Healthy Eating Research by: Payvand Taghizadeh Easy Tips for Planning a Healthy Diet and Sticking to it Healthy eating is not about strict dietary limitations, staying unrealistically thin, or depriving yourself of the foods you love. Rather, it’s about feeling great, having more energy, improving your outlook, and stabilizing your mood. By using these simple tips, you can cut through the confusion and learn how to create a tasty, varied, and healthy diet that is as good for your mind as it is for your body. How does healthy eating affect mental and emotional health? We all know that eating right can help you maintain a healthy weight and avoid certain health problems, but your diet can also have a profound effect on your mood and sense of wellbeing. Eating more fruits and vegetables, cooking meals at home, and reducing your fat and sugar intake, on the other hand, may help to improve mood and lower your risk for mental health problems. To set yourself up for success, think about planning a healthy diet as a number of small, manageable steps—adding a salad to your diet once a day—rather than one big drastic change. As your small changes become habit, you can continue to add more healthy choices. • Prepare more of your own meals. To cook more meals at home • Make the right changes. Replacing animal fats with vegetables fats (such as switching butter for olive oil • Simplify. • Read the labels. • Focus on how you feel after eating • Drink plenty of water. Key to any healthy diet is moderation. But what is moderation? In fact , it means eating only as much food as your body needs. Moderation is also about balance. We all need a balance of carbohydrates, protein, fat, fiber, vitamins, and minerals to sustain a healthy body. For most of us, moderation also means eating less than we do now. Fruits and vegetables are low in calories. They are packed with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber. Try to eat a rainbow of fruits and vegetables every day as deeply colored fruits and vegetables contain higher concentrations of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Eat fruit for dessert, and snack on vegetables such as carrots, snow peas, or cherry tomatoes instead of processed snack foods. Good sources of healthy fat are needed to nourish your brain, heart, and cells, as well as your hair, skin, and nails.