TO START
Heath is everything! What is the most correct sentence to complete this cliche we remember with the most minor health problem affecting our normal lives? There must be several answers in your head, let us tell you the specialists’ comments: What is necessary for health is healthy nutrition.
It is enough to think about that to explain that:
Our concerns about weights we are obsessed with preventing serious diseases such as  cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, a clear skin, bright hair, slowing down the effects of ageing, not being stressful, being in a good state of mind, clever children… Realizing all of them, enjoying life, for all of them the key word is healthy nutrition.
But is the path to eating healthy and balanced food passes from prescriptions which say “don’t eat this, don’t eat that, stay hungry?” Of course no! Although fast and busy life does not give us the opportunity to choose the right food, it is enough to learn a few simple strategies. How many calories do we need in a day? How should balanced and healthy nutrition be? Which food fight with illnesses? The tips to stop our hunger? What should people fighting cardiovascular diseases or vegetarian should eat? How can we protect children from obesity? What should we do to lose weight? Specialists will answer all of these questions in these article series…
The food we chose is completely related to enjoying our lives. This rule counts for everyone not matter young, old, male, female. The basis of a healthy body and soul is our choice of food. To be in the desired weight, too be protected from osteoporosis, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes we should radically change our nutrition routines and norms. 
 
Why is healthy diet important?
Over consumption of food or malnutrition pave the way for some illnesses. For instance; as a result of malnutrition many problems such as a decrease in body resistance, predisposition to infections, bone loss, tooth decay and nervous system diseases may be encountered. As a result, over-nutrition results in diseases such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular illnesses, skeleton, joint and lung diseases.
 
What is the basis of healthy diet?
It is preferring natural nutrition, choosing rough nutriments, refraining from canned food as much as possible and consuming from food type in sufficient amounts. Fabricated food is harmful because they are rich in preservatives. To live in a healthy way, we should eat less and get physically more active.
 
Which nutrients are necessary for the body?
Every day, we should consume food which contains carbohydrates, fat, protein, vitamins and minerals. Bread, potatoes, rice, dried beans, pasta, fructose and candy are nutriments which contain carbohydrates. Carbohydrates which are used as blood sugar should make the 40-45 % of the daily nutrients.
The fat which regulate body temperature and which enable the absorption of vitamins A, D, E, K should make 25-30% of the dairy calories. The proteins which can be found in animal products such as meat, milk and egg and legumes, walnuts, and almonds should make 10-15& of the daily calories. Vitamin and mineral sources are vegetables and fruits.
 
What are the practical amounts?
There are four main groups of nutrition: meat, dairy, vegetable-fruit, and bread-cereal. First group consists of meat, fish, chicken, egg, legumes and types of cheese. If we eat three middle size meatballs or the same amount of meat, fish, chicken, 4-5 spoons of legumes, we will meet our needs of this category. Milk, yoghurt, yoghurt drink, cucumber-yoghurt are in the second category. It is enough to consume 2-3 portions. We should consume 5-6 portions of the third category which consists of fruits and vegetables. Bread, paste, bulgur, rice, soups, food made of flour, biscuits and flour make the forth group. Consuming 5-10 portions of this category meets our daily needs.
 
Which food should be limited?
Sweet food, cola drink, fried food, sausages, canned food and alcoholic beverage.
 
How should our fat choice be?
The fat in butter, tail fat, cheese, milk, cream, ice-cream, clotted cream of milk, egg and read meat are the harmful ones. This kind of fat which is called saturated fat leads to coronary heart disease by leading to a rise in cholesterol.
We call oils unsaturated fat. There are olive oil, cotton oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, sesame oil, fish oil, walnut oil and soy oil in this group which is healthier. However the most harmful of all are margarines which contain trans fatty acids.
 
Why?
Margarines are obtained by changing the oils to solid fat under very high temperature with hydrogen. That changes the molecules of the oil and changes its effect on the body. The risk of heart attack increases 50% with people who consume margarines which are not natural oils.
Unfortunately these fats are plenty refined food such as in cookies, wafers, cakes, chips.
If a nutrient is said to contain hydrogenised vegetable oil, this nutrient contains trans oil
 
What can we do to reduce the fat?
We should choose to cook the food on grill, oven or microwave; we should refrain from fried food. It is important to prefer light or zero fat milk instead of whole milk. Refraining from using fresh cream or mayonnaise the consumption of the egg yolk is among the precautions to be taken.
Water in small swallows for hunger attacks
Do you find yourself snacking candy, chocolate or something sweet? Or can’t you refrain from eating snacks in front of the television after the dinner? According to Doctors, snacking crisis which lead to obesity is common mostly among people who do not have a balanced die, who do not have breakfast and who do not eat regularly and properly. Here are Özata’s recommendations which prevent snacking:
Don’t skip meals.
Prefer food rich in bagasse such as vegetables and fruits which do not lead to a rise in blood sugar because they are digested slowly.
Prefer whole wheat bread to white bread, brown rice or bulgur to white rice.
Often drink water to prevent hunger attacks.
Refrain from tobacco, coffee and caffeine drinks as much as possible because they lead to sweet attacks by resulting in a fall of blood sugar.
Another important reason of snacking may be insomnia or irregular sleep. Try to take a regular and enough sleep.
 To reduce stress another major reason for snacking, learn techniques of yoga do sports, go for a walk in open air.
While snacking try to eat tomatoes, apple, cucumber, dried prunes, 3-4 almonds or walnuts or yoghurt instead of chips, biscuits, chocolate or candy.
When you feel hungry drink a glass of water, maybe it prevents your urge to eat.
Try to be exposed to sunlight by going out for one or two hours a day.
Serotonin hormone brings the sense of fullness and happiness. This hormone prevents the sense of hunger. Eat food such as fish, white meat, dairy, avocado, zero fat cheese, oat, fresh beans, egg rich in tryptophan which is
converted into serotonin in the brain.
 
The amount of the food in a portion
Group 1: bread, cereal, rice and pasta
A slice of bread, 3-4 spring rolls, 2 biscuits, 2 slices of melba toast, ¼ Turkish bagels, a bowl of rice or lentil soup, a bowl of noodle soup or soup of dried yoghurt, two spoons of rice of wheat grains, two spoons of pasta, two spoons of mashed potatoes.
Group 2: vegetable
6 spoons of fresh beans or spinach, 6 spoons of okra or aubergine, 6 spoons of cabbage or cauliflower, 3 spoons of celery, 3 spoons of peas or leek.
 Group 3: fruits
2 mandarin oranges, one apple, one orange, 12 cherries, one peach, half of a banana, one spoon of raisins, 3 dried apricots
Group 4: Cheese, yoghurt
A glass of milk or yoghurt, half tea glass quark cheese, a matchbox size white cheese or string cheese, 2 karper(cream) cheese
Group 5:  Meat, chicken, fish, dried bean, egg and nuts, 30 gr meatballs, a steak, 3-4 pieces of meat cubes, fish as the amount of an egg, 5 mussels, 40 gr diet tuna, 5 pieces of calamari.
 
Absence of food groups: Unbalanced
One repast balanced diet examples:
Peas (meat, legume group), rice (cereal group), yoghurt (dairy group), salad (vegetable-fruit group)
Grilled chicken as big as three meatballs (meat group), noodle(bread-cereal), yoghurt (dairy group), salad (vegetable-fruit)
Soup (cereal), dried beans (meat-legume group), yoghurt (dairy group), apple (vegetable-fruit group)
squash zucchini with meat (meat and vegetable), yoghurt (dairy), salad (vegetable-fruit group), bread (cereal group)
 
Unbalanced menu examples:
Pide with meat (meat and cereal group)
Coke
(There aren’t elements of vegetable-fruit and dairy groups in this meal)
 Döner sandwich (cereal and meat group)
Yoghurt drink (dairy)
(No vegetable and fruit group in this meal.)
 
Which bread should we eat?
Is white bread unhealthy?
I think one of the most important eating problems of our country is the habit of consuming white bread. In our country nearly 30-40% of the daily calories we consume consist of white bread.  White bread is the type of bread which does not have a nutritional value and which is not rich in bagasse, vitamin and minerals. All of the valuable nutrients in the wheat are omitted. The stomach is only full with that bread, hunger is suppressed, and in contrast there is a rise in blood sugar level. As a consequence, intestinal diseases are started to be encountered.
 
 
What should our bread choice be?
Breads made of whole wheat flour should be consumed because there are zinc, iodine, vitamin E, omega-3 and omega-6 oil acid, calcium, vitamin D, protein and zero carbohydrates in that bread. The people who consume that type of bread encounter diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular diseases and cancer less. It also prevents constipation because it is a nutriment rich in bagasse.