Why Do We Eat Healthy?

Eating a nutritious, balanced diet helps you maintain a healthy weight, prevent disease and increase your lifespan. A healthy diet includes a variety of foods that provide adequate amounts of nutrients such as protein, carbohydrates, fat, fiber and essential vitamins and minerals. Limiting saturated fat and sodium will help keep you on track. If you have a difficult time eating a variety of foods, ask your doctor to refer you to a dietitian.

Weight Management

A diet low in saturated fats and simple sugars can help you maintain a healthy weight or lose excess weight by decreasing your caloric intake. Body mass index is used to classify your weight as healthy or unhealthy. A BMI of less than 18.5 is underweight, 18.5 to 24.9 is normal, 25 to 29.9 is overweight and more than 30 is classified as obese. Monitoring portion size and including lean meats, poultry and fish, as well as whole grains and high-fiber fruits and vegetables are important in maintaining a healthy weight. A BMI above normal increases your risk of cancer, heart disease, high-blood pressure and diabetes, which require medications and strict lifestyle changes and can even shorten your lifespan.

Heart Disease Prevention

Reducing fat, cholesterol and sodium in your diet decreases your risk of heart disease. Fast foods, fried foods, butter and margarine are high in saturated fat and trans fat, which can increase your cholesterol and clog your arteries. Clogged arteries can lead to heart attack or stroke. Include a variety of foods that prevent heart disease in your healthy diet to reduce your risks. Those foods include olive and canola oil, fish, whole grains, fiber, unsalted nuts and seeds and a variety or fruits and vegetables.

High-Blood Pressure Prevention

High sodium intake on a daily basis, in addition to high fat intake, increases your risk of high-blood pressure. If blood pressure remains uncontrolled you risk developing heart and kidney disease or having a stroke. Keep you sodium intake to 2,000 mg or less per day. Avoid using salt in cooking or at the table, and limit your intake of fast food, salty snacks like chips, pretzels and popcorn, processed foods, and canned vegetables and meats. Use dried herbs or powders to season your foods.

Type II Diabetes Prevention

Type II diabetes is caused by insulin resistance, meaning your body is not responding to insulin, which normally controls your blood-sugar levels. It is believed to be caused by being overweight or obese, which is usually related to consuming high amounts of calories and fat. Following a healthy balanced diet will help you keep your weight under control to prevent the onset of diabetes.

Cancer Prevention

Including a variety of foods in your diet and maintaining a healthy weight can reduce your risk of some cancers. Fruits and vegetables have essential vitamins, minerals, fiber and anti-oxidants, which help fight cancer. Women should eat 2 cups of fruit and 2½ cups of vegetables, and men should consume 2 cups of fruit and 3 cups of vegetables per day to help reduce the risk of cancer and other diseases, according to MyPyramid.gov. Whole-grain foods like whole-wheat bread, whole-wheat pasta and brown rice may reduce your risk of colon cancer.