source: Boston Medical Center

year: N/A

A balanced diet is a diet that includes foods from all of the five major food groups and oils. Each of the different food groups provides our bodies with important nutrients. Avoiding any one food group places individuals at risk for less than optimal nutrition. With Sickle Cell Disease it is especially important to eat a balanced diet to make sure that we give our body the energy, fiber and vitamins and minerals that it needs to keep us healthy.

• Grains like whole grain breads, rice, pastas, cereals and crackers contain fiber that helps to reduce blood cholesterol and keeps our bowels moving, folate that helps our body make new red blood cells, vitamin B that helps our body to use the energy from foods that we eat, magnesium for healthy bones, selenium for healthy immune system.

• Vegetables like spinach, carrots, broccoli, tomato, green beans contain fiber, folate, vitamin A that helps to keep eyes and skin healthy and helps to protect against infections, vitamin C helps heal wounds and keeps teeth and gums healthy, potassium helps in maintaining healthy blood pressure.

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