Twelve tips for healthier eating in 2012
Twelve tips for healthier eating in 2012
“If healthier eating is on your list of resolutions for 2012, look no further. The January 2012 issue of the Harvard Women’s Health Watch offers 12 ways to break old dietary habits and build new ones.
For many years, nutrition research focused on the benefits and risks of single nutrients, such as cholesterol, saturated fat, and antioxidants. Today, many researchers are exploring the health effects of foods and eating patterns, acknowledging that there are many important interactions within and among nutrients in the foods we eat.
The result is a better understanding of what makes up a healthy eating plan. Here are five food- or meal-based ways to improve your diet that we list in the article (you can see all 12 on the Harvard Health website):
Build a better plate. In the fall of 2011, nutrition experts at the Harvard School of Public Health and colleagues at Harvard Health Publications unveiled the Healthy Eating Plate (see below), a visual guide to healthful eating that improves on the government’s “MyPlate.” Both guides are meant to simplify the task of planning healthy meals.
Pile on the vegetables and fruits. Their high fiber, mineral, and vitamin content make fruits and vegetables a critical component of any healthy diet. They’re also the source of beneficial plant chemicals not found in other foods or supplements.
Go for the good fats. Polyunsaturated fat, including vegetable oils and omega-3 fatty acids (found in fish, seeds, nuts, and canola oil), as well as monounsaturated fat (avocados, olive oil, and canola oil), are good for health, even more so when you eat them in place of saturated fats.
Replace refined grains and potatoes with whole grains. Refining grain reduces or eliminates the bran and germ of the natural grain, vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, and phytochemicals. It also makes the starch highly digestible. Eating highly digestible starch causes surges in insulin and blood sugar, boosts triglycerides, and lowers protective HDL cholesterol. The starch in potatoes is also rapidly digested. Be adventurous. In addition to whole wheat and brown rice, try quinoa, millet, farro, and amaranth.
Dine mindfully. Taking time to savor your food not only helps you enjoy it more, it also helps control your appetite. If you eat too quickly, the brain may not receive signals that the stomach is full. Put down your fork between bites and chew more slowly.
Eat breakfast. The daily morning rush sometimes means you skip breakfast. Don’t. A healthy morning meal makes for smaller rises in blood sugar and insulin throughout the day, which can lower the risk of overeating.”
By Carolyn Schatz
Editor, Harvard Women’s Health Watch
>>> You can read the full article here. <<<
* Source: 12 for 2012: Twelve tips for healthier eating – Harvard Women’s Health Watch
###
About Harvard Women’s Health Watch
Every day, new findings are changing the way physicians diagnose and treat many medical conditions in women. It’s important that you be well informed about the health issues that impact women most. And there’s no better source for women’s health information than Harvard Women’s Health Watch. The facts come directly from the more than 8,000 doctors and researchers at Harvard Medical School. They will give you straight answers, put the risks and benefits into perspective, help you make informed decisions about your health, and take action to live a longer, healthier life.
Harvard Women’s Health Watch puts you in closer touch with everything that’s happening right now in the new age of women’s health and medicine. New prevention strategies, new diagnostic techniques, new medications and treatments. From heart disease in women to breast cancer, from diet and nutrition to vitamins and supplements, from hormone therapy to exercise and strength training, Harvard Women’s Health Watch focuses on health from a woman’s perspective.
###
About Harvard Medical School (HMS)
Driving Change. Building Momentum. Making History.
“Since 1872, Harvard Medical School has been the incubator of bold ideas—a place where extraordinary people advance education, science and health care with unrelenting passion.
Whether training tomorrow’s doctors and scientists, decoding the fundamental nature of life, advancing patient care or improving health delivery systems around the world, we are never at rest. Allied with some of the world’s best hospitals, research institutes and a University synonymous with excellence, the School’s mission remains as ambitious as it is honorable: to alleviate human suffering caused by disease.”
More at Harvard Medical School & Harvard Medical School. Generations of Leaders.
_________________________________________________
###
About Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH)
Harvard School of Public Health is dedicated to advancing the public’s health through learning, discovery and communication. More than 400 faculty members are engaged in teaching and training the 1,000-plus student body in a broad spectrum of disciplines crucial to the health and well being of individuals and populations around the world. Programs and projects range from the molecular biology of AIDS vaccines to the epidemiology of cancer; from risk analysis to violence prevention; from maternal and children’s health to quality of care measurement; from health care management to international health and human rights.
More at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) & Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). History.
_________________________________________________
###
About Harvard University.
Established in 1636, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher education in the United States. The University, which is based in Cambridge and Boston, Massachusetts, has an enrollment of over 20,000 degree candidates, including undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. Harvard has more than 360,000 alumni around the world.
Harvard University is devoted to excellence in teaching, learning, and research, and to developing leaders in many disciplines who make a difference globally. Harvard faculty are engaged with teaching and research to push the boundaries of human knowledge. For students who are excited to investigate the biggest issues of the 21st century, Harvard offers an unparalleled student experience and a generous financial aid program, with over $160 million awarded to more than 60% of our undergraduate students. The University has twelve degree-granting Schools in addition to the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, offering a truly global education.
‘Universities nurture the hopes of the world: in solving challenges that cross borders; in unlocking and harnessing new knowledge; in building cultural and political understanding; and in modeling environments that promote dialogue and debate… The ideal and breadth of liberal education that embraces the humanities and arts as well as the social and natural sciences is at the core of Harvard’s philosophy. ’/ Drew Gilpin Faust
More About Harvard University & About Harvard University. Information.
###
* The above story is adapted from materials provided by Harvard University
_________________________________________________________________
