With every weight-loss diet fad comes the excitement of starting something new. You follow the instructions for a few days or weeks, and feel fabulous. But after a while, you begin to feel like a hungry prisoner, thinking about the foods you’re not allowed to eat. The diet is too difficult to sustain for long, and so you fall back into your bad habits.

The better way to eat healthier is to have a steady diet, rich in nutrients. Don’t fall prey to radical diets; rather, start to include more fruit and vegetables in your daily intake while eating fewer packaged foods. “A healthy diet is a balanced diet, with lots of fresh, unprocessed food, fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fish, chicken and lean meats. There’s nothing revolutionary about that,” says Dr. Susan Biali, a Vancouver physician who has a degree in dietetics. “I think if anyone has to try to count portions or calculate or follow strict guidelines, it’s not something they are going to maintain long term.”

Chances are you already know what to do, maintains Biali: “Ironically, I think that most people know what a ‘healthy diet’ is. It’s just human nature to want to follow the latest ‘fad’ or ‘health news,’ and feel like you’re doing something new.”

Keeping an eye on nutrition trends is a good idea, she says, as new ideas can boost an already healthy eating plan.

“As I learn new things, I sometimes slightly change my behaviour,” she explains. “For example, when we started to hear a lot about the benefits of the omega-3 fatty acids, I started to eat more fish. But we already knew that fish was part of a balanced healthy diet; I probably just eat it a little more often now, as a result of what I know.”

There are so many nutritional guidelines from governments and health associations these days that it could make your head spin, but most of them have several elements in common. Whether the guidelines are from the Canada Food Guide, the American Cancer Society or the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, the rules are similar: enjoy a wide variety of foods; aim to include items from the four food groups — whole-grain products; vegetables and fruits; lower-fat milk products; and lower-fat meat and alternatives — be physically active and limit your intake of soft drinks, refined carbohydrates (such as pastries), sugar and salt.

The importance of vegetables and fruit in a healthy diet cannot be emphasized enough, according to the American Cancer Society’s guidelines. Fruit and vegetables contain vitamins, minerals, anti-cancer phytochemicals, disease-fighting antioxidants and fibre. Those with the most colour — deep green, red, yellow or orange — generally contain the most nutrients.

Evidence is piling up that following these pointers will help you not only control your weight but also help you fight high cholesterol, high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and even cancer.

“Eating a diverse, balanced diet rich in fruit and vegetables, coupled with controlled calorie intake to avoid weight gain, is a simple and effective way of significantly reducing the risk of being struck by cancer,” says Dr. Richard Béliveau, co-author of a new best-seller, Foods that Fight Cancer, (McClelland & Stewart Ltd. and Milena Stojanac, 2006).

Béliveau and co-author Dr. Denis Gingras are proponents of the old adage: you are what you eat.

“We have come to forget that food that enters our body literally becomes part of us and that we must choose carefully what we eat in order to remain in good health,” says Béliveau. “Most people now spend more time worrying about what kind of car or computer to buy or what of clothes to wear than about what they will eat for dinner.”

If you are wondering what foods to incorporate more of in your diet, Béliveau, Gingras and Biali have identified certain foods as “health superstars.” If you have these foods on hand more often and learn to cook with them, you will reach less often for high-calorie, low-nutrient foods such as cookies and potato chips.

> Blueberries.Blueberries are powerful antioxidants, and therefore have important properties to prevent cancer. They may also have positive effects on the brain and sight. Women should take note: they contain the same protective compounds for the urinary tract as cranberries.

@page_break@> Nuts. It is well documented that eating nuts regularly can cut the risk of dying from heart disease. They can also decrease risk of stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, cataracts and macular degeneration.

> The Cabbage Family. Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale and brussels sprouts are cruciferous vegetables that contain cancer-fighting compounds. They also reduce the risk of heart disease and may prevent cataracts.

> Garlic. Garlic contains vitamin C, vitamin B6 and selenium. Eating garlic regularly can lower blood pressure and “bad” cholesterol. It can also slow the development of certain kinds of cancer.

> Fish. Fish is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which are essential to good health. Fish has anti-inflammatory and anti-cancerous properties, as well as benefits for the brain.

> Tomatoes. Lycopene, the antioxidant found in tomatoes, appears to protect us from both cancer and heart disease.

> Citrus Fruit. Everyone knows that oranges, lemons and grapefruit contain loads of vitamin C. But it is less well known that substances in citrus fruits can lower your risk of stroke and some types of cancer.

> Oats. Oats contain lots of fibre, and can therefore lower cholesterol and may help prevent heart disease.

Béliveau’s book also has chapters on the anti-cancer properties of wine, dark chocolate, turmeric (a spice often found in curries) and green tea.

It is far better to get your nutrients from foods than from supplements, Béliveau insists: “If a person’s diet lacks vitamins, minerals and anti-cancer compounds because he or she does not consume sufficient quantities of fruits and vegetables, the solution to the problem lies not in taking supplements but in making profound, far-reaching changes to diet. There will be no miracle cures that are able to entirely repair the damage caused by a poor-quality diet; you cannot eat just anything and then get off by taking a pill!”

The superfoods listed here represent only a small sample of the thousands of foods that are healthy and can be incorporated into a balanced diet. The more you learn about and eat high-nutrient foods, the more you get the hang of it until it becomes second nature, as it has for Biali.

“At about 5 p.m. each day, when I’m thinking about what to make for dinner, I think back on what I’ve eaten. How much fruit have I had? Did I have any vegetables at lunch? Did I eat much protein with breakfast or lunch? If I need to ‘catch up’ to make it a balanced day, I’ll try to make up for what I’ve missed at dinner,” she says.

The idea is to change gradually so that you are eating a healthy diet for the rest of your life, not just following a fad. “I don’t count portions,” she says. “It’s easy to figure out that eating an apple, an orange, some salad and some veggies is healthier than just having one apple over the course of the day. That’s about as scientific as I get!” IE