Healthy Food Choices for Life

For healthy living make healthy diet and food choices. Remember what you eat reflects on your health. Being a woman we have special nutritional needs. The body goes through a lot. You have to go through puberty, pregnancy and menopause. Only a healthy diet can make you look and feel good.

A balanced diet is composed of protein, fats, carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins and enough water. Include whole grains, pulses, fibre filled foods, fruits vegetables and essential fatty acids. Cut down on saturated fats, salt and sugar, processed food and alcohol. Quit smoking to avoid health hazards.

Include food such as whole grain breads, chapatti, brown rice, wheat bran, barley etc. Include pulses and legumes, which are rich in proteins. Paneer, tofu and soy milk are rich in phytonutrients and are heart healthy.

Just go green and include a lot of green colourful vegetables to maintain your youthful look. Green leafy vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, fenugreek leaves, cabbage etc are full of iron. Women require about 12 to 15 mg of iron each day.

Fruits are filled with fibre and anti-oxidants that get rid of the free radical which are responsible for ageing. So have lots of citrus fruits like oranges, limes, strawberries, apples, guavas, kiwis and pineapples.

Munch on nuts. Nuts contain a monosaturated fat, which help lower cholesterol and also prevents heart diseases. Nuts are rich in protein, calcium, phosphorous, zinc, copper, selenium, folate and vitamin A and E. But be careful with the quantity of nuts you are eating as nuts can add on extra calories. However be very careful with the quantity of nuts you are consuming because consumption of excess nuts may lead to weight gain. Calcium helps in bone health and prevents you from developing osteoporosis. Consume low fat dairy products, dark green leafy vegetables, soy products, grains and fortified calcium products. Get enough Vitamin D for calcium absorption.

Water is not food, but it is an important nutrient, which is very essential for the body. Drink at least eight to ten glasses of water every day. It helps in flushing out the toxin from the body and rejuvenates your skin and hair and at the same time aids digestion.

Remember along with nutrition sleep is also very important. You need about 6to 8 hours of sleep every night. If you don’t sleep enough in the night, you will not be energetic in the morning to finish up with your work so a good night sleep is very important for both mind and body.