Improve Your Diet Without Going on a Diet

Posted: Nov. 1, 2005

Eating is one of life's great pleasures. Eating a healthy balanced diet will make you feel much better and can help reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke.

The only diet that really works is positively changing the way you eat for the rest of your life.

What to eat?
Eat lots of fruit and vegetables (at least five to seven servings a day).
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Eat a variety of grain products, especially whole grains.
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Choose low-fat and fat-free products.
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Use soft margarines, sunflower, corn and olive oils instead of butter and other animal fats.
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Eat more fish, beans and legumes, and lean meat.

What to avoid?
Foods that are high in calories and low in nutritional value, like soft drinks, sweets, pastries and cakes.
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Foods that are high in animal fat and cholesterol, like whole milk, fatty meats, butter, tropical oils (palm and coconut), and hard margarines.
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Avoid frying. Cook foods in a way that helps to remove fat, like boiling, baking, broiling, roasting and stewing.
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Reduce the salt in your diet, especially if you have high blood pressure.
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If you drink alcohol, limit it to one drink a day if you are a woman, or two if you are a man.

Source: World Heart Federation

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