No single food can provide all the nutrients that your body needs. That is why you need to eat a wide variety of foods in the right amounts to meet your daily nutritional needs. But eating healthier, balanced meals does not have to be complicated.
The Healthy Eating Plate was created by Harvard Health Publishing and nutrition experts at the Harvard School of Public Health. It offers more specific and more accurate recommendations for following a healthy diet.
How do you now build a healthy plate
- Make most of your meal vegetables and fruits — ½ of your plate.
Aim for colour and variety, and remember that potatoes don’t count as vegetables on the Healthy Eating Plate because of their negative impact on blood sugar.
2. Go for whole grains — ¼ of your plate.
Whole and intact grains — whole wheat, barley, wheat berries, quinoa, oats, brown rice, and foods made with them, such as whole wheat pasta — have a milder effect on blood sugar and insulin than white bread, white rice, and other refined grains.
3. Protein power — ¼ of your plate.
Fish, poultry, beans, and nuts are all healthy, versatile protein sources — they can be mixed into salads, and pair well with vegetables on a plate. Limit red meat, and avoid processed meats such as bacon and sausage.
4. Healthy plant oils — in moderation.
Choose healthy vegetable oils like olive, canola, soy, corn, sunflower, peanut, and others, and avoid partially hydrogenated oils, which contain unhealthy trans fats. Remember that low-fat does not mean “healthy.”
5. Drink water, coffee, or tea.
Skip sugary drinks, limit milk and dairy products to one to two servings per day, and limit juice to a small glass per day.
6. Stay active.
The red figure running across the Healthy Eating Plate’s placemat is a reminder that staying active is also important in weight control.
The main message of the Healthy Eating Plate is to focus on diet quality:
- The type of carbohydrate in the diet is more important than the amount of carbohydrate in the diet, because some sources of carbohydrate — like vegetables (other than potatoes), fruits, whole grains, and beans — are healthier than others.
- The Healthy Eating Plate also advises consumers to avoid sugary beverages, a major source of calories usually with little nutritional value.
- The Healthy Eating Plate encourages consumers to use healthy oils, and it does not set a maximum on the percentage of calories people should get each day from healthy sources of fat. In this way, the Healthy Eating Plate recommends the opposite of the low-fat message promoted for decades by the USDA.
USDA- United States Department of Agriculture.
So the healthy eating plate is the best way to ensure you are eating a balanced diet and also eating healthy,
Use this to plan your meals today!!
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