What are the characteristics of a healthy diet and at are the challenges of choosing the right foods?

What are the characteristics of a healthy diet? 

First of all, a healthy diet is one that supplies all the nutrients that your body needs to be able function properly. We get almost all our nutrients and energy from the food we eat. Here are the new recommendations for what your plate should look like. Variety and a rainbow of colors for your fruits and vegetables is vital to making sure you get the vitamins, minerals and fuel your body needs. Another issue is the amount your are eating as well. If you are consuming more than the recommended serving size you may be adding on weight you do not need. So be sure to pay attention to the food you are eating, trying to eat organic, non-GMO foods when ever you can, and also to the serving sizes. Read the labels to know just how big a serving size is.  

 

What are the challenges associated with 

choosing the right foods?

There are many challenges to choosing the right foods as many of you may know. The biggest challenge is to determine what is healthy and what is just hype in the media. If you pay attention to the commercials they tell you sugary, calorie laden foods bring you happiness and are very good for you. But as you can see in the photo above you need to eat more fruit and vegetables and less of those processed foods. 

 

Another issue is your access to healthy food. Do you have fresh produce available to you in your neighborhood? That can create a very big challenge. One way to make that produce available is to get a neighborhood garden going. You do not need to know everything there is to know about gardening, you can learn as you go. But being able to eat healthy food that you have grown yourself is very rewarding. 

Finances can be another obstacle because it seems that eating healthy can be more expensive than those empty calorie foods. In the long run though knowing the health issues they cause may be worth the up front investment in your health. Finding someone that you can buy in bulk and share with may be another option. One of our daughter's buys fresh produce in bulk and then we all split it up, sharing the cost. This  makes eating healthy easier financially, and it gives us a good reason to get together once a week.

 Labels can be big concern when choosing healthy food. One hospital is trying a new type of labeling. They are calling it the "Stoplight Label System" that gives healthy food a green label, less healthy food a yellow label, and  non nutritional food a red label. Here is what they said,  "Our results suggest that these labels are an effective method for conveying information about healthy and unhealthy choices and for prompting changes in purchasing behavior" (Food Business Week, 2013). These labels make choosing healthy food easier for anyone that is not sure of what is good for them.

Reference:

Diet and nutrition; 'traffic-light' labeling increases attention to nutritional quality of food choices. (2013). Food Business Week, , 22. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1446945101?accountid=32521