In this post I will discuss the eatwell guide and how to make use of it to eat healthily.
The Eatwell Guide is a graphic portrayal of how different categories of food can contribute to a balanced diet. It shows how much of each of the 5 main food groups you should eat in a day. Incase anyone is unaware, the 5 main food groups are: fruit and vegetables, carbohydrates, dairy, protein and fats. The eatwell guide shows the balance you should aim to achieve over a whole day- not every meal is expected to be balanced as long as it evens out.
So, how much of each food group are we expected to eat?
For fruit and vegetables, we should aim to eat more than 5 portions a day- this can be fresh, frozen, tinned, dried or juiced. It should be a selection of different fruit and vegetables incorporating all types of veg and will make up over a third of the food we eat in a day.
For Carbohydrates, we should base meals on starchy carbohydrates such as pasta, potatoes, rice and bread. This should also make up about a third of the food we eat and high fibre/ wholegrain varieties would be best- focussing on the least refined versions makes a healthier diet.
For dairy, we should have about 3 serving of dairy products or dairy alternatives in a day. When possible, we should aim for products low in fat and sugar.
For protein, we need at least two portions a day- this will vary depending on body type, age, lifestyle and health conditions. The portions can be meat, fish, dairy products or plant based alrternatives. We should aim for at least 2 portions of fish a week (for meat eaters) or nuts and seeds for vegetarians as they contain omega 3 fatty acids. Pulses are good alternatives to meat as they are lower in fat and higher in fibre.
For fats, we should eat only a small amount of unsaturated fats such as vegetable, sunflower and olive oils and spreads in a day.
We should aim to eat foods high is sugar and salt less often and in smaller amounts because they are not required in our diet.
Along with food, water is also highly important to a balanced diet. The recomended amount of fluids to drink in a day is about 3.7 litres a day for men and 2.7 a day for women. Any drinks that are low sugar or sugar free count towards this amount. We should aim to limit smoothies and fruit juices to 150ml a day because they contain naturally present sugars.
I used my own knowledge along with information from https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/the-eatwell-guide/ to make this post. Any further information can be found on this site. This is only a basic overview of the eatwell guide but hopefully this helped.
I intend to focus more on some of these areas of nurtrition over the next few months so look out for those posts if you are interested in more detail.
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed. I would appreciate it if you checked out some of my other posts.
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