Your guide to healthy eating

Adopting good dietary habits is a way of helping your body to function properly and maintain a normal, stable weight. A healthy, balanced diet also contributes to the prevention of certain illnesses. Good eating habits are based on simple ideas and good sense: balance, variety and moderation.

The theory: a little bit about calories

Recommended daily calorie intakes depend on gender, age and level of physical activity. Whatever total amount of calories you should be getting, it is recommended that 50-55% of this should be in the form of carbohydrates (1g of carbohydrates = 4 kcal), 30-35% in the form of fats (1g of fat = 9 kcal), of which 8% must be polyunsaturated fatty acids, and 10-15% in the form of proteins (1g of protein = 4 kcal). For an inactive adult man, this corresponds to:

290g of carbohydrates (bread, rice, pasta, potato and sugary food);
70g of fat (in fatty foods and “hidden fats” in other types of food);
70g of protein (in meat, eggs, fish, dairy products, pulses).

In practice: balance and moderation

No one food contains everything your body needs in terms of protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals, and in the same way, no food should be banished completely from a normal diet. There are no bad foods, and no bad eating habits either...

Different types of food vary in terms of how rich they are in carbohydrates, fats and proteins as well as in their vitamin and mineral content. To get a healthy balance as well as getting pleasure from your food, you need to eat something from each food group everyday in accordance with the recommended intakes.

The food pyramid helps us to visualise how much of our daily food intake each food group should represent.

The French diet tends more towards foods which are rich in fat and protein, with not enough slow burning sugars or fruit and vegetables... what about your diet?

Dr Béatrice Sénemaud

Posted 08.06.2012

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See more in the dossier: Healthy dietary choices