Tift Regional Medical Center

Tips for Balanced Nutrition

IN WOMEN'S HEALTH

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Finding a healthy balance of what and how much you consume each day can have beneficial effects on your health, enabling your body to thrive and resist diseases. Along with regular physical activity, managing the stress in your life, and consulting with your doctor as needed, a nutritious balanced diet rich in fruits and vegetables is a cornerstone of a healthy lifestyle. Here are tips for including enough of the right foods in your diet. General Guidelines Fruits and vegetables are rich in vitamins, minerals, fiber, carbohydrates, and phytochemicals essential to your health. A diet rich in fruits and vegetables can, according to the Harvard School of Public Health (www.hsph.harvard.edu), lower your risk for heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, and various cancers. A balanced diet that's good for your overall health should include:
  1. a variety of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains
  2. low-fat dairy products, lean meats, poultry, fish, and legumes
  3. lots of water
  4. minimal amounts of salt, sugar, and saturated fat
Consuming Enough Fruit and Vegetables There are so many tempting, convenient, and delicious non-vegetable foods available that you may find it challenging to include a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables in your diet. According to the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (www.cdc.gov), most people should consume between three to five servings of vegetables and two to four servings of fruits each day. Here are some tips to help you do it.
  • Make a commitment to try fruits and vegetables you've never had before. Have you tasted kiwi fruit? What about asparagus?
  • Combine fruits or vegetables of contrasting flavors and colors. For example, carrots and brussels sprouts, eggplant and broccoli, red grapes and pineapple chunks, cucumbers and red peppers.
  • Keep fruits and vegetables visible and easily accessible. For example, keep cleaned and cut produce in a clear container at eye level in your refrigerator, and keep a bowl of a variety of fruits on your table.
  • When you eat out, order veggie pizza, pasta with vegetables, a veggie wrap, vegetable soup, a side salad or salad bar.
  • Include fruits with your breakfast and snacks. Drink fruit juice or a blended fruit smoothie. Include blueberries, strawberries, or sliced bananas on your cereal. Have an apple for your mid-morning snack and a pear for your afternoon snack.

Three Tips for Maintaining Your Weight
The key to maintaining a healthy weight is learning to balance the calories you consume with the energy you expend. If you eat less food than the energy you expend, you'll lose weight. If you eat more than you expend, you'll gain. Here are three suggestions from the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (www.cdc.gov) to help you find the right combination of diet and exercise to meet your needs.
  1. Set realistic goals. Start with small dietary and exercise goals and add new challenges as you can accomplish the little ones.
  2. Conduct meal, snack, and activity inventories from time to time. By noting what you've eaten and what you've done, you'll discover what typically triggers your hunger and what satisfies your appetite.
  3. Substitute fruits and vegetables for higher calorie, less nutritious foods whenever possible. Prepare vegetables or fruit as a snack. Dine at a salad bar. Grill fruits and vegetables on skewers. Make fresh fruit smoothies.
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