Healthy eating

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What you eat can affect your health for better or for worse. As time goes on more and more evidence is found concerning the ingredients of an ideal diet.

What are the benefits of a healthier diet?

You can reduce the risk of various diseases such as

Coronary heart disease and strokes
Diabetes
Diverticular disease (a form of bowel disorder)
Cancer

Eating healthily can also help to keep your weight under control. Being obese is thought to be responsible for 300,000 deaths a year in the UK. The only thing that kills more people is tobacco. If you are overweight you may feel healthier and fitter by losing weight.

What can I do to eat more healthily?

Eat at least five portions of fruit or vegetables a day, this reduces the risk of cancer, diabetes, strokes and coronary heart disease.
Have whole grain foods (whole meal bread, brown rice and whole meal pasta) at least four times a week. This can reduce the risk of cancer by as much as 40%.
Eat less sugar, this reduces tooth decay and helps reduce the risk of diabetes.
Cut down on fat in your diet, especially fat that comes from animals and dairy products like milk and cheese. You can use semi-skimmed or better still skimmed milk, and substitute low fat yoghurt for cream on your food.
Cheese often comes in half fat versions, but if you can, avoid hard cheeses altogether and use low fat cottage cheese. Use olive oil for cooking.
If you have a high cholesterol level use a spread containing olive oil, or use Flora Pro-activ or Benecol, as these may protect against heart disease.
However avoid these in pregnancy as long term safety is unknown.
Don't fry food, grill it instead, or if you want to fry something use sunflower oil or olive oil.
Take a vitamin supplement containing 400 micrograms of folic acid a day which appears to reduce the risk of cancer of the colon and heart disease.
Have oily fish at least once a week, (for example mackerel or sardines) because this protects against disease of the blood vessels causing heart attacks.

How can I eat more healthily when I'm eating out?

It can seem more difficult to choose a healthy meal when eating out so here are a few suggestions

Italian

Try sharing a Pizza instead of having a whole one to yourself, and fill up with a salad. You can ask the chef not to use a cheese topping and go for something with less fat like tuna or vegetables. Avoid the garlic bread. Pasta is healthier with a tomato based sauce rather than a creamy one.

Indian

Plain rice has less oil than some other types of rice. Tikka and tandoori dishes are cooked with only spices and yoghurt, and the chicken tikka or tandoori is best. Avoid korma and pasanda sauces which can have a lot of cream.

Chinese

The plain rice is healthier than the fried rice or egg fried rice. Go for stir fried dishes, (chicken is less fatty), and avoid the dishes that are deep fried such as sweet and sour pork balls and spring rolls.

How can I get my children to eat healthily?

Give them fruit for snacks instead of sweets. They may find smaller fruits easier such as satsumas, small bananas and grapes.
If they won't eat vegetables try putting them in other recipes such as stews, casseroles, soups etc.
Fish such as tuna can be made tastier if you make it into a fish cake with mashed potatoes and vegetables.
For a quick meal try beans on wholemeal toast. The sort with reduced sugar and salt is better. It's low in fat and high in fibre.
Offer fruit juice instead of fizzy drinks
Set an example by eating healthily yourself

If you have any other ideas please let us know, using the feedback page.

How can I lose weight?

A healthy diet is an essential part of your plan to lose weight, but to find out what else you can do look on our page on losing weight.

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Keeping Healthy

Healthy Eating