Energy is the fuel that the human body needs to live and be productive and therefore, to have energy, the CuídatePlus portal recommended having a balanced diet to be able to provide the body with all the nutrients it needs and that it feels capable of carrying out daily activities.
Thus, the World Health Organization (WHO) indicated that a healthy diet includes:
- Eat fruits, vegetables, legumes (such as lentils and beans), nuts, and whole grains (for example, unprocessed corn, millet, oats, wheat, or brown rice).
- Daily include at least 400 g (or five servings) of fruits and vegetables, except potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassava and other starchy tubers.
- Reduce to less than 10% of total caloric intake from free sugars, which is equivalent to 50 grams (or regarding 12 level teaspoons) for a person of healthy body weight consuming approximately 2,000 calories per day, although for additional health benefits less than 5% of total caloric intake would be ideal. Free sugars are all those that manufacturers, cooks or consumers add to foods or drinks, as well as sugars naturally present in honey, syrups and fruit juices and concentrates.
- Daily intake from fat should be less than 30%. The unsaturated ones (present in fish, avocados, nuts and in sunflower, soybean, canola and olive oils) are preferable to the saturated ones (present in fatty meat, butter, palm and coconut oil, cream , cheese, clarified butter, and lard), and trans fats of all types, particularly those produced industrially (found in frozen pizzas, pies, cookies, pastries, wafers, cooking oils, and spreads) and from ruminants (found in the meat and dairy products of ruminants such as cattle, sheep, goats and camels). The WHO suggested reducing saturated fat intake to less than 10% of total calorie intake, and trans fat intake to less than 1%. In particular, industrially produced trans fats are not part of a healthy diet and should be avoided.
- Consume less than five grams of salt (approximately one teaspoon) per day and the salt should be iodized.
- Drinking water. Daily water intake is different for men and women as there are differences in intake, but in general most men need regarding 13 cups of fluid a day and most women need regarding nine.
- Reduce alcohol consumption. The recommendation is one drink per day if you are a woman and two drinks per day if you are a man.
- Give up smoking. Tobacco smoke contains more than 60 known cancer-causing chemicals and thousands of other harmful substances.
Along the same lines, the organization points out that a healthy diet helps protect people from malnutrition in all its forms, as well as non-communicable diseases, including diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer.
However, according to the Organization, the exact composition of a varied, balanced and healthy diet will be determined by the characteristics of each person (age, sex, life habits and degree of physical activity), the cultural context, the foods available in place and eating habits.
For this reason, the first thing to do is consult a health expert so that he or she can guide the process and indicate what is most appropriate for each person.
