The foods of the food pyramid are necessary for our optimal health. But in what quantities and which ones are the best? These are questions that must be tailored to our individual needs. And the answers will benefit our unique needs. Healthy for me, is not the same as healthy for you. Everyone's nutritional needs are different, and everyone's level of calorie consumption is different
As you study the food pyramid published by the USDA, we can examine some of the better foods, and try to decide what particular formulas make us the healthiest on average. The average person needs an hour of physical exercise, six to eleven servings of grains, two to four servings of fruit, three to five servings of vegetables, two to three servings of meat, two to three servings of milk, and enough water to make it all work.
The guidelines found on the general chart of the pyramid are as listed above, and this could be the formula for an eighty year old man, or a fifteen year old girl. The recommended daily calorie intake is just as vague and generalized as the daily food intake pyramid. Can you see how this might not work for either one? When a guideline published is this general, it is up to the individual to determine what food regimen will keep them at their healthiest, provide the caloric intake necessary, but not excessive.
According to the guides published by the USDA, calorie needs vary from one age group to another, one gender to another. So how do you determine what your individual needs are? You can setup a journal for recording your daily caloric intake for about a month. Make a note of your weight each day. If you don't gain any weight during the course of that month, you're eating your recommended calorie level in order to maintain your weight. Now, take that calorie information, use the food pyramid and comprise a combination of foods that will help you achieve this recommended daily intake, and still be enough to be filling and please the palette. You now have an individualized healthy eating plan.
If your goal is to cut calorie consumption, you would be among the latest wave of health conscious individuals who believe that a low calorie intake keeps us in our healthiest condition. There have been studies done with rats that lend credibility to this claim. Lowering the rat's body weight by only 10% yielded a longer life; longer life spans were noted for up to a 30% cut in daily calorie intake. Anything past that point produced unhealthy consequences. Now, exactly how this translates into human life spans, we're not sure.
Once the importance of a particular food plan is understood by us, it is a simple as learning our multiplication tables. We simply memorize the food requirements, and incorporate it into our daily intake as needed. As you take the time to incorporate a healthy food plan, don't? forget the necessity of exercise in our daily lives. In order to keep our bodies healthy and functioning as expected, we need to keep it fit. This comes through proper amounts of exercise
I wish I had body like that college dude? Wish to have that fantastic figure but it's not easy for you? Need to show that next door neighbor what it is to deal with this excessive weight? These are the questions which sometimes haunt us even in our sleep are you facing the same problem then not to worry cause all you need to do is change your lifestyle a little.
Keep a check on what you eat and in what quantity do you eat. Everyone in today's world is trying to make it big where we pay very little or no importance to our body. However here is the issue to which we need to pay attention at the moment. As said ?health is wealth? it's true a healthy body and mind are the way to success. To ensure on this all we need to do is measure our intake of calories on daily basis.
What are calories?
Calorie is basically a unit of measuring the amount of intake a person needs to get required energy and maintain a fit body. Whatever we eat adds unto our energy levels which we use to do our daily work.
Where are calories found?
Whatever we eat contains calories. Calories are found in four components of foods. These are: carbohydrates, fat, protein and sugar
Why do we need to keep a check on our calories intake?
We need to check our calories intake in order to keep fit or else our body will take up excess calories and turn it into extra weight. Eating without weighing our calorie intake would be harmful in many ways because then we tend to gain excess weight , take up excess of one particular food component which can cause fatal diseases(e.g. eating excess of sugar can make you diabetic) also it tends to make us lethargic.
How many calories do we need in a day?
It differs as per the lifestyle and workload of the person. People with active lifestyle have different calories requirement as per the people who have sedentary lifestyle. Also your sex, age, height and weight make an important contribution towards the calorie intake check.
? Adult males ? 1800 cal/day approx.
? Adult females ? 1320 cal/day approx.
How do we keep a check on the calories intake?
We can keep a check on our calories intake by reading the nutrition values given on the food products. Ever food item has a nutrition value chart made on it which explains in details the exact amount of calories supplied by the product.
Also you can maintain a food dairy or food log in which you can write how much you have had in that particular day and how many servings have you taken. Then you can calculate the calorie intake by simply adding up the amount of food and converting it into calories intake during the day.
Also start controlling the amount of portion you take in:
So now all you have to do to stay fit is measure and eat. Instead of eating that junk food items switch to healthy and nutritive food. Also cut on beverages and juices and rather have wholesome fruits. Calories are important for a healthy body but one should know where to put a line. This will help you to figure out which is the food which is good for health also gives the exact amount of calories require not in excess or in deficit.
Both Michael Bens & Jonathon Kensingtons are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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