Discover the Ultimate Guide to Healthy Food Facts for Nutritious Eating!

Consuming a healthy diet throughout life is essential for preventing malnutrition in all its forms, as well as a range of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and conditions. In today's world, changing lifestyles have led to a shift in dietary patterns. People are now consuming more foods high in energy, fats, free sugars, and salt/sodium, while many do not eat enough fruit, vegetables, and dietary fiber like whole grains. This article delves into the essential aspects of a healthy diet, offering practical advice and guidelines for maintaining optimal nutrition at every stage of life.

Understanding the Basics of a Healthy Diet

The exact make-up of a diversified, balanced, and healthy diet will vary depending on individual characteristics, such as age, gender, lifestyle, and degree of physical activity, as well as cultural context, locally available foods, and dietary customs. However, the basic principles of what constitutes a healthy diet remain the same.

Key Components of a Healthy Diet for Adults

A healthy diet includes a variety of food groups that provide essential nutrients. For adults, the following components are crucial:

Fruits, Vegetables, Legumes, Nuts, and Whole Grains: These foods are rich in vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants. Aim for at least 400g (i.e., five portions) of fruit and vegetables per day to reduce the risk of NCDs and ensure an adequate daily intake of dietary fiber.
Limiting Free Sugars: Free sugars are all sugars added to foods or drinks by the manufacturer, cook, or consumer, as well as sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices, and fruit juice concentrates. The intake of free sugars should be reduced to less than 10% of total energy intake, with a further reduction to less than 5% providing additional health benefits.
Controlling Fat Intake: Less than 30% of total energy intake should come from fats. This includes limiting saturated fats to less than 10% of total energy intake and trans-fats to less than 1% of total energy intake. Replacing saturated fats and trans-fats with unsaturated fats, particularly polyunsaturated fats, is recommended.
Reducing Salt Intake: Consume less than 5g of salt (equivalent to about one teaspoon) per day. Salt should be iodized to prevent iodine deficiency.
Dairy: Dairy recommendations include low-fat or fat-free milk, lactose-free milk, and fortified soy beverages. Other plant-based beverages do not have the same nutritional properties as animal's milk and soy beverages.

Nutritional Needs for Infants and Young Children

In the first two years of a child’s life, optimal nutrition fosters healthy growth and improves cognitive development. It also reduces the risk of becoming overweight or obese and developing NCDs later in life. Advice on a healthy diet for infants and children is similar to that for adults, but the following elements are also important:

Exclusive Breastfeeding: Infants should be breastfed exclusively during the first six months of life.
Continued Breastfeeding: Infants should be breastfed continuously until two years of age and beyond.
Complementary Foods: From six months of age, breast milk should be complemented with a variety of adequate, safe, and nutrient-dense foods. Salt and sugars should not be added to complementary foods.

Practical Advice on Maintaining a Healthy Diet

Making informed food choices and adopting healthy eating habits can significantly improve overall health and well-being. Here are some practical tips to help you maintain a balanced and nutritious diet.

Read also: Diet soda: Nutrition facts

Increasing Fruit and Vegetable Intake

Eating at least 400 g, or five portions, of fruit and vegetables per day reduces the risk of NCDs and helps to ensure an adequate daily intake of dietary fibre. Fruit and vegetable intake can be improved by:

Always including vegetables in meals.
Eating fresh fruit and raw vegetables as snacks.
Eating fresh fruit and vegetables that are in season.
Eating a variety of fruit and vegetables.
A good practice is to aim for a variety of colors on your plate.

Managing Fat Intake

Reducing the amount of total fat intake to less than 30% of total energy intake helps to prevent unhealthy weight gain in the adult population. Also, the risk of developing NCDs is lowered by:

Reducing saturated fats to less than 10% of total energy intake.
Reducing trans-fats to less than 1% of total energy intake.
Replacing both saturated fats and trans-fats with unsaturated fats - in particular, with polyunsaturated fats.

Fat intake, especially saturated fat and industrially-produced trans-fat intake, can be reduced by:

Steaming or boiling instead of frying when cooking.
Replacing butter, lard, and ghee with oils rich in polyunsaturated fats, such as soybean, canola (rapeseed), corn, safflower, and sunflower oils.
Eating reduced-fat dairy foods and lean meats, or trimming visible fat from meat.
Limiting the consumption of baked and fried foods, and pre-packaged snacks and foods (e.g., doughnuts, cakes, pies, cookies, biscuits, and wafers) that contain industrially-produced trans-fats.

Reducing Salt, Sodium, and Increasing Potassium Intake

Most people consume too much sodium through salt and not enough potassium. Reducing salt intake to the recommended level of less than 5 g per day could prevent 1.7 million deaths each year.

Salt intake can be reduced by:

Limiting the amount of salt and high-sodium condiments (e.g., soy sauce, fish sauce, and bouillon) when cooking and preparing foods.
Not having salt or high-sodium sauces on the table.
Limiting the consumption of salty snacks.
Choosing products with lower sodium content.

Potassium can mitigate the negative effects of elevated sodium consumption on blood pressure. Intake of potassium can be increased by consuming fresh fruit and vegetables.

Minimizing Sugar Consumption

In both adults and children, the intake of free sugars should be reduced to less than 10% of total energy intake. A reduction to less than 5% of total energy intake would provide additional health benefits.

Sugars intake can be reduced by:

Limiting the consumption of foods and drinks containing high amounts of sugars, such as sugary snacks, candies, and sugar-sweetened beverages (i.e., soft drinks, fruit or vegetable juices and drinks, liquid and powder concentrates, flavoured water, energy and sports drinks, ready‐to‐drink tea, ready‐to‐drink coffee and flavoured milk drinks).
Eating fresh fruit and raw vegetables as snacks instead of sugary snacks.

The Role of Governments and Stakeholders in Promoting Healthy Diets

Diet evolves over time, being influenced by many social and economic factors that interact in a complex manner to shape individual dietary patterns. These include income, food prices (which will affect the availability and affordability of healthy foods), individual preferences and beliefs, cultural traditions, and geographical and environmental aspects (including climate change). Therefore, promoting a healthy food environment - one that ensures the availability of and access to diversified, balanced, and healthy diets - requires the involvement of multiple sectors and stakeholders, including government, and the public and private sectors.

Governments have a central role in creating a healthy food environment that enables people to adopt and maintain healthy dietary practices. Effective actions by policy-makers to create a healthy food environment include the following:

Creating Coherence in National Policies and Investment Plans: This includes trade, food, and agricultural policies to promote a healthy diet and protect public health.
Increasing Incentives for Producers and Retailers: Encourage the growth, use, and sale of fresh fruit and vegetables.
Reducing Incentives for the Food Industry: Discourage the production of processed foods containing high levels of saturated fats, trans-fats, free sugars, and salt/sodium.
Encouraging Reformulation of Food Products: Promote the reduction of saturated fats, trans-fats, free sugars, and salt/sodium in food products, with the goal of eliminating industrially-produced trans-fats.
Implementing Marketing Recommendations: Follow WHO recommendations on the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children.
Establishing Standards for Healthy Dietary Practices: Ensure the availability of healthy, nutritious, safe, and affordable foods in pre-schools, schools, other public institutions, and the workplace.
Exploring Regulatory and Voluntary Instruments: Utilize marketing regulations, nutrition labeling policies, and economic incentives or disincentives to facilitate consumer understanding.
Providing Nutrition and Dietary Counselling: Offer counselling at primary health-care facilities.

Promoting Appropriate Infant and Young Child Feeding Practices

Implementing the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes: Adhere to subsequent relevant World Health Assembly resolutions.
Implementing Policies and Practices to Promote Protection of Working Mothers.
Promoting, Protecting, and Supporting Breastfeeding: Support breastfeeding in health services and the community, including through the Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative.

Addressing Common Misconceptions and Promoting Informed Choices

With an abundance of nutrition information available, it's easy to get confused about what is truly nutritious. Here are some common misconceptions and expert-confirmed nutrition facts to guide you in making informed choices:

Dispelling Myths

Multivitamins: While multivitamins can be necessary for some, the best way to get your vitamins is by eating them through a diet of whole grains, vegetables, and fruits.
Herbal Supplements: Herbal supplements are not regulated, so there’s no guarantee that what’s on the package is actually in the supplement.
Fruit Juice: Many types of fruit juice contain highly concentrated added sugar, which is hard for the body to process. One-hundred percent juice is a healthier option as it doesn’t contain added sugar, just the natural sugar that comes from fruit.
"Natural" Foods: The term “natural” can sometimes be deceptive as there’s no standard definition set in place by the USDA or the FDA to determine if a food is natural.
All Fats Are Bad: Our bodies depend on fat to protect our organs and retain body heat. Vitamins A, D, E, and K are fat-soluble, meaning they depend on fat to be transported throughout the body. Unsaturated fats can lower bad cholesterol levels and offer many heart health benefits. Trans and saturated fat intake should be limited.
High Protein Intake: It’s often believed consuming protein in large amounts results in muscle mass, but that’s incorrect.

Expert-Confirmed Nutrition Facts

Added Sugar Is a Disaster: Added sugar provides empty calories and is believed to be a leading cause of diseases that kill millions of people each year.
Omega-3 Fats Are Crucial: Avoiding a deficiency in these essential fatty acids may help prevent many diseases.
There Is No Perfect Diet for Everyone: The best diet for you is the one that works for you and you can stick to in the long term.
Artificial Trans Fats Are Very Unhealthy: Trans fats form in chemically processed oils and are linked to all sorts of chronic diseases. You should avoid them like the plague.
Eating Vegetables Will Improve Your Health: Vegetables are rich in all sorts of nutrients. Eating vegetables each day is associated with improved health and a lower risk of disease.
It Is Critical to Avoid a Vitamin D Deficiency: Vitamin D is a crucial hormone in the body and many people are deficient in it. Reversing a deficiency can have powerful health benefits.
Refined Carbohydrates Are Bad for You: Refined carbohydrates like processed grains are unhealthy. They are lacking in nutrients and eating them may lead to rapid spikes in blood sugar and insulin, which can cause all sorts of problems down the line.
Supplements Can Never Fully Replace Real Foods: It is much more important to eat real, nutritious foods than to count on supplements to provide the nutrients you need.
Unprocessed Food Is Healthiest: The most important thing you can do to ensure optimal health is to eat real food.
"Diets" Don’t Work - a Lifestyle Change Is Necessary: Adopting a healthy lifestyle is the only way to ensure long-term weight loss and a lifetime of improved health.

Healthy Eating Plate

The Healthy Eating Plate, created by nutrition experts at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the editors at Harvard Health Publications, is a guide for creating healthy, balanced meals. Unlike the USDA’s MyPlate, the Healthy Eating Plate is based exclusively on the best available science and was not subjected to political or commercial pressures from food industry lobbyists. The Healthy Eating Plate encourages consumers to use healthy oils and does not set a maximum on the percentage of calories people should get each day from healthy sources of fat.

Key components of the Healthy Eating Plate:

Vegetables: The more veggies - and the greater the variety - the better.
Fruits: Choose whole fruits. Limit juice to one small glass a day.
Whole Grains: Eat a variety of whole grains (like whole-wheat bread, whole-grain pasta, and brown rice).
Protein Power: Fish, poultry, beans, and nuts are all healthy, versatile protein sources-they can be mixed into salads and pair well with vegetables on a plate.
Healthy Plant Oils: Choose healthy vegetable oils like olive, canola, soy, corn, sunflower, and peanut, and avoid partially hydrogenated oils, which contain unhealthy trans fats.
Water: Drink water, tea, or coffee (with little or no sugar). Limit milk/dairy (1-2 servings/day) and juice (1 small glass/day).

FDA’s Updated Definition of “Healthy” on Food Packaging

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has updated the definition of the “healthy” nutrient content claim, which includes criteria a food must meet to use the “healthy” claim on the package. The FDA also is exploring the development of a symbol to represent the claim “healthy” to make it easier to spot foods that can be the foundation of healthy eating patterns.

The updated definition of “healthy” requires that:

A food must contain a certain amount of a food group like fruits, vegetables, grains, protein foods, or dairy.
A food can’t contain too much saturated fat, sodium, or added sugars.

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