Niki Bezzant: First, enjoy the food you eat

It's all very well to worry about what you eat - but it's also important to get pleasure from food. Photo / 123RF

As the weather warms, we come out of hibernation and focus on health a bit more. The exercise gear gets an airing and healthy eating becomes a focus.

It may be driven by vanity as the spectre of summer days at the beach looms but it's not a bad thing to be mindful of our health and try to make some improvements.

It's easy to forget an important element of healthy eating when we do this. It's something that affects our wellbeing just as much as dropping those extra kilos. And that's making sure we enjoy our food.

This struck me recently when reading the Japanese nutrition guidelines. Japan, despite recent rises in obesity, still has one of the healthiest, longest-living populations in the world. What's their secret?

The Japanese Government is serious about promoting healthy eating.

In 2005 it enacted The Basic Law on Shokuiku, which enshrines food education across the population from cradle to grave, involving central and local governments, food-related businesses, schools, medical institutions, community groups and individuals.

The goal is helping people maintain a healthy body and mind and "cultivate a rich humanity". Japan tracks such things as are people eating together, do they skip breakfast, do people have knowledge of food producers and do they feel a sense of gratitude for their food?

The nutrition guidelines are part of this movement. And the top priority is: "Enjoy your meals". I'm not aware of another country that does this. Is this one reason the Japanese are so healthy?

It's probably not that simple. I enjoy meals of creamy pasta and barbecue duck, but if I had those every day I'm not sure I'd feel or look well.

But enjoyment is a key component in making changes stick. No one is going to keep to a regime of kale salad and green smoothies if there's no pleasure in it.

Probably the trick is to enjoy our meals, just not too much. As with the French - who love cheese and wine, but are disciplined in how they consume them - the Japanese are focused on moderation.

Establish a healthy rhythm by keeping regular hours for meals, they advise, and "Maintain the proper weight with adequate exercise and well-balanced meals."

They also get into specifics on vegetables, grains, salt and fat that mirror advice we're familiar with here.

Another Japanese guideline is: "Develop your understanding of food and review your dietary life."

This may have suffered in translation, but I think they're saying it's worth reflecting from time to time on how we're combining enjoyment and moderation, dialling back if we need to, but not forgetting the pleasure in a great meal.

• Niki Bezzant is editor-at-large of Healthy Food Guide.