Perfectly Healthy Eating-Comprehensive Beginners Guide

Maintaining a Perfectly Healthy Eating habit can be extremely worrisome. Staying and maintaining perfectly healthy eating doesn’t require much emphasis. Although the body needs nutrients from a wide variety of foods in order to maximize a perfectly healthy eating atmosphere, it does not need the nutrients in all the same amounts.

For example, the body requires more carbohydrates than fats.

For many years,there have been different recommendations about what people should eat to maintain a perfectly healthy eating. As experts have learned more about nutrition and the human body, the recommendations have changed accordingly.

FOOD PYRAMIDS, OBESITY, AND DIABETES

Healthy food eating pyramid
perfectly healthy eating

An estimated 60% of Americans are overweight and 25% are obese which makes it difficult to maintain a perfectly healthy eating atmosphere. Obesity can be measured in several ways. One method states that if a person weighs more than 20% of the ideal weight according to the height/weight chart, the person is obese. This method does not take into account an athlete who may weigh more than a nonathlete because of muscle, not fat.

Another method of measuring obesity is to measure percentage of body fat. If a person’s body fat is more than 25% for a man or 30% for a woman, that person is considered obese.
A third method bases obesity on a calculation called the body mass index (BMI). This index calculates a ratio of body weight to height and attempts to adjust for body size.

According to the World Health Organization, obesity has become a worldwide problem that has significant effects on health. Problems that were once considered limited to developed
or industrialized countries now affect everyone. Because of obesity, the incidence of diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and hypertension has increased around the world.

Obese individuals are also prone to pulmonary disease, varicose veins, and gallbladder disease. They have an increased risk of breast, uterine, and colon cancers.
There are many reasons why people may become obese. A small number of people are genetically programmed to convert nutrients to fat, no matter what. These people probably eat less than normal and still gain weight.

Another group of people cannot control their eating, sometimes consuming 20,000 calories at one meal.This is absolutely bad, because maintaining a perfectly healthy eating condition will be difficult. Even fewer people have a very low metabolic rate because of thyroid problems and cannot metabolize nutrients properly.

The incidence of obesity has increased for a variety of reasons. As modern conveniences in the home and workplace have spread, so has a more sedentary lifestyle. People ride or
drive rather than walk. Many people have desk jobs instead of doing manual labor. More people watch sports instead of participating in them. Many others have to schedule time to
exercise, instead of it being a natural part of their lives.

Over many years, fat has become a principal component of people’s diets. In the past, humans developed methods of conserving fat to survive possible famines. Although people have increased their consumption of fat, they still have metabolisms that conserve fat whenever possible. Diets high in fat are valued in developing countries and have replaced local diets that have been in place for centuries.

The simplest way to prevent being overweight or obese is to eat less and exercise more. Some weight reduction programs have helped people lose weight through behavioral
modification, which involves psychological counseling and exercise to achieve weight loss. Eating a very low-calorie diet can also help people lose weight.

These programs usually last about twelve weeks and must be conducted under medical supervision. Some people resort to diet suppressant drugs, but nearly all of these drugs have been found to have harmful side effects and should not be taken for weight loss. Diuretics provide short-term weight loss through loss of water; however, this can lead to dehydration, potassium loss, and central nervous system complications. The weight is immediately regained when the person is re hydrated

A more radical method of weight loss involves surgery. This method should only be used when the person is morbidly obese, meaning more than 100 pounds overweight, and when other methods have been unsuccessful. Several surgical interventions exist. All of the procedures limit the amount of food that can be taken into the digestive tract or limit the absorption of nutrients once the food gets into the system. In one procedure, a band,
called an adjustable gastric band, can be placed around the stomach.

This band can be tightened or loosened as needed to restrict the size of the stomach. Here are TOP 10 AMAZING FACTS ABOUT HUMAN BODY YOU DO NOT KNOW.

DID YOU KNOW?
Food prepared with unsaturated fats spoils faster than food prepared with saturated fats, so food manufacturers prefer to use saturated fats in their products. Many consumers are aware of the differences between the two types of fatty acids and prefer to buy products that they feel are healthier.

Thus, some food manufacturers no longer prepare their products with saturated
fats. Other companies have produced a modified unsaturated fat called a partially hydrogenated fat in which extra hydrogen atoms have been added to unsaturated fatty acids, converting them to a saturated form, but retaining the original chemical name indicating an unsaturated product

Saturated fats contribute to the development of arteriosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, which ultimately results in heart attacks and strokes. Fish oils, however, tend to be healthier than beef fats. Unsaturated fats do not contribute to clogging our arteries. With the exception of oils from the palm plant or oils from coconuts, which are higher in saturated fats than other plant oils, unsaturated fats are healthier for the body.

The original pyramid grouped all animal foods with nuts and dry beans and made no mention of plant oils. The recommendations were an effort to decrease fat intake, which was good, but they also decreased the intake of helpful fats, which was harmful.

Carbohydrates create an interesting problem. When complex carbohydrates are broken down and absorbed from the digestive tract, their presence in the blood stimulates the release of insulin from the pancreas. Insulin facilitates the transfer of the sugar (glucose) from the carbohydrates into the liver, muscle, and body fat.

GLYCEMIC INDEX
To determine which carbohydrates release glucose quickly and which ones release it slowly, more than 300 foods have been evaluated and put on a scale called the glycemic index. The higher the food is on the scale, the quicker its glucose enters the bloodstream, and the higher the spike of insulin and the greater the probability of developing diabetes and obesity. The lower the index, the slower the food raises blood sugar and the more gradual the increase of insulin. Glucose is rated at 100.
The glycemic index was originally created to help patients with diabetes control their blood sugars. The index is useful to anyone wishing to choose among the options of the Healthy
Eating Pyramid .
EATING HEALTHY IN RESTAURANTS
Although it may be easy to read labels for food cooked at home, it is more difficult to learn about the nutritional content of food when eating in a restaurant. There are choices, however, for making entrees healthier when eating out. For example, ordering and
eating smaller portions is one way of eating healthy. Substituting lower calorie foods, such as fruit or vegetables, for fries or heavy side dishes, is another option.
Avoid eating bread before a meal. The bread may taste good, but it is high on the glycemic index, low in fiber, and low in other needed nutrients. Ask for sauces on the side, and then use exactly the amount wanted. Ask about how food is cooked and whether or
not the sauce is made from cream. Cream sauces taste good, but they are not healthy. If possible, avoid fried foods.
These also taste great, but some of the oil used in cooking is always retained in the food and adds a lot of calories and grams of fat to the meal.
Consider ordering two appetizers instead of a large main course. This alternative will be cheaper, and lower in the calories and fats. If the main course is large, do not force yourself to eat it all. Bring half of it home for a later meal. This both halves the
cost of the meal and halves the calorie and fat intake. Instead of ordering a big dessert, share one or a small number of desserts with the whole table, this is just to maintain a perfectly healthy eating.
To determine portion sizes, use the following criteria: 3 ounces of meat, fish, or poultry is about the size of a deck of cards. One cup of vegetables is the size of a fist. A cup of fresh
fruit equals the size of a baseball. Half a cup of rice is half a tennis ball. One medium potato is equal to the size of a computer mouse. A teaspoon of butter is equal to the tip of the thumb. An ounce of cheese equals 4 dice.
In conclusion
In order to maintain a perfectly healthy eating, your must be discipline. The first and most important aspect in eating a healthy diet is learning about food. Reading the nutritional information on foods is an important way to learn how many calories the food contains and the distribution of fats, carbohydrates, and other substances.
The federal government has set strict definitions for 12 terms that are used frequently on food labels, including free, reduced, lean, less, light, extra lean, low, fewer, high, more, good source, and healthy.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has also defined several health claims that can be used to describe food. “High protein” must have at least 10 g of protein per serving. Food described as being “a good source of calcium” must have at least 100 mg of calcium per serving. Food with “more iron” means that it has at least 10% more than the minimum daily requirement. “Low fat food” means it contains 3 g or less per serving. “Reduced” or “fewer calorie” foods must have at least 25% fewer calories per serving than a reference
food. “Sugar free” foods cannot have more than 0.5 grams of sugar per serving. “Light” may mean one-third fewer calories or half the fat of a reference food, or a 50% reduction in sodium.