Men: Building a Healthy Diet

                                    
These days, it's not always easy to follow a healthy diet. There are so many fast food and junk food options out there, a guy is tempted to just shrug, eat what he likes, and leave his health up to fate.
But that's not the smart way to go. Eating a nutritious diet with proper portions can improve men's health and help them maintain a healthy weight. There are also specific foods that don’t just improve men’s health generally, but also help stave off cancer, reduce the risk of heart disease, and boost overall energy.
Men’s Health: Building a Healthy Diet

Eating right for men's health means putting together a daily diet with these choices:

• Five or more servings of fruits and vegetables. They're high in vitamins, minerals, and fiber, and low in calories. Be sure to eat a variety of vegetables of all different colors — think green, orange, yellow, red, even purple. Avoid vegetables cooked in fat, like fried zucchini or onion rings.
• At least six servings of whole grain breads, cereals, and starchy vegetables. Whole grains contain added fiber to help lower your blood cholesterol and make you feel full. Choose unrefined whole-grain breads and cereals over those that contain refined white flour. Starchy vegetables include peas, corn, potatoes, and dried beans like pinto or kidney. If cooked without a lot of added fat, these vegetables will help you feel full with relatively few calories. However, if you are trying to lose weight or have a history of prediabetes or diabetes, you may need to limit your intake of starches in general.
• Two or three servings of low-fat dairy products. Choose skim milk, fat-free or 1 percent yogurt, and low-fat cheeses.
• Two or three servings of lean meat, chicken, and fish. You should pick cuts of meat with little to no visible fat, and remove the skin from chicken and other poultry. Avoid fried or breaded dishes.
• Cut back on sweets. To optimize your health, cut back on sugary foods full of refined carbohydrates like pastries, other desserts, and sweetened cereals. They are high in calories, but provide little or no nutritional benefit.
• Limit your sodium intake. Use herbs to season your food instead of salt and minimize your intake of packaged foods.
• Skip the saturated fats. Butter, cheese, and lard can lead to clogged arteries and heart disease. On the other hand, unsaturated fats like olive oil, walnuts, and avocados, in moderate amounts, can actually help raise your level of the "good" cholesterol (high density lipoprotein or HDL) that protects against heart disease.

Men’s Health: Healthy Diet Portions

Another key to maintaining your health as a man is eating the right amounts of foods. Use this list of single-portion measurements as your guide:

• 1 cup of fresh vegetables or fruit
• 1/2 cup of starchy vegetables or dried beans
• 1 slice of bread
• 1 cup of dry cereal or ½ cup cooked cereal
• 1/3 cup of rice or pasta
• 1 cup of low-fat milk
• 3 ounces of lean meat, chicken, or fish

After just a few days of measuring portions, you’ll be able to eyeball the various sizes, but if you need to estimate a portion on the run, remember these visuals:

• ½ cup is about the size of half a tennis ball
• 1 cup is about the size of a baseball
• 3 ounces of protein is about the size of a deck of cards

Whether you want to lose weight or maintain your weight, you also need to keep track of calories to make sure you burn more energy in a day than you take in. According to the American Heart Association:

• Men between 19 and 30 years old should limit daily calorie intake to 2,400 if sedentary, 2,600 if somewhat active, and 3,000 if very active.
• Men between 31 and 50 should limit daily calorie intake to 2,200 calories if sedentary, 2,400 if somewhat active, and 2,800 if very active.
• Men 51 and over should limit daily calorie intake to 2,000 if sedentary, 2,200 if moderately active, and 2,400 if very active.

Written by Dennis Thompson Jr

 Dennis is a career journalist with more than 20 years' experience, writing for newspapers in Virginia, West Virginia, Florida, Delaware, and Oregon. He also has served as a freelance reporter for HealthDay for nearly a decade. Dennis holds a bachelor's of arts degree in communication studies from Virginia Tech and a master's of arts degree in mass communication from the University of Florida.