One of the best things that you should do to safeguard your health is to have a primary diet consisting of healthy and wholesome food.
It is a fact that 80% of untimely strokes and heart diseases can be avoided through healthy food choices and regular physical activity.
Healthy eating acts on our body in multiple beneficial ways. A well-balanced diet provides the body with all that it needs. It gives you all the energy to keep you vibrant through the day, the nutrients you need for repair and growth. It helps you stay healthy and strong, arming you with the strength to prevent diet-related illnesses, including several forms of cancer.
Healthy eating helps you reduce blood pressure, improve your cholesterol levels, manage your weight, and control your blood sugar.
Healthy eating is the key to a healthy body. And to ensure that you eat just the right quantity of food that will give you the necessary calories and not extra calories. The right quantity depends on how active you are. So ultimately it is a balance between how much energy you consume and the amount of energy you expend.
Healthy eating is also about eating an array of foods that ensures that you are on a balanced diet. It is also about guaranteeing that your body receives all its nutrient requirements.
Lots Of Fruits And Vegetables: An Essential Part Of Healthy Eating
This is among the most important dietary necessities for healthy eating. Fruits and vegetables are loaded with nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, fibers, and antioxidants. This helps you to maintain your weight. It also helps keep you full for longer periods, thus ensuring that you do not load up on empty calories.
At least half the food you consume should consist of fruits and vegetables.
Go for whole-grain foods with high fiber content or whole-grain varieties. Brown rice, potatoes without peeling them, and wholewheat pasta are some varieties of high-fiber foods that ensure healthy eating.
Make sure that you have at least one starchy food prepared with wholegrain or high-fiber varieties as part of each meal. There is a misconception that starchy food is fattening. But they provide the carbohydrate with fewer calories than fat.
Healthy Eating Consists Of Sufficient Quantity Of Proteins
You must keep consuming the right amount of protein food as part of healthy eating. This includes nuts, legumes, seeds, lean meat including poultry, and low-fat dairy products.
The right intake of protein ensures stronger bones and muscles, and healthier skin. You should eat protein every day. Choose plant-based protein more often. Chicken and fish, especially the smaller varieties, are more beneficial than red meat.
Another great source of protein is dairy products. Choose low-fat foods and options that are without artificial flavors. A quarter of your place should be filled with protein food. Severely cut down on ultra and high-processed foods. Such foods should never be part of healthy eating. These foods have been altered from their original compositions and have many artificial ingredients added to them.
They include hot dogs, fast foods, cookies, chips, deli meats, frozen pizza, white bread, and white rice. Minimally processed foods including frozen vegetables, fruits, milk, cheese, and bagged salads can be consumed, though in limited quantities.
Fish is a healthy protein source and is loaded with minerals and vitamins. Eat fish at least twice a week, with at least one helping of oily fish such as trout, salmon, herring, pilchard, and mackerel. The non-oily varieties include cod, haddock, coley, plaice, and tuna. Avoid smoked or canned fish for their high salt content and try to pick up fresh fish from the market.
Saturated Fat And Sugar Is Never A Part Of Healthy Eating
While saturated fat has been considered bad for health for decades, it was only recently that added sugar has also come under scrutiny. Saturated fat consists of high levels of saturated fatty acids and is solid at room temperature. Excessive intake of such fat can cause your blood cholesterol levels to spike. It also leads to an increase in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels, also known as bad cholesterol. LDL can cause heart diseases.
The main sources of saturated fat include deep-fried food such as fried chicken, fatty meat cuts sourced from pork and beef, and high-fat dairy products such as butter and cream. Baked goods such as pies and pastries and tropical oils such as palm and coconut are also sources of saturated fat.
Saturated fat can be avoided by increasing the intake of fish and chicken. Go for steamed or boiled foods instead of the fried variety.
Natural sugar is a simple carbohydrate essential for your body. But added sugar, which is processed into food and drinks, can be harmful. Sugar causes rapid weight gain, increases the risk of heart disease, hastens Type 2 diabetes mellitus, and causes mineral and vitamin deficiency.
Avoiding Processed Sugar As Part of Healthy Eating
We consume sugar in many of the foods we consume, and it is often a hidden ingredient in our food. Learn to identify added sugars and avoid foods that contain them when going through the ingredient lists and food labels. Foods that contain cane juice or syrup, corn sweeteners, fruit juice concentrates, and nectars, maple, or malt sugar should be avoided.
Sugar intake can be reduced by the consumption of home-cooked food made with fresh and natural ingredients. Even packaged fruit juices should be avoided as they have the sugar but lack the natural fiber of the fruit. They should not be considered as an alternative to fruits.
Finally eating healthy includes lots of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. A moderate amount of meat, dairy, and unsaturated fats helps maintain body weight. Having more natural foods in every meal leaves little room for foods with high sugar and fat content.
Coupled with your diet is the absolute necessity of regular exercise. The right food and plenty of exercise will help you control your weight, lower blood pressure, and cholesterol levels, and decrease the risk of diabetes.
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