Practicing good nutrition, hygiene and regular exercise makes you develop healthy habits which you will continue to practice for life and keep you healthy for long periods. Staying healthy requires a balanced diet, lots of exercise and staying away from unhealthy habits like smoking, excessive alcohol intake, drugs and others. Below are some healthy eating facts and figures for children, teenagers and adults.

Nutrition
Nutrition refers to the value that we get out of what we eat. Nutritious wholesome foods offer balanced combinations of vitamins and minerals, proteins, amino acids, carbohydrates, antioxidants and healthy fats. A food item is considered nutritious if it provides the required amount of nutrients needed to enhance growth, replace lost energy, boost our resistance and allows us to perform our daily activities. Food items that are not nutritious just add unhealthy fats and carbohydrates to our body which results to less appetite and unnecessary protrusion of the abdomen area.

3 Basic Rules For Promoting A Child’s Healthy Diet

The three basic rules include variety, balance, and moderation. The food pyramid consists of elements to promote a child’s healthy diet. Variety means that a child’s diet must include food items from different levels of the food pyramid – from a wide variety of meats, fruits and vegetables, whole grain breads, dairy proteins and fibers. A growing child’s diet cannot be completed by only a single variety of food item. It will not be able to supply the amount of nutrients needed. Growing children release a lot of energy and they are easily lost every single day. Their body nutrients must be sufficient enough to replace the lost energy. Growing children are also normally picky with food. Having a colorful healthy eating plan will help boost their appetite. Balance simply means getting the right amount of nutrients from all levels of the food pyramid each day. Moderation refers to being careful about the amount of food intake.

A link Between Unhealthy Eating Habits And A Negative Self Image
Nutrition psychologists and experts agree that there is a direct link between unhealthy eating habits and their perception towards themselves – physical and mental. Many have depressing behavioral patterns. They resort to extreme measures just to lose weight. Some adults even use harsh methods of dieting like fasting, use of laxatives, taking suppressants and induced vomiting. These often result to eating disorders like anorexia nervosa or bulimia. Studies show that teenage girls worry most about their weights and figures. It also indicated that even with their worries, they still are eating too much.

People who feel good about themselves are often conscious abut their food intake, their daily activities and healthy lifestyle. While low self-esteem is linked with unhealthy eating habits like binging, purging or dieting, healthy eating is the key to promoting an overall well-being.