HEALTHY EATING BASICS

WHY EAT HEALTHY?

Maintaining a healthy diet can be beneficial in many different areas of your life. Not only does eating healthy make you feel and look great, it is vital for reducing your risk of disease, preventing lifestyle diseases (e.g. type 2 diabetes and obesity), and maintaining a healthy weight range.

WHAT SHOULD I BE EATING?

The National Health and Medical Research Council have released a document outlining the Recommended Dietary Guidelines for Australians. It includes recommendations such as:

• Enjoy a wide variety of nutritious foods
• Choose foods low in salt
• Consume only moderate amounts of sugars and foods containing added sugars
• Eat plenty of Vegetables, Legumes and Fruit etc.
  

For more information about what foods you should be eating, the full recommendations document can be downloaded at The National Health and Medical Research Council website.

The Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute recommends that every day you should aim to eat:

• 5 serves of vegetables
• 2 serves of fruit
• 5 serves of grains, breads and cereals
• 2-3 serves of low-fat dairy products, and
  
• 1 serve of lean meat, chicken or fish or a meat substitute, such as lentils, beans or tofu

For information on how much a serving is of each category you can visit their website.

Don't forget that you can find much more information about healthy food and related issues at the Healthy Food For Life Infohub: Articles Database.