HEALTHY DIET – There is a saying, “There is no love sincere than the love of food.” Most of us love to eat delicious dishes. However, standing on a measuring scale gives us a sad smiley. A Healthy diet doesn’t mean strictly abstaining yourself of the foods you love or skipping meals. Rather, it’s about feeling great, driven by motivation, improving your outlook and having positive energy.
Related: Balanced Diet.
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So What Is A Healthy Diet?
If you are getting confused by the various conflicting opposite healthy diet plans out there, then don’t panic. You are not the only person who’s facing this dilemma. Every physician will prescribe you a healthy diet foods list which is completely different from one prescribed by other. In this case, don’t fret initially.
Try out different things and prepare a healthy diet chart of your own. Include variety as well as tasty diets which are good for the mind as well as the body. In the following section, we will see how we can prepare & maintain a healthy diet and how it affects us.
Tip 1: The First Step
Very one knows that keeping a balanced diet will help you in the long run but maintaining it becomes a cumbersome task because of various excuses that we put forward. However, neglecting our body will lead to many health problems which can be avoided by a regular habit.
Also Read: Healthy Diet For Teens.
- To let your inner channel drive you to have a healthy diet plan, at first, you need to inculcate a new habit of cooking. This will keep a tab on what you are taking inside.
- Get rid of those dangerous Trans fats and replace them with healthy fats like switching from fried chicken to grilled fish.
- Drink plenty of water to flush out the toxins and waste products from the body.
- After every meal, you should feel content not stuffed. Instead of removing those yummy junk foods instantly from your diet, decrease the portion of intake gradually and eventually the craving for them will go away.
- If you are still feeling hungry, then fill up with extra vegetables. Start eating slowly as brain takes the time to tell your body that it is full so that you won’t overeat.
Tip 2: Add Color to Your Food
Fruits and vegetables are nutrient dense & full of minerals. They even have fewer calories. So add them, up to your daily diet plan to be active always while gaining Trans fats.
- Try to include rainbow colored fruits as they contain the high amount of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants to make it the best healthy diet.
- Naturally sweet vegetables—such as baby corn, carrot, beet, yams, onions, and sweet potatoes—add sweetness to your meals and reduce your cravings for added sugars. This will help you to remove sugar, which leads to diabetes, depression and in some cases suicidal tendencies in young, from your diet.
- This also spikes up energy in the body. Hence avoid products like drinks containing sugar, packaged foods.
- Keep checking labels for ingredients and hence cut down sugar intakes.
Tip 3: Bulk Up On Fibre & Carbohydrates
Healthy foods diet must contain fiber & carbs to help you stay fit, the risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes lowers and help you lose weight. 21 to 38 grams of fiber every day is required depending on your age and gender.
Also Read: Heart Healthy Diet.
- One way to add extra fiber to your healthy diet is by adding unprocessed wheat bran and whole grain to your favorite cereal in your breakfast.
- Healthy carbohydrates like whole grains, beans, fruits & vegetables are digested slowly, which in turn helps you feel full for the longer period. Hence improve your digestion power naturally and keep your blood sugar & insulin level stable.
Tip 4: Add Calcium & Protein
Keep your bones & teeth strong using calcium. The deficit of calcium in diet will cause your body to draw calcium from your bones & teeth, which will lead to osteoporosis.
- Dairy products like milk, unsweetened yogurt and cheese are full of calcium.
- Avoid caffeine, alcohol & sugary drinks which deplete calcium from the body.
- Research shows most of us need high-quality protein as we age. Eat plenty of fish, chicken, or proteins, which are plant-based, such as nuts, soy and beans.
- Replace processed carbohydrates from pastries, cakes, pizza, cookies and chips with high-quality protein rich products.
Tip 5: Check Your Salt Intake
Sodium is added to food to improve taste though our body requires less than 1gm of sodium every day. Chances of high blood pressure, heart disease, kidney disease & erectile dysfunction increases because of high sodium intake.
- Replace sodium with herbs & spices such as garlic, cayenne or black pepper.
- Not all fats are unhealthy. Good fats are necessary for stable physical & emotional health.
- Good fats like Omega-3 reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases, improve your mood, and help prevent dementia.
The above tips demystify the conflicts & confusion of healthy diet. Do the permutation & combination of above ingredients, add them up to your daily intake and finally, a daily habit of exercise will help you keep a sound body.
The disease-fighting potential of your body increases with this wide assortment of foods added to the meal. Moreover, this will limit your exposure to any pesticides or toxins that may be present in a particular food.
Finally, you do not have to abstain from foods you enjoy to have a healthy diet and make a difference to the way you feel & think.
So eat healthily & enjoy a good life!
Also Read: Why to Fall in Love with the Mediterranean Diet?