Men, are you paying attention to your health? Compared to your female counterparts, you are more likely to smoke and drink, make unhealthy decisions and postpone medical checks and regular care. But you must pay attention as close to your lifestyle as women.
One of the most important aspects of your lifestyle is what you put on your dish. Good nutrition is critical for good health. According Myplate.govEating well not only gives your body the nutrients you need. It also helps maintain weight under control and reduces its risk of chronic disease, including:
- Type 2 diabetes
- Stroke
- Metabolic syndrome
- Colon, kidney, liver and gallbladder cane
- Osteoarthritis
Do you have overweight?
Doctors use several measurements to determine whether or not their weight is in a healthy range. One is called a body mass index (BMI). Connect your height and weight on an online BMI calculator.
- If your BMI is less than 18.5, it is within the low weight range.
- If your BMI is 18.5 to 24.9, it falls within the normal and healthy weight range.
- If your BMI is 25.0 to 29.9, it is within the overweight range.
- If your BMI has 30.0 or more, it is within the obesity range.
You can also wear waist and hip measurements to calculate body fat. To correctly measure the circumference of the waist:
- Stop and place an adhesive tape around your medium, just above your hip bones.
- Make sure the tape is horizontal around the waist.
- Keep the tape is adjusted around your waist, but does not compress the skin.
- Breathe and take the measurement.
If the circumference of your waist is more than 40 inches, it could have an increased risk of developing the health conditions mentioned above.
The easiest way to eat healthy is to follow the three simple steps of Myplate:
- Satisfy the nutritional needs mainly of food and drinks.
- Choose a variety of options from each food group.
- Pay attention to the size of the portion.
Way to the best health
It may think that what he eats does not matter so much. Or whatever it is missing in your diet, you can compensate for vitamin and mineral supplements. But a growing body of scientific evidence shows that nutrients work better in combination. That means that it is not a food or nutrient that prevents the disease and results in a healthier life. It is the interaction between the different foods and the cumulative effect that food has in your body that helps.
In other words, a single nutrient is not the key to good health. What matters is your general feeding pattern.
So what do you need to eat to stay healthy?
First, estimate how many calories you should eat every day. The number will vary, depending on your age, weight, level of activity and if you are trying to win, maintain or lose weight. Your doctor can help you determine this number. Myplate has several ways to facilitate this, including the Start simple with the Myplate application, Myplate in Alexa, and Myplate print materials. These and other mobile applications have estimators of calorie and metabolism intake. These can help determine their calorie requirements.
Now that you know how much you should eat, what should you be eating to fill that need for calories? Your daily diet should include:
- A variety of all vegetable subgroups. Those include dark, green (spinach, lettuce), red and orange (peppers), legumes (beans, peas), starch (corn) and others. Eat its fresh, frozen, canned or dry vegetables. Choose low salt varieties when buying frozen and canned.
- Fruits, at least half of which are whole fruits. These include fresh, canned, frozen and dry. Fruit juices are fine, but they lack fiber, so their body quickly turns them into sugar. Drinking too many can also add calories. Choose 100% fruit juice without added sugars.
- Whole grains. This includes grains for themselves, such as rice, oats and corn palomites. It also includes foods that contain grains such as breads and cereals. At least half of their grains must come from whole grains. Limit the amount of refined grains and products manufactured with refined grains. Foods such as cookies, cakes and certain snacks have been prosecuted to eliminate the bran and germ. This also eliminates dietary fiber, iron and other nutrients.
- Dairy products without fat and low fat. These include milk, fortified cheese and soy drinks. Do not include other «milks» made of plants (such as almonds, rice or coconut milk) in this group.
- Protein foods. You must eat a variety in dense forms in nutrients. Incorporate food from animal and plant sources. These include shellfish, meats, poultry, eggs, nuts, seeds and soy products. The legumes (beans and peas) go in this group and in the vegetable group.
- Health oils. They must have a high percentage of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. They must also be liquid at room temperature. These include avocado, canola, corn, olive, peanuts, carrum, soybeans and sunflower oils. Oils are also naturally present in nuts, seeds, shellfish, olives and avocados.
Things to consider
Your daily diet should limit:
- Added sugars, including syrups and other caloric sweeteners. These include brunette sugar, corn sweetener, dextrose, fructose, high fructose and honey corn syrup. They must represent less than 10% of their calories per day. An additional note: replacing added sugars with high intensity sweeteners (such as saccharin or aspartamo of Aspartamo can reduce its short -term calorie intake. However, the data has not shown that using these false sugars helps in the general weight control.
- Saturated fats. Strong scientific data show that replacing saturated fats with unsaturated fats, especially polyunsaturated, is associated with reduced blood levels of total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL cholesterol). It is also associated with a reduced risk of heart attacks and deaths related to cardiovascular disease. Foods rich in saturated fats include red meat, corral birds with skin and dairy products such as cream, butter and cheese. Saturated fats should not represent more than 10% of their calories per day.
- Trans fats. These are artificial fats created by a process that adds hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils to be stronger. They are found in margarines, certain snacks (such as frozen pizza and microwave corn pops) and prepared desserts. Several studies have demonstrated an association between the increase in the intake of trans fats and a greater risk of cardiovascular disease. Therefore, trans fats should be limited to the least possible amount. You must consume less than 2,300 mg per day. If you have high blood pressure, you can benefit from reducing your intake to 1,500 mg per day. Americans are averaging more than 3,400 mg per day.
- If you drink, do it in moderation. That means up to two drinks a day for men up to 64 and a drink a day for older men than that. A drink would be 12 fluid ounces of regular beer, 5 ounces of wine or 1.5 liquid ounces of standard liquor of 80. The risk of various types of cancer, such as liver cancer, seems to increase with the amount of alcohol it drinks and the time it has been drinking.
Questions to ask your doctor
- What is a healthy weight for me?
- Should salt reduce?
- Should I take any dietary supplement?
- How will weight loss help my condition?
- How much weight do I need to lose before seeing a benefit?
- Is there any food to avoid due to my condition?
- Is there any food that can add to my diet to help my condition?
Resources
National Health Institutes: necessary calories every day
United States Department of Agriculture, Myplate: Dietary guidelines for Americans 2020-2025
