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Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Proper Daily Diet


Proper Daily Diet
Eat a proper daily diet for optimum health and nutrition. A proper daily diet tailored to your needs may facilitate weight loss or help you control a health condition like high blood pressure. Healthy adults can easily calculate personalized dietary guidelines, including calories and portion size, by visiting the U.S. Foods and Drug Administration MyPyramid.com website and entering a few basic pieces of information including your height and weight.

Nutrition Labels

Once you know how many calories and servings of the basic food groups you should consume, look to the information provided on nutrition labels to create and maintain a proper daily diet, recommends the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. A nutrition label provides the serving size, calories per serving and the percentage daily value of fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates, fiber, sugars and protein. The nutrition label also provides the percentage daily value of the vitamins and minerals contained in the food product.

Balanced Diet

A proper daily diet offers the correct balance of nutrition. To help American's understand what comprises a balance diet, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration provides a food pyramid with six food groups. Factors such as your health, age, gender, height, weight and amount of daily activity dictate how many servings you require. The five main food groups are: fruits, vegetables, grains, lean protein and calcium-rich foods. Fats represent the sixth food group.

Athletes

Athletes need proper nutrition for peak performance every day. A sensible and nutritious daily diet for athletes includes eating a variety of foods. Colorado State University reminds athletes that exercise may increase your need for protein. Carbohydrates are an important part of a proper daily diet for athletes. The Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs reports endurance athletes that eat a high-carbohydrate diet can exercise for a longer time than athletes eating a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet. However, it advises against consuming a high-carbohydrate diet daily.

Athletes in Training for Game Day

Athletes in training benefit from consuming a high-energy diet the day of exercise. However, according to Iowa State University, eating a proper daily diet two or three days before an event is essential to providing fuel for your muscles during the big event. Each athlete has individual preferences on what she likes to eat on game day. ISU suggests a proper daily diet the day before a competition or big event should be rich in carbohydrates and avoid protein and high fat.

Malnutrition

Failing to consume a proper daily diet may result in malnutrition. Medline Plus, a U.S. National Institutes of Health website, explains developing vitamin deficiency can result in this health condition. Malnutrition may cause no symptoms or it may cause permanent damage to your body.

References


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