Healthy eating is not about strict nutrition philosophies, staying unrealistically thin, or depriving yourself of the foods you love. Rather, it’s about feeling great, having more energy, and keeping yourself as healthy as possible– all of which can be achieved by learning some nutrition basics and using them in a way that works for you. Healthy eating begins with learning how to “eat smart not just what you eat, but how you eat. Your food choices can reduce your risk of illnesses such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes as well as defend against depression. Additionally, learning the habits of healthy eating can improve your health by boosting your energy, sharpening your memory and stabilizing your mood. Expand your range of healthy food choices and learn how to plan ahead to create and maintain a satisfying, healthy diet.

Healthy Food Groups
Since no single food group can nourish the body with all the vital ingredients it requires, it is important that we consume a variety of healthy foods to derive the nutrition our body needs. There are five main food groups, they are:

• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Cereals and Pulses
• Dairy
• Poultry, Fish and Meat products
A healthy balanced diet of these five food groups ensures essential vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber. The food group serving size will depend upon various factors like age, activity level, body size and gender. It is also important that one eat a variety of foods from within and across the food groups. As some foods from within a food group provide more nutrients than others.
This will ensure that one gets the maximum recommended nutrition from the food group; besides the food variety will make for an interesting meal.

Food variety and a healthy diet
Food variety means eating a wide variety of foods from within and across each of the five food groups, in the amounts recommended. Eating many different foods helps maintain a healthy and interesting diet that provides adequate nutrition. Eating a variety of foods can help prevent diseases such as diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Five major food groups
It is important that you eat a balanced diet with foods from each of the five major food groups. Choosing a variety of foods within and across food groups is also important. Each food group contains at least one nutrient (called the ‘characterising’ nutrient) for which it makes a particularly rich contribution to the total diet. For example, the milk group is known as a rich source of protein, calcium and riboflavin.