How much food should you be Eating each day for proper Nutrition?

How much food you need depends on many factors including your height, age , sex, overall health status, work, leisure time activities

How much food you need depends on many factors including your height, age, sex, overall health status, work, leisure time activities, physical activity, genetics, body size, environmental factors, body composition, and what medicines you may take. An optimum intake of foods depends on how many calories you need.

When it comes to weight, it isn't quite as easy as calories or calories, so if you eat more every day than you give up, you 're usually putting on weight. If you eat fewer calories than the energy you need, you'll probably lose weight.

This article discusses how much people can consume, and what food types should be included in a balanced diet.

Fast facts on how much food you should eat

Here are a few key points about how much food to consume. The main article contains more details and supporting information.

1. If you consume more calories than you burn, you'll probably put on weight
2. It 's essential to lose weight, reduce calorie intake and increase the number of calories you burn
3. To stay healthy, it's important to eat a variety of natural foods

Calorie needs Per Day

How much you should eat depends on what your intended purpose is. Would you want to keep your body weight, lose or gain weight or get ready for a sporting event?

The emphasis on food consumption is closely related to calorie intake. Calories are a measure of how much energy the food we consume has in it. Comprising calories helps us to figure out how much food we need to eat. Different foods have different calories per gram or ounce of weight.

Some general daily calorie requirements for males and females are given below. A low activity level means taking part in moderate activity every day in 30-60 minutes, for example walking at 3-4 miles per hour. Active level means, per day, at least 60 minutes of moderate activity.

Daily calorie requirement (Source: Health Canada) for males:

Age	Sedentary level	Low active level	Active level
2-3 years	1,100	1,350	1,500
4-5 years	1,250	1,450	1,650
6-7 years	1,400	1,600	1,800
8-9 years	1,500	1,750	2,000
10-11 years	1,700	2,000	2,300
12-13 years	1,900	2,250	2,600
14-16 years	2,300	2,700	3,100
17-18 years	2,450	2,900	3,300
19-30 years	2,500	2,700	3,000
31-50 years	2,350	2,600	2,900
51-70 years	2,150	2,350	2,650
71+ years	2,000	2,200	2,500

The requirement for calories per day for Females:

Age	Sedentary level	Low active level	Active level
2-3 years	1,100	1,250	1,400
4-5 years	1,200	1,350	1,500
6-7 years	1,300	1,500	1,700
8-9 years	1,400	1,600	1,850
10-11 years	1,500	1,800	2,050
12-13 years	1,700	2,000	2,250
14-16 years	1,750	2,100	2,350
17-18 years	1,750	2,100	2,400
19-30 years	1,900	2,100	2,350
31-50 years	1,800	2,000	2,250
51-70 years	1,650	1,850	2,100
71+ years	1,550	1,750	2,000

People seeking a healthy body weight will need to check the calorie content of the food they eat, so they can compare how much they burn against their consumption.

How much food do I need to eat per day?

This segment discusses how much of any form of food we can consume every day, such as fruit, vegetables, grains, milk, and meat, or dairy or meat alternatives.

People should consume these recommended amounts of servings each day, according to Health Canada. See the next segment for information on serving sizes.

Serving amount and sizes

This is a reference amount to help us determine how much of the four food groups we should be consuming every day. Look at the examples underneath:

• Fruit and vegetables: 1 piece of fruit, half a cup of fruit juice, half a cup of fruit or vegetables canned or frozen, 1 cup of raw vegetables or salad
• Grains: half a bagel, 1 slice of bread, half a tortilla, half a pitta, half a cup of cooked couscous, rice or pasta, 1 ounce of cold cereal, 3/4 of a cup of hot cereal
• Milk and alternatives: 1 cup of milk, 1 cup of soy drink, 3⁄4 of a cup of yogurt, 1 1⁄2 ounces of cheese
• Meat and alternatives: 2 1/2 ounces of cooked beef, lean meat, poultry or vegetarian meat, 2 eggs, 2 1⁄2 lb of peanut butter

Consuming fruit and vegetables: Experts say you should eat at least one dark green and one colored orange vegetable every day. Examples of dark green vegetables include spinach, broccoli, and kale.

Go for fruit and vegetables without, or at least as little as possible, sugar, salt, or fat. Steaming, baking, or stir-frying the vegetables is recommended. Limit or avoid deep-fried foods. Whole fruit and vegetables, because they contain more nutrients and nutrition, are a better option than their juices. Also, they're more filling that can deter overeating.

Grain consumption: Health authorities say that for at least half of our grain consumption we should be targeting whole grains. Go for the wild rice, quinoa, oats, brown rice, and barley varieties. Full-grain pasta, oatmeal, and bread are better than refined cereals.

A healthy grain does not have a high content in sugar, salt, or fat. Corn, legumes, quinoa, and starchy vegetables such as sweet potatoes and peas are alternatives to grains that contain many of the same nutrients.

Consuming milk (and alternatives): Consume 2 cups per day for a good intake of vitamin D and calcium. Have fortified drinks, if you don't drink milk. Limit your dairy intake with added sugars and other sweeteners. Low-fat milk can be recommended if, for heart health reasons, you limit your total fat or saturated fat intake.

Meat and alternative: ensure that you regularly consume alternatives such as tofu, lentils, and beans. Taking fish at least twice a week is recommended. Beware of certain kinds of fish being exposed to mercury. Go for lean meats, including chicken or turkey.

Try the roasting, baking, or poaching instead of frying. If you eat processed or prepackaged meat, select those that are low-salt and low-fat. Limit the daily consumption of processed meats as with normal eating, you may have an increased risk of cancer.

When eating carbohydrates, choose unrefined carbs, such as whole grains, that are high in fiber and slowly release energy, so you feel full for longer. Limit saturated fats, and avoid as much as possible trans fats. Consuming no more than 10 percent of your total calories from saturated fat is recommended. The best sources are vegetable oils, fish, and nuts.

Make sure you have plenty of fiber. Eat a number of colors, when consuming fruit and vegetables. If you're not a great milk drinker, ensure that your calcium intake is adequate. If your main concern is to learn how much food you are supposed to eat, you must also be mindful of their calorie values. The quantity will have to be less with high-calorie foods, while you can eat more with the lower-calorie ones.

Strong restrictions on calories

Some people claim that severely limiting the daily intake of calories can extend the lifespan of the whole population. Animal research showed that certain animals tend to live longer if partially starved, but the researchers have been characterized as "bad quality," and there is no guarantee that reducing calories will have the same impact on humans.

In 2012, however, scientists at Baton Rouge's Louisiana State University explained in the journal Nature that the two main factors influencing lifespan are good genes and a healthy, well-balanced diet.

Scientists claim many earlier experiments have been faulty because they compared poor high-calorie diets with very-low-calorie bad diets. There was, in other words, no power there.

They clarified that their 25-year research on very-low-calorie diets using rhesus monkeys did not help them live longer.

Additionally, results from a report released in the 2013 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition indicate you 're likely to live longer if you eat your "five-a-day" portions of fruit and vegetables.

Researchers concluded in 2016 that the effects of diet on aging "are not simply the result of the reduced amount of calories consumed but are also determined by the composition of the diet."