Top tips for healthy eating..

It's pretty simple, we need to eat healthily in order to maintain a good body, mind and spirit. Your diet should be healthy and balanced against your level of daily physical activity - here are some tips to help you along the way.

1. Enjoy a wide variety of nutritious foods but eat plenty of vegetables, legumes and fruit.

2. Eat a moderate amount of cereals (preferably wholegrain), including breads, pasta, rice and noodles. But not too many, they can pile on the pounds if you over indulge!

3. Include some lean meat, fish, poultry or other alternatives.

4. Include milk, yogurt, cheese (or alternatives), preferably reduced-fat varieties.

5. Drink plenty of water.

6. Limit saturated fat, and moderate your total fat intake.

7. Choose low-salt foods.

8. If you drink alcohol, limit your intake.

9. Eat only a moderate amount of sugars and foods containing added sugars.

10. Maintain a healthy body weight by being physically active and eating according to your energy needs.

13. Care for your food: prepare and store it properly.

Eat the right amounts of fruit and vegetables
Most dietary guidelines recommend that adults eat a minimum of 5 servings of vegetables and 2 serves of fruit every day.

Examples of a serving of vegetables are: half a cup (75g) of cooked vegetables or green leafy vegetables such as spinach or broccoli, one cup of salad vegetables or one medium potato.

A sample serving of fruit would be a medium apple, banana, orange or pear, a cup of diced pieces of fruit or canned fruit, or 4 dried apricot halves.

Chew the fat in moderation
Most people have a diet that is relatively high in fat - too much piles on the pounds, especially if combined with a low level of physical activity. Eating too much of certain types of fat, especially saturated fat, can increase our risk of heart disease and a number of other diseases.

Most of us eat too much if we were honest, so try to reduce the total fat in your diet so that it makes up only 20-25 per cent of your total food energy intake.

Saturated fat is something we should try to keep as low as we can - among the major sources of saturated fat in the adult diet are cheese, butter, cream, meat, chocolate and potato chips.

Watch your sugar intake
Excess energy intake in any form, including excess sugar, can result in weight gain or obesity, especially when combined with low levels of physical activity.

Sugars in food can improve the way a food tastes, so are often added to various foods. However, foods with high levels of refined sugars are very energy dense and often have lower levels of other nutrients. Eating a lot of food that is high in sugar can ‘displace’ more nutritious foods from your diet. The trick is to read the labels and you'll soon find the offenders!

Include calcium for your bones
Calcium is a mineral that is important for healthy bones throughout life. Adequate calcium in the diet is also important for helping to avoid excessive thinning of bone in later life.
Milk and foods produced from milk are a rich source of calcium - but can lead to obesity if eaten in large quantities.To source alternative foods rich in calcium provides a varied diet and helps to keep off the pounds! Try pink salmon, soya milk, spinach, rhubarb, peas and broccoli.

Don't overlook iron
A low intake of iron is common, particularly in women and vegetarians. Iron deficiency can cause fatigue and listlessness, and can sometimes lead to anaemia.

Red meat is a good source of iron - but for those who prefer not to eat red meat there are other sources such as broccoli, peas, watermelon, prunes, clams or the dark meat of turkey.

Prevent weight gain: get active!
A key secret to prevent weight gain is to eat according to your energy needs. A minimum of 30 minutes of physical activity per day also helps.

A good start it to reduce the amount of time you spend being physically inactive — watching TV, working on a computer, driving a car — and replace this with any form of physical activity that suits your lifestyle, even active household chores can contribute. You don't need to go to the gym or play an organised sport to increase your level of physical acivity.

So folks, it’s all about combining a healthy diet with an active lifestyle. Working in a sedentary (non-physically active) job means balancing your day by being physically active in your non-work time, and always aiming to moderate your food energy intake to meet your energy needs.