Ten Lifestyle Goals for Healthy Living Part 4 || Port Alberni Investment Advisor

By now you might be asking yourself, why is an investment advisor posting about healthy living instead of about financial advice?  I believe that the best investment we can all make is in ourselves first, because our good health is the first and most important goal in our lives.  This is the fourth post in the series of Ten Lifestyle Goals for Healthy Living and if you read the last post, I wrote about the food we eat.  Good nutrition is a very important step in attaining a healthy lifestyle and I have broken this section into four of the ten goals.  The first blog talked about the importance of eating enough fruits and vegetables.  If you haven’t read this blog, here’s a link to go back to check it out.  According to the Canada Food Guide, fruits and vegetables are at the top of list in terms of amounts consumed.  Next are grain products.  It is recommended that adults consume between 6 and 8 servings of grain products a day, depending on age and sex.    Grains are important sources of many nutrients, including dietary fiber and several B vitamins and minerals.  Consuming foods rich in fiber can help reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.  Choose foods that have any of the following whole-grain ingredients listed first on the label’s ingredient list:  brown rice, bulgur, graham flour, oatmeal, whole-grain corn, whole oats, whole rye, whole wheat, wild rice.  Foods that are labeled with the words “multi-grain”, “stone-ground”, “100% wheat”, “cracked wheat”, “seven grain”, or “brain” are usually not whole-grain products.  Don’t use colour as an indicator of whether a product is whole grain or not.  Bread can be brown because of molasses or other ingredients added which give it colour.  Make sure you read the ingredient list to see if it is a whole grain product.  If you’re like me, this can be confusing when grocery shopping because of the vast assortment of products available to us.  Make yourself a list of the “good” ingredients to look for in whole grain products and keep it in your wallet.  Next time you go grocery shopping, allow yourself some time to look for items that meet the requirements to ensure you are getting whole-grain products.  You’ve just taken another great step towards ensuring you are following a healthy diet, which is in a good investment in your health and well-being.  Here are a few photos of some tasty whole-grain products!

Photos by Stirling Images Photography