Healthy Eating Guidelines

These eight practical tips cover the basics of healthy eating, and can help you make healthier choices. Many of these can also be found on the eatwell guide.

 

• Base your meals on starchy carbohydrates. 
• Eat lots of fruit and vegetables.
• Eat more fish – including a portion of oily fish each week.
• Cut down on saturated fat and sugar.
• Eat less salt – no more than 6g a day for adults
• Get active and be a healthy weight
• Don't get thirsty
• Don't skip breakfast

 

The Eatwell Guide Food Groups

• Fruit and vegetables (green section) – eat at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables each day.
• Potatoes, bread, rice, pasta and other starchy carbohydrates (yellow section) – choose wholegrain or higher fibre versions with less added fat, salt and sugar. These are all good sources of starchy carbohydrates.
• Oils and spreads (purple section) – choose unsaturated oils and spreads and use in small amounts.
• Dairy and alternatives such as soya drinks (blue section) – choose lower fat and lower sugar options.
• Beans, pulses, fish, eggs, meat and other proteins (pink section) – eat more beans, 2 portions of sustainably sourced fish per week, one of which is oily. Eat less red and processed meat.
• High fat, salt and sugar foods (not part of the plate) – eat less often and in small amounts. Think about how much you eat to keep your diet healthy. The fats are saturated and can result in increased blood cholesterol, coronary heart disease and weight gain. Salt can raise blood pressure. Sugar can result in weight gain and tooth decay. Diabetes can develop if the body is overweight.
• In addition drink 6-8 cups / glasses of fluid a day. Water is more beneficial but coffee, tea etc. will also count.

 

You don’t have to give up the foods you enjoy most, just eat them in the correct proportions.

 

Everything you eat for snacks as well as meals, count towards the balance of your diet during each day.

 

The Eatwell Guide shows that if food is eaten in the proportions shown it is easier to follow a balanced diet.