Healthy Diet - how to eat to live happily (and healthily) ever after

Healthy diet means probably something slightly different to each of us. Some people will say it is about reducing salt or saturated fat intake, others - that about eating more fruits and vegetables. So who is right? Possibly all of these answers are correct because there is not just one way of eating healthy. But to make sure our way is, we shouldn't concentrate on one aspect of our diet only, we should take a holistic approach and remember about these key characteristics of any healthy diet:  

• Adequacy – everyday we should eat sufficient amounts of food from each of the nutrient groups: carbohydrates, protein, fats, vitamins and minerals (so no point of avoiding carbohydrates ;-))

• Balance – on daily basis we should eat food that represents each of the food groups: proteins, grains, pulses, dairy, vegetables and fruit,

• Variety – it is better to consume many different ingredients in small portions than a few in big quantities and also

• Correct amounts of calories and nutrients

If we follow all of the above guidelines, we can be sure our diet will provide us with adequate nutrients that will promote our health and if not prevent, then at least reduce a risk of chronic diseases.

And what about “bad” food? Having an occasional exception (read sinful (read: unhealthy) food) from the rule of maintaining the healthy diet is alright as long as this is an exception and not the rule: because there are no “bad” foods, there are only bad diets.