Government guidelines for healthy diet

Written By: Rose Hannigan

The Irish government has spent a lot of time trying to get the healthy eating message across to all sectors of the population. As a result, the campaign has introduced the food pyramid. This is now acknowledged and accepted as the national guide to healthy eating, and has enhanced public awareness on healthy eating guidelines on fruit and vegetables, fibre, low fat and being a healthy weight.

The Health Promotion Unit has run National Healthy Eating Campaigns for one decade. This campaign has been successful in creating and increasing public attention on healthy eating with 60% awareness of key healthy eating messages.

Recent research has indicated that of those people who were aware of the campaign, one in three was influenced to change their eating habits as a direct result, this proves that it is working as an easy to follow campaign.

The food pyramid is distributed through public health centers, doctors, hospitals, schools etc. in order to access as much of the population as possible.

Healthy eating is essential for good health.
What you eat can either protect you or increase your chances of getting diseases like heart disease. Good nutrition is also essential for healthy skin, hair and nails.

The Food Pyramid

The key to healthy eating is to eat a wide variety of foods. Using the Food Pyramid as a guide will help make sure you get all the vitamins, minerals and goodness you need from your food. Choose most foods from the bottom two shelves, smaller amounts from the next two shelves and a very small amount from the top shelf.

Poor Nutrition

Poor nutritional intake can lead to many health problems, such as heart problems, digestive problems, hormonal imbalances and many more. Nowadays, many think more about the outside of their body than the internal functions. What should be realized is that most skin conditions are a result of imbalances internally. Eczema is believed to be primarily from eating foods that one may be sensitive to. Dry skin can be genetically linked but also as a result of dehydration and a diet low in essential fatty acids. Rosacea is a difficult condition to manage, but eliminating refined carbohydrates from the diet has a huge beneficial impact on the skin.

Smart food strategies

• Eat breakfast - studies show that even in young healthy adults with reasonable diets, eating breakfast helps them to address a problem more creatively.

• Eat smaller meals - large meals can make you feel over full and tired.

• Avoid crash diets - very low energy diets can cause memory and attention problems and lead to poor reaction times. Crash diets also may affect your metabolism and lead to weight gain in the long term. It can lead to dull flaky and dry skin, digestive problems and other health problems.

Keep well hydrated - drink water frequently throughout the day to help prevent dehydration. This will aid in the removal of toxins and promote healthier functioning of organs. Adequate water intake will help plump out the skin and give it a more youthful appearance. It will also help reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles on theskin around the eyes crows fee)