Healthy Food (Essay Sample)

Introduction

Healthy food can be defined as those meals that are low in fat and also saturated fats. It also refers to that food that contains limited amounts of cholesterol and sodium. It is important to note that, if it is a single food that is being eaten, it must be able to offer at least 10% of one or more of vitamins A or C, Calcium, iron, protein, and / or fiber. This paper examines what constitutes healthy food.

Description of Healthy Food

To begin with, healthy eating or food simply means that eating different types of foods that can give an individual the nutrients that he or she needs to feel good and have the required energy. Some of the required nutrients include carbohydrates, fat, water, minerals, and proteins. Good nutrition or food is quite vital for everyone regardless of age, sex or religion affiliation. If good food is combined with being physically active as well as maintaining a healthy weight it would be good for the overall health of individuals. For those individuals that may be having breast cancer or is currently under medication for cancer, eating a balanced diet is actually important for those individuals. What an individual eats can actually affect his or her immune system positively as well as boosting his or her mood and energy level. However, it is important to note that no food or diet that can prevent one from developing cancerous condition. Although researchers are still studying the effects of consumption of unhealthy foods on breast cancer as well as recurrence for the risk of breast cancer, there are some researchers that have shown that there are some groups of foods that can increase the risk for cancer.

Consumption of Small Amount of Healthy Fats

To begin with, it is quite vital to remember that unsaturated fats are indeed integral part of healthy food. The two main categories of unsaturated fats: monounsaturated fats that can be found in things like olive oil, avocados, canola oil, cashew nuts and almonds. The other type of unsaturated fats are polyunsaturated fats such as omega-3 that is found oily fish and omega-6 that can be found in soybeans oil, safflower and from Brazil nuts. These two categories of unsaturated fats are quite important because they can help in the reduction of risks of heart diseases. The important thing about unsaturated fats is that they reduce presence of cholesterol levels in the body when they replace the saturated fats in the diet.

Five Types or Groups of Healthy Foods

There are five main categories of healthy foods that should be consumed regularly to ensure that the body remains as healthy as possible and proper body weight. The first group of healthy food is vegetables and legumes; they are healthy whether cooked or raw. The other type of healthy foods is fruits; they are quite easy to carry around to be eaten like snacks. Fruits can be either consumed either as juice or can be eaten when raw. For example, one can try bananas with cereals is the morning as fruits. The other categories of food that have been proven to be healthy include cereals, rice, noodles, pasta and bread. For instance, pasta, rice or noodle can be eaten together since they contain all the most required nutrients. The other types of foods that are healthy include fish, eggs, milk, nuts, tofu, lean meat, poultry and red meat; they are very important because they can provide protein that is very important for maintaining healthy body. The final and equally important category of healthy foods includes cheese, yoghurt and milk; they can be consumed at time of the day whether during lunch, breakfast or supper.

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