What are the building blocks of a healthy and nutritious diet?

So your looking to eat healthy? Well one of the best ways to get started is to get the balance of carbs,(carbohydrates), proteins and fats right first. The reason is, these are the essential foundations of any diet plan and everything from there is just a question of balance and adjusting to suit your likes and dislikes.

Foods such as eggs those foods made from milk such as yoghurt, cheeses and of course just milk it's self are high in one of those essential building block protein which is why nutritionist recommend we eat plenty of protein in a balanced diet.

Moving on to carbohydrates the story is pretty much the same in terms of calories at around 4 calories per gram. But unlike protein which occurs only naturally (unless added as a supplement) carbs can be found both naturally and also in food that is processed or if you prefer man made.

Examples of natural carbohydrates include obvious ones such as potato's (in their various forms),bread,rice and oatmeal.Then we have processed foods or man made carbohydrates such as cakes, cookies,bagels and candies etc.

I am guessing you have probably worked out by now that I was saving the best (or worst in this case until last) .That's right a single gram of fat creates a massive 225% more energy at 9 calories (that's more than twice the amount of protein and carbohydrate). Is it that simple?

But of course as I am sure you know there is more than one type of fat they are classed as good fats (mono unsaturated fats and poly unsaturated fats) and bad fats (saturated fats) and the less widely know very bad (trans fats or trans fatty acids to give them their full name)

A balance of carbs,protein and fat (ideally mono and poly unsaturated fats with a small proportion of animal fats) will prevent you having problems with being overweight and obese. It is when these food groups get out of balance that serious problems occur.

The balance of carbs, to fat to protein is essential to healthy living and if you choose a diet which is unbalanced you risk health problems. Consume excess of either fat or carbs or a combination of both and you are likely to end up over weight.

As we have seen there are significantly more calories found in a gram of fat than a gram of protein or carbohydrate so to keep a good diet it requires a good balance of protein and carbs with some fat.

There are 4 different types of fat lets look at each in turn.

Mono unsaturated fatty acids (Mono unsaturated fats). Examples of which are seeds,nuts and vegetable oils. They are found in liquid form at room temperature.

Poly unsaturated fatty acids (PUFA's):- Poly unsaturated fats are are most commonly seen in vegetable oils, fish and seafoods. They are liquid or soft at room temperature.Essential fatty acids Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are types of polyunsaturated fats and are considered essential to our diet but our bodies can not make them so they must be obtained through the diet.

Saturated fats (SUFA's):- These are fats which are found predominantly in animal food sources such as meats, dairy products (those made from milk) such as butter and cheese and in some plants the most well know one being coconut and it's derivatives.

Trans fats (Trans fatty acids) are liquid vegetable oils that have been chemically processed to become solid at room temperature through the addition of hydrogen atoms. These hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils are used in some margarines and fried foods as well as to improve the flavor, texture and shelf-life of processed snack foods like cookies and crackers.

A guide is if it comes from a plant it is usually better for you than if it came from animal. Animal fats are found in butter, pastry and shortening as saturated fat. But fats from plants such as olive oil, sun flower oil and some margarines (read the labels) are unsaturated fats. Unsaturated fat is better for you but will still make you put on weight in excess.

If you want to be eating healthy you need to keep a good balance of all 3 main food groups.

About the Author

When seeking help and diet advice you will enjoy the new free report by Graham Foster "82 weight loss tips get rid of 22.5 pounds of ugly fat in only 5 short weeks"

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