A healthy diet helps pave the way for a heart and healthy blood vessels, strong bones and muscles, an acute mind, and more.
Confused about what constitutes a healthy diet? You're not alone over the years, what appeared to be medical research sandals combined with the avalanche of diet books and diet plans based on little or no science have clouded the water. But a consensus has emerged on the basics, which are actually quite simple. An important message to take home is to focus on the types of foods you eat and your overall dietary pattern, rather than individual nutrients such as fat, dietary cholesterol or specific vitamins. There are no individual nutrients or vitamins that can help you stay healthy. Instead, there is a short list of key types of foods that together can drastically reduce your risk of heart disease. In the United States and other developed countries, the average woman can expect to live 80 years or more.1 With such longevity, it is not enough to simply consume the calories needed to sustain, build and repair the body. Foods that provide these calories can influence the risk of developing chronic diseases, ranging from heart disease and cancer to osteoporosis and age-related vision loss. While much remains to be learned about the role of specific nutrients in reducing the risk of chronic diseases, a wealth of evidence supports the usefulness of healthy dietary patterns that emphasize whole foods, legumes, vegetables and fruits, and limit refined foods. starches, red meats, whole dairy products and foods and beverages high in added sugars. These diets have been associated with a lower risk of a variety of chronic diseases. Diet, of course, is just a method of preventing disease. Limiting caloric intake to maintain a healthy weight, exercise regularly and not smoking are three other essential strategies. Convincing data from nurses' Health Study show that women who followed a healthy lifestyle pattern that includes these four strategies were 80% less likely to develop cardiovascular disease over a 14-year period compared to all other women in the study. A complementary study, the Health Professional Follow-up Study, , showed that similar healthy options were beneficial for men, even among those taking medications to lower blood pressure or cholesterol.
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