166 The 4 Ingredients for a Healthy Diet

<p><!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --></p> <h3 id="heading">What is a healthy diet?</h3> <p><!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --></p> <p>We are all different and so a healthy diet means different things. For a coeliac gluten would not be included in a healthy diet. Yet we talk about a Mediterranean diet as being healthy and that often includes pasta.</p> <p><!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --></p> <p>If you are a non-meat eater then a healthy diet for you would look very different from someone who eats meat. And how many portions of vegetables do I really need to eat every day?</p> <p><!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --></p> <p>And what about other health conditions, how do they work in a healthy diet?</p> <p><!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --></p> <p>It is far too wide a term to use. It really doesn't mean anything, and could mean anything. It's not helpful.</p> <p><!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --></p> <h3>What does food need to give us?</h3> <p><!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --></p> <p>Food needs to contain essential ingredients for health. Essential means that we cannot make it and so we need to consume it in our diet.</p> <p><!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --></p> <p>We need essential vitamins, minerals, essential fats. Some of them we need to consume daily, and others we just need to make sure we top up regularly.</p> <p><!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --></p> <p>And then there are lots of health promoting ingredients such as antioxidants, phytonutrients such as lycopene, resveratrol, or beta carotene which promote health and wellbeing and form part of a healthy diet.</p> <p><!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --></p> <p>But unless you are a nutritionist, or you have a meal plan created specifically for you, how do you know that you are eating a healthy diet?</p> <p><!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --></p> <h3>My four simple rules for a healthy plate of food</h3> <p><!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:list --></p> <ul> <