Info about Nutrition
Food pyramid
One of the greatest pleasures in life, for almost everybody, is eating great food. But there is a saying that says: we eat to live, not live to eat. And this is very true, especially nowadays, when so many diseases connected with our weight are all around us: obesity, diabetes, heart diseases, strokes, hypertension, cancer, kidney stones, gallbladder diseases, gout, osteoarthritis and many others. To avoid all those diseases, an important factor is to be careful to what we eat and how much we eat.
As a help, we have in our benefit a pyramid called “food pyramid”, after Maslow’s needs pyramid. This pyramid is structured so that it indicates how much of each kind of food is necessary to eat and keep health. This shows what our needs are and how much is enough to eat healthy and tasty. It has five levels.
At the basis of the pyramid we have bread, (black bread, rye bread or bread with seeds is preferred to white bread), cereals, rice, pastas, potatoes. It is good to eat 6 up to 10 servings of these kinds a week. But we must be careful to avoid combinations with food indicated to be eaten less servings, for our health.
At the second level of the pyramid we have fruits and vegetables. We can eat them from 2 up to 6 servings a week. It is indicated to eat them raw, fresh, natural, or maybe salad, with no sugar, no preservatives and no other additives. This is to keep their vitamins and to make good for your body.
The third level consists of milky products: milk, cheese, yogurts. It is indicated to eat defatted weak cheese, yogurt and milk, so they are good for our health and bones, has calcium and helps us avoid arthritis.
The 4th level of pyramid is occupied by meat (pork, beef, fish, chicken, and turkey), eggs, beans and peas. We should eat lean than red meat, few eggs (and especially not in the evening), very few nuts and other oily seeds. It is preferred meat boiled or grilled meat to fry meat. It is also indicated to avoid fats contained by meat. This is indicated to be consumed one or two times a week.
In the top of the pyramid there are fats, oils and sweets, which are indicated to eat as little as possible. We should keep these at minimum or at all, if we can.
Eating like this and respecting pyramid’s indication, we keep our health and silhouette, live longer and happier.