Healthy diet for stay fit

                                                      Healthy diet

Key facts

 A nutritious diet helps prevent noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and cancer, as well as all types of malnutrition.

The two biggest global health concerns are an unhealthy diet and inactivity.

Breastfeeding promotes healthy growth and enhances cognitive development, and it may have longer-term health benefits like lowering the chance of getting NCDs and becoming overweight or obese. Healthy eating habits begin early in life.

Energy expenditure and intake (measured in calories) should be balanced. Total fat should not surpass 30% of total energy consumption in order to prevent unhealthful weight gain (1, 2, 3). Less than 10% of total energy intake should come from saturated fats, and less than 1% from trans fats. Consumption of fats should shift from trans and saturated fats to unsaturated fats (3), with the aim of eradicating trans fats produced in factories (4, 5, 6).

A balanced diet includes consuming no more than 10% of total energy from free sugars (2,7). For further health benefits, a further reduction to less than 5% of total energy intake is recommended (7).

Limiting daily salt consumption to fewer than 5 grammes (or less than 2 grammes of sodium) lowers the risk of heart disease and stroke in adults and helps avoid hypertension (8).

WHO member states have committed to reducing the amount of salt consumed by the world's population by 30% by 2025. They have also committed to stopping the increase in childhood overweight, adult and adolescent obesity, and diabetes by the same year (9, 10).

Overview

Maintaining a nutritious diet throughout life helps avoid a variety of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and illnesses, as well as malnutrition in all its manifestations. However, eating patterns have changed as a result of growing processed food production, fast urbanisation, and evolving lifestyles. Many people do not eat enough fruit, vegetables, and other dietary fibre, including whole grains, and they are consuming more meals high in energy, fats, free sugars, and salt and sodium.

Individual attributes (e.g., age, gender, lifestyle, and level of physical activity), cultural background, locally accessible food

For grown-ups

A nutritious diet consists of the following:

Fruit, vegetables, whole grains (such as unprocessed maize, millet, oats, wheat, and brown rice), nuts, and legumes (such as beans and lentils).

At least 400 g, or five servings, of fruits and vegetables each day (2), omitting starchy roots like cassava, sweet potatoes, and potatoes.

Free sugars should make up less than 10% of total energy intake (2, 7), which is equal to 50 g (about 12 level teaspoons) for a healthy individual who consumes 2000 calories a day. For further health benefits, it should ideally be less than 5% of total energy intake (7). Free sugars include all sugars that are naturally found in honey, syrups, fruit juices, and fruit juice concentrates, as well as sugars that are added to food or beverages by the producer, chef, or customer.

Fats account for less than 30% of total energy intake (1, 2, 3). Saturated fats, which are present in fatty meat, butter, palm and coconut oil, cream, cheese, ghee, and lard, are not as good as unsaturated fats, which are found in fish, avocado, and nuts, as well as in sunflower, soybean, canola, and olive oils. They are also better than trans fats of any kind, including industrially produced trans fats, which are present in baked and fried foods, as well as pre-packaged snacks and foods, like frozen pizza, pies, cookies, biscuits, wafers, and cooking oils and spreads, as well as ruminant trans fats, which are present in meat and dairy products from ruminant animals, like cows, sheep, goats, and camels. It is recommended that trans fats be consumed at less than 1% of total caloric intake and saturated fats at less than 10%.

less than five grammes of salt (about one teaspoon) daily (8). It is necessary to iodise salt.

For infants and young children

The best nutrition during a child's first two years of life promotes healthy growth and enhances cognitive development. Additionally, it lowers the chance of acquiring NCDs later in life and becoming overweight or obese.

The following factors are also crucial, however the recommendations for a balanced diet for babies and kids are comparable to those for adults:

For six months of their lives, infants should only be breastfed.
Breastfeeding should continue until the child is two years old and beyond.
Breast milk should be supplemented with a range of sufficient, secure, and nutrient-dense foods starting at six months of age. Complementary foods shouldn't have sugar or salt added to them.

Practical advice on maintaining a healthy diet

Fruit and green vegetables

Consuming five servings (400 g) or more of fruit and vegetables each day lowers the risk of NCDs (2) and helps guarantee a sufficient daily intake of dietary fibre.

Increased consumption of fruits and vegetables can be achieved by:

Eating a range of fruits and vegetables, eating fresh fruit and raw vegetables as snacks, and constantly incorporating veggies into meals are all important.

Fats

Unhealthy weight gain in adults can be avoided by limiting total fat consumption to less than 30% of total calorie intake (1, 2, 3). Additionally, the following reduces the risk of getting NCDs:

lowering trans fats to less than 1% of total caloric intake, cutting saturated fats to less than 10%, and substituting unsaturated fats (2,3), especially polyunsaturated fats, for both trans and saturated fats.

Consuming less fat, particularly saturated fat and trans fat from industrial sources, can be accomplished by:

cooking by steaming or boiling rather than frying;
substituting oils high in polyunsaturated fats, such as soybean, canola (rapeseed), corn, safflower and sunflower oils, for butter, lard and ghee; eating lean meats and reduced-fat dairy products, or removing visible fat from meat; and avoiding baked and fried foods, as well as pre-packaged snacks and foods (such as doughnuts, cakes, pies, cookies, biscuits and wafers) that contain trans fats produced industrially.

Salt, sodium and potassium

With an average daily intake of 9–12 g of salt, most people ingest too much sodium and too little potassium (less than 3.5 g). Consuming too much sodium and not enough potassium raises blood pressure, which raises the risk of heart disease and stroke (8, 11).

Every year, 1.7 million fatalities may be avoided if salt consumption were reduced to the recommended amount of less than 5 g per day (12).

People frequently don't realise how much salt they eat. In many countries, most salt comes from processed foods (e.g. ready meals; processed meats such as bacon, ham and salami; cheese; and salty snacks) or from foods consumed frequently in large amounts (e.g. bread). Salt is also added 

Salt intake can be reduced by:

restricting the consumption of salty snacks, choosing products with reduced sodium content, avoiding salt or high-sodium sauces on the table, and using less salt and high-sodium condiments (such as soy sauce, fish sauce, and bouillon) when cooking and preparing meals.
Before buying or consuming a product, consumers should be urged to read nutrition labels to determine the salt amount. Some food producers are reformulating recipes to lower the sodium content of their goods.

Potassium can lessen the detrimental effects of high sodium intake on blood pressure. Consuming fresh fruit and vegetables can improve potassium intake.

Sugars

Free sugar consumption should be kept to less than 10% of total energy intake in both adults and children (2,7). Additional health advantages would result from a reduction of less than 5% of total energy consumption (7).

Tooth decay, or dental caries, is more likely to occur when free sugars are consumed. Overweight and obesity can result from consuming too many calories from foods and beverages that contain free sugars. Additionally, recent data indicates that free sugars affect blood pressure and serum cholesterol levels, and that consuming fewer free sugars lowers the risk factors for cardiovascular illnesses (1).

Sugars intake can be reduced by:

consuming fewer sugar-rich foods and beverages, such as sugary snacks, candies, and sugar-sweetened beverages (i.e., all beverages that contain free sugars, such as carbonated or non-carbonated soft drinks, fruit or vegetable juices and drinks, liquid and powder concentrates, flavouring water, energy and sports drinks, ready-to-drink tea, ready-to-drink coffee, and flavor-infused milk drinks); and substituting fresh fruit and raw vegetables for sugary snacks.

How to encourage a healthy diet

Individual dietary patterns are shaped by a complex interplay of social and economic factors that impact diet throughout time. These include personal tastes and beliefs, cultural customs, regional and environmental factors (such as climate change), income, and food costs (which will impact the accessibility and affordability of healthful meals). Therefore, the government, as well as the public and commercial sectors, must be involved in order to promote a healthy food environment, which includes food systems that support a varied, balanced, and healthful diet.

In order to encourage people to develop and sustain healthy eating habits, governments play a crucial role in fostering a healthy food environment. The following are some effective steps that legislators can take to establish a healthy food environment:

establishing consistency in national investment plans and policies, such as those pertaining to trade, food, and agriculture, in order to safeguard public health and encourage a nutritious diet by:

lowering incentives for the food industry to continue or expand production of processed foods with high levels of saturated fats, trans fats, free sugars, and salt/sodium; promoting food product reformulation to lower the contents of saturated fats, trans fats, free sugars, and salt/sodium, with the aim of eradicating industrially produced trans-fats; boosting incentives for producers and retailers to grow, use, and sell fresh fruit and vegetables; putting WHO guidelines on the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children;
setting guidelines to promote good eating habits by guaranteeing that wholesome, inexpensive, safe, and nutritious foods are available in preschools, schools, and other public

encouraging international, national, and local food services and catering businesses to enhance the nutritional quality of their foods – guaranteeing the availability and affordability of healthy choices – and review portion sizes and pricing. Investigating voluntary and regulatory tools (such as marketing regulations and nutrition labelling policies) as well as financial incentives or disincentives (such as taxation and subsidies) to promote a healthy diet.

boosting consumer demand for nutritious meals and snacks by:

raising consumer knowledge of the importance of eating a balanced diet; creating school rules and initiatives that support kids in adopting and sticking to a healthy diet; teaching kids, teens, and adults about nutrition and good eating habits;
promoting culinary abilities in kids, especially through schools;
providing nutrition and dietary counselling at primary healthcare facilities; and supporting point-of-sale information, such as through nutrition labelling that guarantees accurate, standardised, and understandable information on nutrient contents in foods (in accordance with the Codex Alimentarius Commission guidelines), with the addition of front-of-pack labelling to facilitate consumer understanding.

Encouraging proper eating behaviours for infants and young children by:

putting into practice the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and any ensuing World Health Assembly resolutions that are pertinent; putting in place procedures and policies that aim to protect working mothers; and encouraging, safeguarding, and assisting breastfeeding in the community and in health services, including through the Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative.