Healthy eating tips

Food pyramid:

• Choose 6 or more servings of carbohydrates each day and up to 12 servings if you are active. Bread, cereals, potatoes, pasta and rice are optimal energy providers. Wholegrain choices furthermore contain fibre to help your digestive system.
• Eat 5 or more servings of fruit and vegetables each day. Fruit and vegetables provide many important vitamins, minerals and fibre. Fresh, local and coloured fruit and vegetables in season provide a good mix of minerals and vitamins. Eat about 3 servings of vegetables and 2 servings of fruit.
• Eat 3 servings of dairy products each day. Milk, yogurt and cheese provide calcium that is important for healthy bones. Low fat variants are better so choose milk and yogurt more often than cheese.
• Eat 2 servings of proteins such as meat, poultry, eggs, beans and nuts each day. Go for a variety of choices. Choose lean meat and limit processed meats such as bacon or ham (high in fat and salt). Good sources of protein are beans and peas when eaten with whole grain breads, rice or pasta.
• Try to eat fish at least twice a week (and oily fish at least once per week).
• Eat 2 servings of spreads and oils each day. Spreads and oils provide essential fats but these are only needed in very small amounts. Choose low fat and reduced fat spreads and oils such as rapeseed or olive oil (monunsaturated) instead of hard margarine, lard or butter. In order to maintain a low level of saturated fat, which is very important for your heart, you need to limit butter to once a week.
• Try to reduce your daily amount of food and drink high in fat, sugar and salt to a maximum of 1 serving each day.
• Drink at least 7-8 glasses of water or other unsweetened beverages such as fruit juice (mixed with water) or tea. Increase the amount of water when the weather is hot or while being physically active.

You can find all this information with a picture of the food pyramid by following the link: https://www.healthpromotion.ie/hp-files/docs/HPM00796.pdf
More tips and recommendations for a healthy and balanced diet can be downloaded here.
Department of Health and the Health Service Executive (n.y). Your Guide to Healthy Eating Using the Food Pyramid. Available online https://www.healthpromotion.ie/hp-files/docs/HPM00796.pdf Accessed on April 14, 2015.