' Do you live to eat? ' or ' Do you eat to live? '

We often confront two questions apparently similar in our life. First is 'Do you live to eat?' Next is ' Do you eat to live?'. I think some people do live to eat because they don't bother about their health. They devour whatever they get and whenever they like. Such people are generally not health conscious so that they will have to face many health issues in the  prime of their lives.

The questions raised at the outset are very relevant for your life depends on the answers. As discussed above, people who eat indiscriminately will have shorter life span in comparison with the other group who eat enough to live. Now a days, most of the people,  both young and old, take care of what they should eat. They follow balanced diet and take care of avoiding unhealthy food habits. Naturally, they can enjoy a long happy and healthy life keeping away most of the diseases.

How can one live a normal life eating a balanced diet? Here we have some tips from experts. Let's examine one by one without going to the details of any, I mean a tour.

Variety of food is the first thing recommended in your diet. It gives your body all the forty micronutrients that are essential for the proper functioning of body parts. You know very well one type of food can never give you all micronutrients you require. So if you eat a  high fat food at a time, it should be replaced by low fat food next time. For instance, a big piece of meat in lunch should be followed by a dinner with fish.

Carbohydrate is equally important .It should be included in our daily meals. We shoud get half of the calories from the food such as rice, bread, cereals, potato, etc. All of us know they are good sources of carbohydrate. So one of these should be present in our break fast, lunch and dinner.

Just like other two, fat should also be part of our everyday menu. If the consumption is more than we need, it will create problems. For example, body weight will be affected and we shall fall easily a prey to the lifestyle diseases. Hence, at any cost, fat should be consumed with utmost care. In addition to this, we should give special care to avoid saturated fats.

Fruits and vegetables are major parts of any balanced diet. They supply vitamins, fibrer and minerals to your constitution. Similarly, limiting sugar and salt consumption keep you you safe from many common diseases of our time. If needed , fruits can be used as alternatives for sugar.

You need not avoid any food fearing excess calorie consumption. You can enjoy any food you like but control the size. There is no meaning in avoiding your breakfast or lunch because such a practice will tempt you to overeating during following meal. You had better enjoy snacks or salads between main meals. Even then try to avoid fried items like chips.

Drinking fluids is a good habit. You can choose water , juice , tea ,coffee etc. Medical experts recommend 1.5 litres fluids a day.

Another factor directly affects our health is our body weight. We should control it and bring to the normal considering our age, gender, height etc.

Finally, exercise should not be forgotten when we discuss a topic about health. Physical activity not only burns the excess calorie in our body but makes our heart strong. Minimum 150 minutes of activity per week is advised for enjoying good health.