HEALTHY EATING

There is much debate nowadays as to what makes up a healthy diet. For example, scientists have insisted for years that a big enemy of health is fatty food. However, there is increasing evidence that the real driver of poor health is not so much fatty food, as it is sugar. Heart disease is the number one killer of Americans. And in America, people who receive 25% of their daily calories or more through sugar are twice as likely to die from heart disease than people who receive less than 10% a day (Journal of the American Medical Association, 2014 ). This is true regardless of how healthy the rest of their diet might be. Put more simply, while people continue to argue over whether or not fatty food is dangerous, we already know that sugar is a killer.

Much of this extra sugar comes from sweets and sweet drinks. The average American gets 1/3 of his or her sugar through sweet drinks alone. The American Heart Association recommends that we limit ourselves to less than 100150 calories a day from sugar, which is less than what is usually contained in one can of sweet drink or in a single candy bar. In other words，if you want to be healthy, you have to cut down on desserts and cut out sweet drinks altogether.

Beyond this, you can keep healthy by consuming different categories of fresh foods, especially fruit and vegetables, which are full of vitamins and fibre rather than processed foods. Processed foods often contain less nutrition and have higher quantities of sugar, salt and fat than fresh ingredients. Besides this, it is also important to have some meat, beans or dairy products in your diet, as they provide the necessary protein for strong bones and muscle growth. As with everything in life, moderation is key. The ideal diet is a balanced one, without too much or too little of any one thing.

Finally, a fundamental key to healthy eating is to eat slowly. It takes about twenty minutes from the time you start eating for your brain to tell your body that you are full. What this means is that people who chew too quickly end up eating too much food because they still feel hungry. Eating slowly also allows your body to digest your food better and will allow you to enjoy your food more. In addition，studies show that consistent eating habits, for example, taking three meals a day at the same time each day, are better for our health. It is also better to eat a modest amount of food each time, rather than to eat a lot in one meal and then a little in the next.

There is no one trick to healthy eating. Rather, healthy eating starts with having a healthy attitude towards food. One question you can ask yourself is，“Do I eat to live or live to eat？” If you are using food mostly for nutrition, then you are on the right track with your diet. However, if food has become the centre of your life, you might be on the road to bad health. It is up to you to decide how you want to live, and to make the right decisions about your diet.

Many facts suggest that children are overweight and the situation is getting worse, according to the doctors. I feel there are a number of reasons for this.

Some people blame the fact that we are surrounded by shops selling unhealthy, fatty foods, such as fried chicken and ice cream, at low prices. This has turned out a whole generation of grown-ups who seldom cook a meal for themselves. If there were fewer of these restaurants, then probably children would buy less take-away food.

There is another argument that blames parents for allowing their children to become overweight. I agree with this, because good eating habits begin early in life, long before children start to visit fast food shops. If children are given fried chicken and chocolate rather than healthy food, or are always allowed to choose what they eat, they will go for sweet and salty foods every time, and this will carry on throughout their lives.

There is a third reason for this situation. Children these days take very little exercise. They do not walk to school. When they get home, they sit in front of the television or their computers and play computer games. Not only is this an unhealthy pastime, but it also gives them time to eat more unhealthy food. What they need is to go outside and play active games or sports.

The above are the main reasons for this problem, and therefore we have to encourage young people to be more active, as well as steering them away from fast food shops and bad eating habits.

Migraine is a disease that has a number of symptoms, including head pain that can stick around from four hours to several days. While migraines can occur partly because of genetic factors, attacks may happen by chance, set off by a cause in the environment.

One common cause is food, and some common dietary causes include alcohol, salt, sugar, chocolate, and caffeine. But there are many others, and scientists continue to identify more. For instance, a Brazilian study found that watermelons brought on a headache within minutes in about 30 percent of the participants.

Some of the newest research is looking at which foods and what kinds of diets can prevent or lessen migraines. A new study published last year by a team of researchers found that a diet higher in fish oils rather than vegetable oils helped people ease their headaches. In the study, those on a diet lower in vegetable oil and higher in fatty fish had a 30 to 40 percent reduction in total headache hours per day, serious headache hours per day, and overall headache days per month compared to the control group.

Tanya Kamka had suffered weekly migraines for most of her life. Then, in her 50s, she joined the NIH diet trial and increased her intake of fish. After only a few months, “I haven’t had a migraine, not even a mild one, in over two years,” she says.

For others, the solution comes from plants, not fish. A 60-year-old man joined a study on the food-migraine link and turned to a diet, which includes a lot of dark, leafy greens. After two months he was experiencing only one migraine a month instead of the 18 to 24 a month he’d suffered before.

Clearly, people with migraines react to food in very different ways. What works for one person may not work for another.