Why Your Diet Is Important
| 1. |
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You should enjoy a variety of nutritious foods. Variety maintains
interest with any diet. |
| 2. |
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Eat plenty of breads and cereals (preferably wholegrain), vegetables
(including legumes) and fruits. |
| 3. |
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Eat a diet low in fat, especially low in saturated fats like animal
oils. Some oils, when consumed in moderation, are even beneficial
to your cholesterol profile, blood pressure and ultimately your risk
of Heart Disease and your life expectancy. Olive oils and fish oils
are some of those found to be helpful. |
| 4. |
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Maintain a healthy body weight. It is simple, the more body mass
you have, the harder your heart has to work to supply it with blood.
Over years this added strain exacts a toll. |
| 5. |
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Moderate the intake of alcohol. |
| 6. |
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Eat sugars and foods containing sugars in moderation. |
| 7. |
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Choose low salt foods and use added salt sparingly. |
| 8. |
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Eat foods containing calcium. Calcium is used in many areas of
the heart, and aids in heart beat conduction and cardiac muscle strength. |
| 9. |
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Eat foods containing iron. Iron is used within the body to carry
oxygen. Iron-deficiency anaemia is surprisingly common even in Western
societies, and places undue strain on the heart in many ways. |
Various diets recommend high protein low carbohydrate intake to loose
weight. An authoritative article from the Council on Nutrition, Physical
Activity and Metabolism of the American Heart Association may be found
in the journal "Circulation" October
9th 2001 on page 1869. (Circulation.2001;104:1869-1874.).
You should choose foods of different colours, shapes, textures
and tastes to achieve a variety.
It is important if you are serious about your health to calculate just
what are your daily needs by using the following formula:
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MEN = { 4.5 x (weight Kg x 2.2) + 900 } x AF
WOMEN = { 3.2 x (weight Kg x 2.2) + 800 } x AF
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Where low activity factor (AF) = 1.2 ( e.g., sedentary job), moderate=1.4,
high = 1.6 (e.g. manual labour, exercise programme).
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