A healthy diet is one that helps to maintain or improve overall health. A healthy diet provides the body with essential nutrients such as fluids, adequate amino acids from protein, essential fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, fibre and adequate calories.
The World Health Organization (WHO) 2009 makes the following five (5) recommendations with respect to both population and individuals
Maintain a healthy weight by eating roughly the same number of calories that the body is using.
Limit intake of fats. Not more that 30% of the total calories should come from fats, prefer unsaturated fats to saturated fats. Avoid trans fats.
Eat at least 400grams of fruits and vegetables per day (potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassava and other starchy roots). A healthy diet also contains legumes.
Limit the intake of simple sugar to less than 10% of calories. Below 5% of calories or 25 grams may be even better.
Limit salt/sodium from all sources and ensure that salt is iodized less than 5 grams of salt per day can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
World Health Organization (WHO) also stated that insufficient vegetables and fruits is the cause of 2.8% of death worldwide. The basic principle of good diets are so simple that can be summarizes in just ten (10) words: Eat less, move more, eat lots of fruits and vegetables, go easy on junk foods.
Following these precepts will help to go a long way towards preventing the major diseases such as coronary heart disease, cancer, diabetes, stroke, osteoporosis, high blood pressure (as in low sodium diets, over-weight or obese).
