NHS Choices' 8 tips to eating well

NHS Choices has come up with the following 8 tips to help you choose a healthy diet and to eat well!

1. Base your meals on starchy foods
2. Eat lots of fruit and veg 
3. Eat more fish
4. Cut down on saturated fat and sugar
5. Try to eat less salt - no more than 6g a day
6. Get active and try to be a healthy weight
7. Drink plenty of water
8. Don't skip breakfast

1. Base your meals on starchy foods

Starchy foods such as bread, cereals, rice, pasta and potatoes are a really important part of a healthy diet. Try to choose wholegrain varieties of starchy foods whenever you can. They are a good source of energy and the main source of a range of nutrients in our diet. As well as starch, these foods contain fibre, calcium, iron and B vitamins.

Starchy foods should make up about a third of the food we eat- try to include at least one starchy food with each of your main meals. So you could start the day with a wholegrain breakfast cereal, have a sandwich for lunch, and potatoes, pasta or rice with your evening meal.

Some people think starchy foods are fattening, but gram for gram they contain less than half the calories of fat. You just need to watch the fats you add when cooking and serving these foods, because this is what increases the calorie content!

Wholegrain foods contain more fibre and other nutrients than white or refined starchy foods. We also digest wholegrain foods more slowly so they can help make us feel full for longer.

Wholegrain foods include:

• Wholemeal and wholegrain bread, pitta and chapatti
• Wholewheat pasta and brown rice
• Wholegrain breakfast cereals

2. Eat lots of fruit and veg

Most people know we should be eating more fruit and veg. But most of us still aren't eating enough. Try to eat at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and veg every day. It might be easier than you think.

You could try adding up your portions during the day. For example, you could have:

• a glass of juice and a sliced banana with your cereal at breakfast
• a side salad at lunch
• a pear as an afternoon snack
• a portion of peas or other vegetables with your evening meal

You can choose from fresh, frozen, tinned, dried or juiced, but remember potatoes count as a starchy food, not as portions of fruit and veg.

3. Eat more fish

Most of us should be eating more fish - including a portion of oily fish each week. It's an excellent source of protein and contains many vitamins and minerals.

Aim for at least two portions of fish a week, including a portion of oily fish and try to choose as wide a variety as possible. Eating a wider variety of fish and shellfish will also help reduce the environmental impact... You can choose from fresh, frozen or canned - but remember that canned and smoked fish can be high in salt.

Examples of oily fish: Salmon, mackerel, trout, herring, fresh tuna, sardines, pilchards, eel (these fish are called oily because they are rich in certain types of fats, called omega 3 fatty acids; which can help keep our hearts healthy)

Examples of white or non-oily fish: Haddock, plaice, coley, cod, tinned tuna, skate, hake

You shouldn't have more than one portion a week of the following types of fish:  Shark, swordfish and marlin (this is because of the high levels of mercury in these fish)

4. Cut down on saturated fat and sugar 

Fats
To stay healthy we need some fat in our diets. What is important is the kind of fat we are eating. There are two main types of fat:

• saturated fat - having too much can increase the amount of cholesterol in the blood, which increases the chance of developing heart disease
• unsaturated fat - having unsaturated fat instead of saturated fat lowers blood cholesterol

Try to cut down on food that is high in saturated fat and have foods that are rich in unsaturated fat instead, such as vegetable oils (including sunflower, rapeseed and olive oil), oily fish, avocados, nuts and seeds.

Try to eat foods high in saturated fat less often or in small amounts.

For a healthier choice, use just a small amount of vegetable oil or a reduced-fat spread instead of butter, lard or ghee. And when you are having meat, try to choose lean cuts and cut off any visible fat.

Sugar
Most people in the UK are eating too much sugar. We should all be trying to eat fewer foods containing added sugar; such as sweets, cakes and biscuits, and drinking fewer sugary soft and fizzy drinks.

Having sugary foods and drinks too often can cause tooth decay, especially if you have them between meals. Many foods that contain added sugar can also be high in calories so cutting down could help you control your weight.

Find out what's high in fat and sugar, and understand your shopping by clicking here to see the Food Standards Agency's advice on food labelling.

5. Try to eat less salt - no more than 6g a day

Adults - and children over 11 - should have no more than 6g salt a day. Younger children should have even less.

Lots of people think they don't eat much salt, especially if they don't add it to their food. But don't be so sure... Every day in the UK, 85% of men and 69% of women eat too much salt!

Three-quarters (75%) of the salt we eat is already in the food we buy, such as breakfast cereals, soups, sauces and ready meals. So you could easily be eating too much salt without realising it.

Eating too much salt can raise your blood pressure. And people with high blood pressure are three times more likely to develop heart disease or have a stroke than people with normal blood pressure.

6. Get active and try to be a healthy weight

It's not a good idea to be either underweight or overweight. Being overweight can lead to health conditions such as heart disease, high blood pressure or diabetes. Being underweight could also affect your health.

Check if you are the right weight for your height using  our BMI Calculator.

If you're worried about your weight, ask your GP or a dietitian for advice. But if you think you just need to lose a little weight, the main things to remember are:

• only eat as much food as you need
• make healthy choices - it's a good idea to choose low-fat and low-sugar varieties, eat plenty of fruit and veg and wholegrains
• get more active

It's also important to eat a variety of types of food so you get all the nutrients your body needs.

Physical activity is a good way of using up extra calories, and helps control our weight! Whenever we eat more than our body needs, we put on weight. This is because we store any energy we don't use up - usually as fat. Even small amounts of extra energy each day can lead to weight gain.

But crash diets aren't good for your health and they don't work in the longer term. The way to reach a healthy weight - and stay there - is to change your lifestyle gradually. Aim to lose about 0.5 to 1kg (about 1 to 2lbs) a week, until you reach a healthy weight for your height.

7. Drink plenty of water

We should be drinking about 6 to 8 glasses (1.2 litres) of water, or other fluids, every day to stop us getting dehydrated.

When the weather is warm or when we get active, our bodies need more than this. But avoid drinking soft and fizzy drinks that are high in added sugar. 

Alcohol
There is nothing wrong with the occasional drink. But drinking too much can cause problems. Alcohol is also high in calories, so cutting down could help you control your weight.

8. Don't skip breakfast

Breakfast can help give us the energy we need to face the day, as well as some of the vitamins and minerals we need for good health.

Some people skip breakfast because they think it will help them lose weight. But missing meals doesn't help us lose weight and it isn't good for us, because we can miss out on essential nutrients. There is some evidence to suggest that eating breakfast can actually help people control their weight.

So, why not go for a bowl of wholegrain cereal with some low-fat milk and sliced banana and a glass of fruit juice for a healthy start to the day!