All food is good if eaten in moderation, as it all contains necessary vitamins, minerals and energy we need to live.

What constituents bad food from good food is usually the amount that is consumed, for example, fried potato chips are not inherently bad for you if you just have a handful of them per week, but people who have a whole bag each day are the people usually overweight or obese.

There are foods that clearly are better for you than others but if you stick to a balanced diet, eat sensible, don't overeat and do moderate exercise, eating all types of food can be a pleasure without putting your health at risk.

           

For a healthy lifestyle, eat a well balanced diet and do moderate exercise regularly. Being consistent, both in your eating habits and exercise regime, is a major plus on the road to good health. Avoid bad food and you will reap the benefits of a healthier body and mind.

Good Foods

Vegetables
All vegetables are good for you and green leafy vegetables are not just healthy items, they are also low in calories. If you are watching your weight you can safely include plenty of green vegetables into your diet.

Cabbage and it's close relative broccoli are full of essential vitamins and minerals and broccoli in particular is said to have cancer protection qualities. Other great vegetables are garlic, one of natures best natural medicinal plants, beans, peas, carrots and potatoes.

Fruit
Higher in calories than vegetables yet usually low in fat, all fruits are beneficial to health and including at least one piece of fruit per day into you diet should be a top priority. If you are a snacker, make that snack a piece of fruit and your body will thank you.

If you consider the health benefits of just eating an apple a day you will soon recognize the importance of including fresh fruit into your eating habits. It's luscious to eat, full of energy giving fructose sugar and importantly, full of fiber to keep you healthy. Eat more fruit, it tastes good and is actually good for you too.

Bran and Grains
Bran and grains cover a range of foods including bread, oats and breakfast cereals. Bran and grains give the bowels roughage which will lessen the risk of bowel cancer.

Chicken, Fish and Lean Red Meat
Chicken, fish and red meat provide essential protein for muscle development. Have a serving each day with chicken and fish being the better options. These are lower in cholesterol than red meats. Always trim the fat from all meat.

Eggs
Cholesterol fears have turned the humble egg into a bad guy, but nutrition experts now believe the amount of cholesterol in eggs has a minor effect on blood cholesterol. The biggest problem with eggs is how they are cooked and what other food do you eat with the egg.

Eggs are actually a very healthy food packed with nutrition. One egg contains just 80 calories, yet contains protein, 13 essential nutrients, vitamin E, iron and zinc plus small amounts of lutein and zeaxanthin, two carotenes that support healthy vision and may help prevent age-related blindness.

Eggs that are boiled, scrambled or poached are best. Avoid frying them and the humble egg can be back on your plate again with out being in the bad food group.

Bad Foods

Bad foods include chocolate, cakes, pastries, cookies, soda drinks, sweets and anything made with added, refined sugar, flour or processed white rice. During the refining process, the majority of the minerals and vitamins are removed. These foods behave like pure sugar when they enter the body. They give a quick high and the unused calories get stored as fat deposits.

Chips, potato crisps, French fries, anything battered and deep fried will only cause you to become overweight as the trans fatty acids will be stored as fat and stop the metabolism from doing it's natural job of burning fat as energy.

Soft drinks are full of sugar and are in the class of the worst type of food for health. If you must drink soda type beverages, drink diet soda or sugar free. Both Coca Cola and Pepsi make a sugar free zero calorie drink which tastes as good as their full sugar counterpart.

If you want to die early, eat more bad foods such as take away, fried foods, potato chips, pies, pastries, soft drinks, sweets, desserts and highly processed foods. They cause diabetes, have high cholesterol counts, give high blood pressure and you will get fat. What better way to die... stuff yourself with bad food and die young.

Bad Fats
High fat diets raise blood pressure and cholesterol levels, can cause bad blood sugar levels, cause liver stagnation, diabetes and a whole host of life threatening illnesses, which all leads to depression and weight gain.

Hydrogenated fats are the results of a process that hardens liquid vegetable oils. Potato chips, chocolate, sweets, ice cream, pastries and baked goods all contain hydrogenated fats. The hydrogenated fats change into the ever more dangerous trans-fatty acids which have been shown to cause diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Trans-fatty acids also cause you to gain weight as they interfere with the metabolism and breakdown of essential fatty acids. They increase the bad cholesterol in the body and deplete the good.

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