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content based on nhs choices

Eat healthily

 

Despite what you see in some diet books and TV programmes, healthy eating is really straightforward.

Meals based on starchy foods such as rice and pasta, with plenty of fruit and vegetables (and not too much fat, salt or sugar) will give you all the nutrients you need, without the extra calories you don't.

When it comes to a healthy diet, balance is the key to getting it right. We all need to provide our bodies with the energy and nutrients required to function well and feel great.

That means eating a wide variety of foods in the right proportion, so that over time we get all the nutrients we need to keep ourselves healthy.

Trouble is, achieving that balance can be tricky. Modern life doesn't always make it easy. After a long day it can be tempting to grab the first ready meal on the supermarket shelf, which is OK occasionally. But if you read the nutritional labels on these foods, you'll see that many ready meals contain high levels of fat, sugar and salt, and not much fibre, vitamins and minerals. If you eat ready meals too often, they'll throw your diet out of balance.

 

Food groups

All the food we eat can be divided into five groups. A healthy diet means that you eat the right balance of these groups.

They are:

  • Starchy foods, such as rice, wholewheat pasta and bread, and potatoes
  • Fruit and vegetables
  • Meat, fish, eggs and beans
  • Milk and dairy foods
  • Foods containing fat and sugar

Most of us in Britain eat too much fat, sugar and salt, and not enough fruit and vegetables or starchy foods and wholegrains.

You can read more on each of the five food groups, at the NHS Choices website (see ‘related internet links’).

 

The Eatwell plate

Balancing your diet will get easier the more you do it. To help you to see the balance between the five food groups, the Food Standards Agency has produced the Eatwell plate (see ‘related internet links’).


eat well plate 590x412

Try to divide each day’s food in the proportions that you see on the plate, and you'll be well on the way to a healthy diet.

Cook it!

There are lots of quick and simple recipes that do not contain expensive ingredients and provide a much healthier family meal, and they taste much better too! 

Download recipe cards from different NHS Rotherham events and start cooking!


Last reviewed: 18/11/2010

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