you
will miss out on important nutrients. So make sure to mix up your diet!
Eat Small Amounts of Fat and Oils
Since fat is an important part of a healthy diet, rather than
adopting a low-fat diet, it’s more important to focus on eating more
beneficial “good” fats and limiting harmful “bad” fats. Monounsaturated
fats and polyunsaturated fats are known as the “good fats” because they
are good for your heart, your cholesterol and your overall health. These
fats can help lower the risk of heart disease and stroke, lower blood
pressure, prevent abnormal heart rhythms and so on. Good sources of
these kinds of fats are olive oil, avocados, olives, nuts, pumpkin
seeds, tofu, soy milk etc.
Eat Moderate Amounts of Animal-Based Foods
Animal-based foods, such as meat, fish, poultry, eggs, milk, yoghurt
and cheese should all be eaten in moderation. These foods are rich in
protein, iron, vitamin B12 and niacin. Red meat is a great source of
iron and zinc. Sausages and processed meat should be avoided.
Milk, yoghurt and cheese are rich sources of calcium. They also
contain protein, riboflavin and vitamin B12. These foods contain usually
quite a high percentage of fat, so the key is to eat in moderation!
Eat Plenty of Plant-Based Foods
Nature provides everything from air and shelter to food. Everything
that grows from the ground (fruits, grains and vegetables) and is edible
is generally considered good for us. Lots of common foods like bread,
pasta, cereals come from things like rice, oats, barley, millet and so
on. While some of these products have higher nutritional values than the
others, none of these products are bad for us. When making a choice
which plant-based products to prefer, keep in mind that wholegrain foods
are usually a better choice as they provide us with more fibre,
vitamins and minerals. Also, be sure to read the labels as some products
that advertise themselves as “healthy” can contain large amounts of
hidden salt, sugar or fat in them.
Drink plenty of water!
Things to avoid or consume in moderation
Salt and sugar
In moderation, neither of those two is harmful for us. Unfortunately,
most of us tend to over-consume them without realizing. The recommended
salt intake per day should remain less than 5 g (1). Keeping it less
than 5g per day can help prevent hypertension, and reduce the risk of
heart disease and stroke in the adult population. Reducing salt intake
to the recommended level could prevent 1.7 million deaths each year (2).
In both adults and children, the intake of sugars should be reduced
to less than 10% of total energy intake. Consuming too much sugar
increases the risk of tooth decay. Excess calories from foods and drinks
high in sugars also contribute to unhealthy weight gain, which can lead
to overweight and obesity. Recent evidence also shows that sugars
influence blood pressure and serum lipids, and suggests that a reduction
in sugars intake reduces risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (3).
During the last century, more and more processed food has been
entering the market. This has resulted in more and more illnesses and an
obesity epidemic. Processed foods are made to enhance the taste of
foods, and yes they do carry out their function, but they are not
healthy for consumption in the long run.
So what is a processed food? A processed food is any food that has
been altered in some way during preparation. Not all food processing is
bad and some processed food can be good for us as well. Some foods need
processing to make them safe, such as milk, which needs to be
pasteurised to remove harmful bacteria. What makes the processed food
less healthy is the fact that ingredients such as salt, sugar and fat
are sometimes added to make the flavour more appealing and to extend
their shelf life, or in some cases to contribute to the food’s
structure, such as salt in bread or sugar in cakes.
Buying processed foods can lead to people eating more than the
recommended amounts of sugar, salt and fat as they may not be aware of
how much has been added to the food they are buying and eating. These
foods can also be higher in calories due to the high amounts of added
sugar or fat in them.
Alcohol is great every now and then, but if you’re having it on a
regular basis you may want to reconsider. Drinking alcohol has a wide
range of negative effects on a person’s health, both immediately and
long-term. Red wine is commonly known to have some health benefits,
however, this is purely in moderation! The key here is to ensure you are
not drinking heavily or too regularly to have any lasting damage to
So whether you want to lose a bit of weight or are just thinking about taking the first steps towards a healthier lifestyle, keep in mind that a healthy diet is a balanced diet.
1. Guideline: Sodium intake for adults and children. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2012.
2. Mozaffarian D, Fahimi S, Singh GM, Micha R, Khatibzadeh S, Engell
RE et al. Global sodium consumption and death from cardiovascular
causes. N Engl J Med. 2014; 371(7):624–34.
3. Te Morenga LA, Howatson A, Jones RM, Mann J. Dietary sugars and
cardiometabolic risk: systematic review and meta-analyses of randomized
controlled trials of the effects on blood pressure and lipids. AJCN.
2014; 100(1): 65–79.