How To Eat Healthy For A Long Life

1. LOS GATOS, CA | CAMPBELL, CA | SARATOGA, CA

2. How To Eat Healthy For A Long Life

3. Introduction When it comes to our nutrition, many of us have developed strong dietary habits. Some good and some not so good. Even if you’ve had the same eating pattern for years, it’s not too late to make improvements.

4. What Is Healthy Eating? Healthy eating focuses on the balanced inclusion of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low fat or fat free dairy, and lean protein. According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, most Americans do not have a balanced diet. They need to adjust their eating patterns to increase their dietary fiber, calcium, vitamin D, and potassium intake and reduce added sugar, saturated fat, and sodium.

5. Easy And Simple Tips To Healthy Eating It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the latest buzz-worthy eating trends and ingredients. But good nutrition is about consistently choosing nutritious foods. With healthy eating patterns, it’s possible to enjoy your food and stay healthy too.

6. Easy And Simple Tips To Eat Healthy • Increase Your Fruits And Vegetables Intake You can increase your intake of fruits and vegetables in each meal by ensuring they take up at least half of your plate. Look for variety in terms of color and texture. You can opt for red, yellow, and orange vegetables alongside your leafy greens. You can have fruits as part of your main meals, snacks or dessert. The more colorful and varied your fruits and vegetables, the better your nutrition.

7. Easy And Simple Tips To Eat Healthy 2. Opt For Whole Grains Whenever you can, make the switch to whole-grain foods such as oats, barley, brown rice, wild rice, whole wheat, buckwheat, and quinoa. Go for whole wheat breads instead of white bread. Choose whole wheat pasta over regular pasta. As a thumb rule, fill ¼ of your plate with whole grains in each meal.

8. Easy And Simple Tips To Eat Healthy 3. Include Lean Protein Foods Ideally, lean protein should comprise ¼ of your plate. You have a wide range of lean protein foods that you can include in your diet. Think lean meat, poultry, seafood, dry beans, peas, nuts, and seeds. Avoid or limit red and processed meats such as steak, sausage and bacon. Seafood is rich in protein, minerals, and omega-3 fatty acids, which are also heart friendly. Switch to fat-free or low-fat dairy milk as it contains fewer calories and saturated fat. Apart from seafood, dairy products are a wonderful source of protein and calcium.

9. Easy And Simple Tips To Eat Healthy 4. Choose Your Fats Wisely Our bodies need fat to give us energy, form healthy cells, and for the absorption of vitamins and minerals. However, we need to consume unsaturated fats and avoid or limit saturated solid fats. We can include healthy fats in our diet by consuming fat-free or low-fat dairy milk, yogurt, avocado, fatty fish and healthy vegetable oils such as olive and peanut. Also, note that low-fat doesn’t necessarily always mean healthy as these options come with increased sugar or sodium content. Read the ingredients list before any purchase decision.

10. Easy And Simple Tips To Eat Healthy 5. Limit Sugar And Salt Opt for foods that contain natural sugars such as fruit and milk. Abstain from sugary drinks and snacks. Reduce processed, packaged foods and restaurant meals which tend to be high in salt. Have more home-cooked meals where you can control the salt intake Monitor your blood pressure regularly and schedule annual doctor visits to keep check your sugar and sodium levels.

11. Easy And Simple Tips To Eat Healthy 6. Get Your Calcium and Vitamin D Drink a fortified dairy beverage with your meals. Have salmon or sardines once a week. Opt for salmon and sardines with bones as they have more calcium than the ones without bones. Include leafy greens, mushrooms, and taro root in your diet. Have calcium and vitamin D fortified foods that do not include added sugars.

12. Easy And Simple Tips To Eat Healthy 7. Hydrate With Water Water is the best hydration drink. Most fruit juices, energy drinks are loaded with sugars, with negligible nutritional value. It’s easy to consume sugary drinks mindlessly, adding unnecessary calories, leading to weight gain. You can transform water into an exciting infusion drink by adding slices of lemon, berries, mint, cucumber, kiwis, and herbs.

13. CONCLUSION Ultimately, healthy eating is moderation. You can enjoy your favorite foods while keeping in check the portion size and even creating healthier versions of the same. You can train your palate to enjoy less or no sugar and salt foods. Schedule your appointment for annual physicals in Los Gatos today for a healthy and happy life.

14. OUR KEY PHILOSOPHY “ ” What I try and do with every patient I see, in the first few minutes, is just let them say what’s on their mind and there’s a lot of study that show we don’t do that enough in medicine. These are small things that you can’t pick up really from just filling out a form. That’s why it’s really important to spend time, talking and listening and building that relationship. ~ Dr. Arun Villivalam, M.D.

15. SERVICES WE PROVIDE 01 05 Physicals – All Ages Blood Work A regular physical provides a record of your overall health and can be a useful tool in identifying any changes in your health.  Blood work is an important resource to help determine any conditions that could be causing the symptoms that are bringing a patient to the doctor, 02 06 Lifestyle / Stress Management Chronic Care Management Learn to manage stress by scheduling a wellness checkup and learn preventive strategies. Get medical care for preexisting or long term illnesses, such as asthma, hypertension, depression and cirrhosis.  03 07 Wellness Visits / School Physicals Women’s Health Best primary care physician in Los Gatos provides Womens Health screening from our practice in Los Gatos, CA A regular check up provides the opportunity to monitor your child’s growth and development and to safeguard against any potential issues.  04 08 Men’s Health Medicare Annual Wellness Visits Men’s health screenings will catch any conditions in early stages where preventative medicine can be used to treat or manage a condition before it progresses. Medicare encourages its members to review their health annually, and to take care of any potential medical concerns before they develop into something more serious. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Quisque enim nisl, vulputate quis mi sed, dapibus hendrerit turpis. Praesent at volutpat neque, ut rutrum odio. Sed quis tincidunt dui, in vulputate arcu.

16. MEET DR. ARUN VILLIVALAM Dr. Arun Villivalam is a concerned and caring family physician and primary care doctor serving the community of Los Gatos, CA. Dr. Villivalam attended Thomas Jefferson University, where he received his medical degree, and completed his residency in family medicine at Cook County Hospital.