Healthy Eating

Why Is Healthy Eating Important?

Healthy eating is important for many reasons.

A. Healthy foods supply nutrients.

Healthy, balanced eating habits provide nutrients to your body. Nutrients give you energy and keep your heart beating, your brain active, and your muscles working. Nutrients help build and strengthen bones, muscles, and tendons and also regulate body processes, such as blood pressure.

As you plan healthy meals, keep these three points in mind:

• Balance: A balanced diet helps ensure that you get all the nutrients you need. Use the USDA food guide to learn how.
• Variety: Eat a wide variety of foods. No one food provides all the nutrients you need. Choose a wide variety among and within the food groups.
• Moderation: Use moderation as your guide for everything, including the calories you eat each day, your exercise and other activities, your desserts and sweets, and even your restrictions. Moderation lets you eat all foods.

Three essential nutrients (macronutrients) are protein, carbohydrate, and fat. They provide energy (as measured in calories) to the body.

Essential nutrients in food

Nutrient	Function	Sources
Protein	Provides energy; builds and repairs body cells; is part of various enzymes, hormones, antibodies	Meat, poultry, fish, eggs, legumes (such as lentils), milk and milk products, vegetables, grains
Carbohydrate	Provides energy needed by the brain, nervous system, red blood cells, and other cells	Breads, cereal grains, pasta, rice, fruit, vegetables, milk, sugar
Fat	Provides energy and essential fatty acids; carries other fat-soluble nutrients (vitamins); is part of cell membranes, membranes around nerves, hormones, bile (for fat digestion)	Meat, poultry, fish, milk and milk products, nuts and seeds, oils, butter, margarine, salad dressing

Vitamins and minerals are known as micronutrients. They play many important roles in the structure and function of your body, such as making new cells and promoting wound healing. See a table of vitamins and their functions and sources. See a table of minerals and their functions and sources.

In addition to the essential nutrients, foods also contain nonnutrients that can affect your body. These include fiber and phytochemicals (found in plants), many of which are protective against disease. Some of these compounds act as antioxidants, which protect the body's cells from damage. For example, lycopene is an antioxidant that is found in tomatoes and tomato products.

B. Healthy eating can lower your risk for disease.

Healthy foods can help you prevent and treat disease. Eating more fruits and vegetables can help lower blood pressure and may lower your risk of lung, oral, esophageal, stomach, and colon cancer. Eating less saturated fat may also lower your risk for cancer and heart disease.⁷

Healthy eating also may reduce the risk of:

• Heart disease and stroke. Eating plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole-grain products that are high in fiber may lower your risk of heart disease and stroke.⁶ For more information, see the topic Coronary Artery Disease.
• High cholesterol. Eating less saturated and trans fat and cholesterol can lower your risk of high cholesterol and coronary artery disease (CAD).⁶ For more information, see the topics High Cholesterol and Coronary Artery Disease.
• High blood pressure. Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables (8 to 10 servings per day), following a low-fat diet, eating low-fat dairy products (3 servings per day), and reducing salt intake can lower high blood pressure and reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke.⁸ For more information, see:

  DASH Eating Plan

• Osteoporosis. Getting enough calcium and vitamin D may help protect you from osteoporosis.⁹ Calcium is found in dairy products, some leafy green vegetables, and in foods that are calcium-enriched. Vitamin D is found in vitamin D-fortified milk, egg yolks, liver, and saltwater fish. For more information, see the topic Osteoporosis.
• Spina bifida. Pregnant women should eat foods that contain folate or folic acid—such as leafy green vegetables or folic acid-enriched grains—before and during pregnancy, to help protect babies from this birth defect. All women of childbearing age should get 400 micrograms of folic acid from fortified foods or supplements each day.⁴ For more information, see the topic Spina Bifida.

C. Healthy eating can help you manage certain diseases.

Diabetes

If you have diabetes, healthy eating can help you control your blood sugar, and prevent or reduce complications of diabetes. For more information on the role of nutrition in treating diabetes, see the topics Type 1 Diabetes and Type 2 Diabetes.

High cholesterol

You may be able to lower your cholesterol levels by eating foods low in saturated and trans fats and cholesterol and high in soluble fiber. For more information about nutrition's effect on cholesterol and heart disease, see the topic High Cholesterol.

High blood pressure

Making changes in the way you eat may help lower blood pressure.

• Eat 8 to 10 servings of fruits and vegetables per day.
• Eat 3 servings of low-fat dairy products per day.
• Eat foods low in total fat and saturated fat.
• Reduce the amount of salt you eat.

For more information, see the topic High Blood Pressure (Hypertension).

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Author:	Caroline Rea, RN, BS, MS	Last Updated: February 23, 2007
Medical Review:	Ruth Schneider, MPH, RD - Diet and Nutrition Rhonda O'Brien, MS, RD, CDE - Diabetes Educator
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