Building your healthy diet

Although some extreme diets may suggest something else, we all need a balance of protein (蛋白质), fat, carbohydrates (碳水化合物), fiber, vitamins, and minerals in our diets to keep a healthy body. You don’t need to remove certain kinds of foods from your diet, but rather select the healthiest ones.

Protein

Protein gives us the energy to get up and go — and keep going — while also supporting mood and cognitive function. Too much protein can be harmful to people with kidney(肾) disease, but the latest research suggests that many of us need more high-quality protein, especially as we grow up. That doesn’t mean you have to eat more animal products — a variety of plant-based sources of protein each day can ensure your body gets all the essential protein it needs.

Fat

Not all fat is the same. While bad fat can destroy your diet and increase your risk of certain diseases, good fat protects your brain and heart. In fact, healthy fat — such as omega-3s — is necessary to your physical and emotional health. Understanding how to include more healthy fat in your diet can help improve your mood and your well-being.

Fiber

Eating foods high in dietary fiber (grains, fruit, vegetables, nuts, and beans) can help you stay regular and lower your risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. It can also improve your skin and even help you to lose weight. Depending on your age and gender, nutrition experts suggest you eat at least 21 to 38 grams of fiber each day for optimal(最佳的) health. Unfortunately, most of us aren’t eating even half that amount.

Calcium(钙)

Your body uses calcium to build healthy bones and teeth, keep them strong, send messages through the nervous system, and regulate the heart’s rhythm. Not getting enough calcium in your diet can also lead to anxiety, depression, and sleep difficulties. Whatever your age or gender (性别), it’s necessary to include calcium-rich foods in your diet.

People who often eat nuts appear to live longer, according to the latest study of its kind. The findings, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, suggested the greatest benefit was in those eating them on their daily diet.

Eating nuts was linked to a healthier lifestyle including being less likely to smoke or be overweight and more likely to exercise. The British Heart Foundation said more research was needed to prove the link. “While this is an interesting link, we need further research to make sure if it’s the nuts that protect heart health, or other sides of people’s lifestyle.”

The study followed nearly 120,000 people for 30 years. The more regularly people ate nuts, the less likely they were to die during the study. People eating nuts once a week were 11% less likely to have died during the study than those who never ate nuts. Lead researcher Dr. Charles Fuchs, from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said, “The most obvious benefit was a decrease of 29% in deaths from heart disease, but we also saw a significant reduction — 11% — in the danger of dying from cancer.”

They suggest nuts are lowering cholesterol (胆固醇), and insulin resistance (胰岛素抗性). Nuts contain unsaturated fat (不饱和脂肪), protein (蛋白质) and several kinds of vitamins and minerals and they can take the place of snacks like chocolate bars, cakes and biscuits.

Victoria Taylor, senior expert at the British Heart Foundation, said, “This study shows a close connection between regularly eating a small handful of nuts and a lower risk of death from heart disease.” Choosing plain, unsalted foods rather than sweet, salted, or chocolate-covered will keep your salt and sugar intake down.

Can the way you sleep affect your eating habits?

Most adults need between seven and nine hours of sleep each night, yet about 35% of Americans routinely miss the mark. 【小题1】.

It may help you control your added sugar intake

Got a sweet tooth? 【小题2】. A 2018 study looked at the impact of extra sleep on eating habits with some participants who were healthy yet frequently slept between five to seven hours per night. One group was arranged to receive a 45-minute counseling (咨询) session with information about sleep recommendations and simple strategies to help them sleep more. Those who received the sleep advice lowered their added sugar intake by 10 grams per day, even though they didn’t hit the recommended sleep target of seven to nine hours per night.

【小题3】.

If you’re not sleeping well, it will be harder to manage desires. Researchers found that after a short night of sleep, people who looked at images of unhealthy food, such as doughnuts and candy, experienced increased activity in areas of the brain associated with reward and pleasure. Meanwhile, the same brain hot spots showed a significantly weaker response to healthy food.

It contributes to overeating

When you get inadequate sleep, you feel hungrier. Plus, it’ll take longer to feel full because of lower leptin (瘦蛋白) levels. 【小题4】. It was found in a 2019 study among women who usually slept seven to nine hours per night that after they were instructed to get a third less sleep, they reported feeling hungrier and having increased appetite the next day.

【小题5】. Those who received counseling increased their sleep by about 1.2 hours, and they reduced their daily calorie intake by 270 calories. The researchers predicted that, the impact of extra sleep alone could result in a 26-pound weight loss over three years. Therefore, those who got more sleep naturally cut down on their calorie intake.