Cutting Down on Calories
We have already seen that in order to lose weight, the most important factor is to create an energy deficit so that more calories are expended in energy than are consumed as foods. However, it is essential that when you are cutting down on calories, the overall balance of your diet remains healthy. The Balance of Good Health is a useful blueprint for people who want to lose weight as well as for people who want to maintain a healthy weight, and the good news for slimmers is that, as long as the overall energy intake is controlled, they, too, can and should enjoy foods from all the food groups.
Nutritionists advise against weight loss diets that cut out one or more major food groups, partly because they can be monotonous and harder to stick to but, also because avoiding any food group could risk missing out on valuable nutrients. This is even true of the ‘fatty and sugary foods’ group, as some fats are essential for good health.
Fruits and Vegetables for Health: Fruit and vegetables are the biggest single food group in the Balance of Good Health guidelines for a healthy diet. Adults are recommended to eat at least five 80g portions of fruit and vegetables a day - a total of 400 g or more - although currently only around 2 out of 10 people around the World manage to follow these guidelines.
Health Benefits: Experts believe that eating at least the recommended amount of fruit and vegetables each day could reduce the risk of dying from diseases such as cancer, heart disease and stroke by up to 20 per cent. This is taught to be the second most important cancer prevention strategy after giving up smoking.
Research has also shown that each increase of one portion of fruit and vegetables a day lowers the risk of developing coronary heart disease by four per cent and the risk of stroke by six per cent.
The other health benefits of eating plenty of fruit and vegetables include delaying the development of cataracts, lowering blood pressure, helping to manage diabetes, improving bowel function and reducing the symptoms of asthma.
While five portions a day is recommended as the level for good health, it is still worth bearing in mind that this is a minimum and is partly based on what is thought to be acceptable. In some countries, including United States, the guideline is nine portions a day.
Fruit and vegetables are especially beneficial to our health because of the wide range of compounds that they contain. These include vitamins and minerals as well as complex plant components - phytochemicals- which, among other valuable functions, play an essential ‘antioxidant’ role in preventing damage and disease to cells. It is believed that these compounds work most efficiently when taken in conjunction with each other; eating them on their own, in the form of food supplements, does not have the same beneficial effects and can occasionally even do more harm than good.