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Nutrition

A good diet is vital for good health. A healthy and varied diet can help to maintain a healthy body weight, enhance general well-being and reduce the risk of a number of diseases i ncluding heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and osteoporosis.

What is a healthy diet?

A healthy diet is a diet based on breads, potatoes, cereals and is rich in fruits and vegetables. A healthy diet will include moderate amounts of milk and dairy products, meat, fish or meat/milk alternatives and limited amounts of foods containing fat or sugar.

No single food can provide all the essential nutrients that the body needs. Therefore, it is important to consume a wide variety of foods to provide adequate intakes of vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre, which are important for health.

The Department of Health recommends that everyone in the UK should eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables per day, and drink 6-8 glasses of water.

Eating well is all about having a balanced diet ideally containing foods from five food groups; Fruit and vegetables, Bread cereals and Potatoes; Milk and Dairy Products; Foods containing Fat and Sugars; Meat Fish and Alternatives.

To see a diagram produced by the Foods standards agency which shows how these should be balanced in your diet
click here.

This picture gives a clear picture of how a balanced diet should be made up – foods from the largest segments in the diagram should be eaten most often whilst those in the smallest section should be eaten less often.

The Government’s 8 tips for eating well are:

  1. Base your meals on starchy foods
  2. Eat lots of fruit and vegetables
  3. Eat more fish
  4. Cut down on saturated fat and sugar
  5. Try to eat less salt – no more than 6g a day
  6. Get active and try to be a healthy weight
  7. Drink plenty of water
  8. Don’t skip breakfast

Further Help:

British Nutrition Foundation
Tel: 020 7404 6504
Website: www.nutrition.org.uk

British Dietetic Association
Tel: 0121 200 8080
Website: www.bda.uk.com

Food and Drink Federation
Tel: 020 7836 2460
Website: www.foodfitness.org.uk

Food Standards Agency
See website for various department telephone numbers
Website: www.food.gov.uk

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