Diets and Healthy Food Choices

Healthy food choices

Food packaging and labels: Guide to making healthy food choices

Many consumers pick foods depending on the attraction and temptation of the label on the front of the food packaging, but to become educated consumers, we should turn to the sides and back of the food product and read the labels carefully. There are many things that the labels can tell us, and we can use these to help us pick nutritious and healthy items.

For more information, see Food Packaging and Labels: Guide to Making Healthy Food Choices.

Maintaining your diet and exercise routine during holidays

It is not unusual to come to your holiday and believe you need a well deserved break not only from work or study but from your usual exercise and diet regime. However, it is important that diet and exercise are not completely forgotten when you go on holidays. During your holidays it is wise to change your exercise goals and treat yourself, within reason.

For more information, see Maintaining your Diet and Exercise Routine During Holidays.

Comfort eating

Often when food is eaten, it is not just for the nutritional content or to appease hunger, but also for social or psychological reasons. Eating a meal can change your mood and emotional predisposition. Comfort eating is a way in which people deal with stress, anxiety, boredom, loneliness or unhappiness. Comfort foods are foods that evoke a psychologically comfortable and pleasurable state when they are eaten.

For more information, see Comfort Eating.

Diets

Vegetarian diet

Vegetarians are people who exclude animal meat from their diet. A vegetarian diet comprises mainly of fruits and vegetables. There are a number of health advantages and disadvantages of vegetarian diets, and a well-designed diet should include a wide range of foods to meet nutritional requirements.

For more information, see Healthy Eating for Vegetarians.

Mediterranean diet

The Mediterranean diet is a diet based on plant foods. It is high in N-3 fatty acids, antioxidants and phytochemicals, and low in cholesterol, salt and sugar. The Mediterranean diet has received a lot of attention in recent years because scientists have shown that following it is associated with a number of health benefits.

For more information, see Mediterranean Diet.

Gluten-free diet

Gluten is a storage protein derived from wheat, barley, rye and a number of other cereals, and thus is commonly found in modern diets. A gluten-free diet is typically followed by people with an intolerance to gluten, including those with coeliac disease and dermatitis herpetiformis. It is the only effective treatment for gluten intolerance.

For more information, see Gluten-Free Diet.

Liver cleansing diet

Liver cleansing diets claim to remove toxins that are clogging the liver. This cleansing of the liver is proposed to help it to work more efficiently, leading to weight loss. A range of nutritional supplements and liver tonics are often recommended to accompany liver cleansing diets.

For more information, see Liver Cleansing Diet.

FAILSAFE diet

FAILSAFE stands for Free of Additives, Low in Salicylates, Amines and Flavour Enhancers. The compounds eliminated from the FAILSAFE diet cause adverse reactions in food intolerant individuals, and can also lead to mood disorders, digestive disorders and sleeping problems. The FAILSAFE diet can reduce symptoms of hyperactivity in children with ADHD.

For more information, see FAILSAFE Diet for ADHD.

Meal replacement programs

Effective weight loss strategies are needed to help overweight and obese people lose weight and maintain weight loss in the long term. Meal replacements for weight loss are available in the community and have become popular for helping many people successfully start losing weight.

For more information, see Meal Replacement Programs.

More information

For more information on nutrition, including information on types and composition of food, nutrition and people, conditions related to nutrition, and diets and recipes, as well as some useful videos and tools, see Nutrition.