Healthy eating is the overall approach to eating food for better health. It’s a pattern of eating to get the best possible physical, mental, and emotional health.
Healthy eating will include making the best food choices that meet the body’s nutrient and energy requirements. It is therefore not a one-act or practice but a series of activities to achieve health through the food you eat.
Healthy eating is more than eating a balanced diet but not far from it either. With a lot of diets claiming to be healthy, the entire thing can be confusing to many people.
Diets can be part of healthy eating if the foods chosen are healthy foods with fewer restrictions that might hurt your body.
Healthy eating isn’t centered around counting calories. You can have healthy eating without even counting calories, Although counting calories and choosing good food can be part of healthy eating.
Why is healthy eating important?
Many benefits come along with healthy eating. let us look at some of the below.
1. Weight loss.
Most of the foods that are recommended in healthy eating are weight loss friendly and will get you to lose weight. For example, whole vegetables are lower in calories compared to processed foods and thus healthy eating will get you fewer calories which you can easily burn to create a calorie deficit for weight loss.
2. Reduced cancer risk.
Eating healthy foods will reduce the risk of developing cancer. Many fruits and vegetables have anti-cancer properties.
Additionally, from healthy eating, you will have fewer chances of getting obese which is linked to cancer in quite a number of ways.
3. Improved gut health.
Foods rich in fiber can promote proper bowel movements hence prevent bowel cancer and constipation. Healthy food choices also have good bacteria, nutrients such as vitamin K and B that are essential for gut health.
4. Healthy eating can help manage diabetes.
With healthy eating, you can lose weight, manage blood glucose levels, keep blood pressure in check. All this and many other aspects can help to manage diabetes.
5. Promotes heart health.
Healthy eating can promote blood circulation and improve heart health. The foods involved in healthy eating contain vitamin E that prevents blood clots that would have led to heart attacks.
While eating healthy foods, you will be able to avoid foods that are high in trans-fat that would have caused heart disease and other illnesses.
6. Strong bones and teeth.
Getting enough calcium will ensure bone and teeth health. Healthy eating will make your bones and teeth stronger through foods such as milk, cheese, legumes, green leafy vegetables, and others.
7. Healthy eating will get your better moods.
Without guilt or shame of your food choices, healthy eating will improve your moods. Healthy food choices also lack components that cause mood swings like those found in soft drinks, cakes, white bread, and other refined foods.
8. Healthy eating improves memory.
Healthy food choices can help you combat many mental health diseases such as dementia and cognitive decline.
What are the healthy eating tips?
Below are some of the tips that will help you get the best out of your eating.
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Choose whole foods over-processed.
Eat whole foods such as whole grains, leafy vegetables instead of processed foods. These whole foods are highly nutritious and filled with a lot of health benefits.
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Ensure you have a balanced diet.
A balanced diet is a meal with all the essential nutrients and can help improve overall health. Your main meals should contain foods with all the essential nutrients needed by the body.
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Eat food high in fiber and carbs.
Food high in fiber and carbs such as whole grains will be more beneficial to your body. Foods high in fiber are highly recommended for weight loss.
Fiber can also be got from eating whole fruits and vegetables. Do not make juice out of the fruits. When fruits are made into juice, they lose their fiber in the process.
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Eat more fruits and vegetables.
At least 5 portions of fruits and vegetables every day will get most of the essential vitamins and minerals your body needs in a day.
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Eat less sugar and saturated fats.
The type of fats you need aren’t saturated fats and also you should go slow on your sugar consumption. Usually, overconsumption of sugar is not from table sugar but from processed foods.
You should therefore avoid foods such as fatty cuts of meat, sausages, white bread, cream, biscuits, junk foods, and other processed foods because these are high in sugars and others are high saturated fats.
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Maintain a healthy weight and get active.
Eating healthy may not be enough to help you keep great health. You should therefore do regular exercises and aim at keeping a healthy weight.
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Always hydrate.
Drink a lot of fluids to stay hydrated all day. Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day.
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Consume less alcohol.
Alcohol can dehydrate the body and when drunk, you can make unhealthy food choices. You should therefore substitute alcohol with healthy drinks such as water and fruit juice.
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Always eat breakfast.
People who eat breakfast always make healthy food choices throughout the day. You are also likely to eat less food on the next meal compared to when breakfast was missed.
This is common with people who want to consume fewer calories.
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Mindful eating.
Mindful eating is a technique that involves putting all your emphasis on food without distractions. It involves eating slowly and chewing thoroughly.
With mindful eating, your aim is overall body health and wellness. When mindful eating is combined with healthy eating, you will have a healthy lifestyle.
How to switch to healthy eating
Dumping your old habits and switching to healthy eating can be quite hard. However, when you follow these tips, switching to healthy eating can be easier.
- Buy a healthy eating recipe book and cook most of your meals when you can. This will give you control o the type of food that is laid on the table for you.
- Pack healthy lunch and snacks to work to have control on what you eat. Although this may seem inconvinencing but if your goal is healthy eating then its worth the take.
- Increase your knowledge on the benefits of healthy eating by reading articles and watching videos about healthy eating . This will help you to get motivated to switch to healthy eating.
- Choose to drink water over other drinks. Carry a water bottel so that you always have an option over unhealty drinks like soda, energy drinks and others.
- Start out slow on healthy eating. You can start by eating a healthy meal every day and go on changing from unhealthy eating slowly by slowly until you are fully committed to it.
- Stock your grocery with healthy whole foods rather than processed and junk foods.
- Eat healthy nuts and seeds as snacks. This will help you adjust slowly and avoid eating unhealthy foods.
How to make healthy eating sustainable
Healthy eating may not be easy to keep up to especially when you are used to eating fast foods and other unhealthy foods. Here are some tips to help you sustain healthy eating.
When you are getting tempted to eat unhealthy foods think about the benefits or what motivates you to eat healthily.
- Always pick a fruit or vegetable when you have to snack.
- Try different recipes so as you don’t get bored with healthy eating.
- Don’t shop or stock unhealthy foods and keep them out of your reach.
- Carry healthy snacks with you so that you aren’t tempted to try unhealthy foods.
- Track and monitor your progress. This will help you stay committed and motivated.
- Get a partner to join you in healthy eating. You can also choose to join groups or online communities where you will interact with people of the same cause as you.
- Figure out what works for you and stick to it. If it’s making your own meals do it, if it’s joining a group or any other strategy that can work for you.
What are the healthiest foods for healthy eating?
To begin with, we shall look at the different food groups our bodies need for proper health. It is around these that you should center your healthy eating around.
1. Proteins.
Protein food sources provide the body with building blocks for muscle building and repair. Proteins promote body growth and maintenance, cause biochemical reactions, provides the body with a structure, maintains PH, and many other benefits.
This makes proteins one of the essential food groups that shouldn’t miss from anyone’s diet. Proteins should be got from health sources as will be looked at later in this article.
2. Fat.
Some diets may restrict you from consuming fats but not all fats are bad for you. While some fats may ruin your diet and increase the risk of disease, some fats are healthy for the body.
Good fats protect the brain, heart, and improve health. Omega 3 fats are some of the healthy fats that can benefit your body.
Fats are essential to the body as they gives the body energy and support cell growth. Healthy fats can lower the risk of heart disease, prevent abnormal heart rhythms, lower blood pressure, and can prevent atherosclerosis (hardening and narrowing of the arteries).
3. Fiber.
Dietary fiber is a non-digestible carbohydrate found in foods. A lot of health benefits exist in foods rich in fiber. They are recommended in almost every diet even for weight loss.
Fiber can aid proper digestion, helps in weight loss, and can reduce blood sugar spikes, not as the case with high carb foods that lack fiber.
Additionally, fiber can reduce cholesterol, and can save you from constipation.
4. Carbs.
Carbs aren’t enemies of the body and in fact, it’s from carbs that the body gets energy. Carbs can also be stored by the body as reserve energy. Another great function of carbs is promoting digestive health.
While some healthy carbs, for example, those from whole grains improve health, some carb sources, for example, those got from refined foods aren’t healthy for the body.
This means that most of your carbs should come from complex, vegetables, whole grains, fruits rather than from refined foods such as white bread, pastries, fast foods.
5. Calcium.
Calcium is a mineral that helps in building bones and teeth as well as keeping them healthy. Additionally, it enables blood to clot, muscles to contract, and the heart to beat.
When we don’t get enough calcium, our bodies take it from the bones leaving them weak and prone to breaking or fracturing.
What foods to eat while on healthy eating.
It’s from these foods that you will get a range of nutrients that are essential for your health. Health foods are usually low in calories too and this makes them healthy for weight loss too.
Vegetables.
Vegetables are low in calories and rich in important micronutrients and fiber.
Examples of healthy vegetables.
- Asparagus.
- Bell peppers.
- Broccoli.
- Carrots.
- Sweet potatoes.
- Cauliflower.
- Kale.
- Onions.
Fruits.
Many diets recommend fruits because they are rich in essential vitamins such as A, C, and E. From fruits, you also get micronutrients and antioxidants that can help improve health.
Fruits are also easy to prepare and be eaten in quite a number of ways.
Example of fruits.
- Apples.
- Bananas
- Avocados
- Blueberries.
- Oranges.
Beans and legumes.
These are great sources of proteins, fiber, and micronutrients.
Examples of legumes.
- Green beans.
- Peanuts.
- Kidney beans.
- Lentils.
Meat and fish.
They are rich and the best sources of healthy proteins.
Examples of meat and fish.
- Lean beef.
- Chicken breasts.
- Lamb.
- Salmon.
- Sardines.
- Shellfish.
- Tuna.
- Trout.
Dairy products.
These are important sources of proteins and calcium.
Examples of dairy products.
- Whole milk.
- Cheese.
- Yogurt.
Grains.
Although grains and other starch sources are red-flagged in many diets. However, they are some healthy carbs sources.
Healthy carbs usually come from whole grains as they are low in calories, and rich in fiber.
Examples of grains.
- Brown rice.
- Oats.
- Quinoa.
- Brown wheat.
Nuts and seeds.
Nuts and seeds are rich in proteins, carbs, fiber, vitamins, and healthy fats. They are also usually high in fiber, low in saturated fats, and free of cholesterol.
Examples of nuts and seeds.
- Brazil nuts.
- Chia seeds.
- Coconuts.
- Macadamia nuts.
- Cashews.
- Almonds.
- Pine nuts.
- Walnut.
- Peanuts.
Spices and herbs.
Spices and herbs are packed with many nutrients that contribute to a lot of health benefits.
Examples of spices and herbs.
What foods should you avoid while healthy eating?
There are a lot of foods that bring more health risks than benefits and should be avoided. Usually, these are foods that are packed with a lot of calories, less nutrition value, a lot of added sugars, trans fats, and other unhealthy ingredients for the body. Here are those foods;
Added sugars.
Added sugars are associated with many health risks and are ranked among the worst foods to avoid for healthy eating. They are linked to obesity, type 2 diabetes, increased risk of heart disease, risk of certain cancers, tooth decay, fatty liver, and accelerated skin aging.
This means that having a lot of added sugars will kill your body than benefit it.
Candy, cakes, sweet rolls, pastries, ice cream, and sweetened drinks such as soft drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks, and juices have a lot of added sugars and should be eaten in moderation or not at all.
Alternatives: Water, coffee, tea, unsweetened yogurt, and other unsweetened drinks.
Fast foods.
Pizzas, burgers, sausages, hot dogs, French fries, and others are some of the fast foods we eat daily but are ruining our healthy eating.
When you eat fast foods, you will be consuming high amounts of sodium and hydrogenated fats that can lead to a series of medical problems. Fast foods also have refined sugar that has health risks too.
Talk about a lot of calories in fast foods, you are most likely to gain weight and become obese if you consume a lot of fast foods. Eating fast foods will also hit you hard with digestive problems such as acid reflux, irritable bowel syndrome, and constipation.
Alternatives: Wholefoods.
Most fruit juices.
Fruit juices are assumed to be healthy as they contain a lot of vitamins, antioxidants, and are made from natural ingredients.
However, when the juice is being made, it is stripped of its natural fiber and a lot of sugar is added to it. Fruit juice may have as much sugar as other sugary drinks like soda.
Alternatives: Unsweetened juice or eat whole fruits for fiber and nutrients.
Processed breakfast cereals.
During processing, cereal grains such as wheat, oats, rice, and corn are stripped of their natural fibers and a lot of sugar is added to them to make sweet breakfast cereals.
Alternatives: Breakfast cereals that are high in fiber and low in added sugar.
Pastries, cookies, and cakes.
All these are unhealthy especially when eaten in huge amounts. This because they are made with refined wheat flour that lacks fiber, has added fats, and a lot of sugar. They might be sweet but they are full of empty calories which means that you are consuming a lot of calories without nutrients.
Alternatives: Fruits, vegetables, whole wheat bread, and pastries.
Ice cream.
Ice cream has a lot of added sugar and is loaded with a lot of calories.
Alternatives: Make your own ice cream using fresh fruits and less sugar.
Processed meat.
Although meat is healthy and nutritious when it is processed, it exposes you to colon cancer, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.
Alternatives: Unprocessed meat.
Highly processed foods.
These are usually loaded with a t of calories, added sugars, excess salt, trans fats and they have low nutritional values.
Alternative: Whole foods, unprocessed foods, fruits, and vegetables.
Alcohol.
Alcohol comes with a lot of calories, dehydrating properties, weight gain, liver problems, cancer, and many other health risks.
Alternatives: water and non-alcoholic drinks.
Why should I eat more fruits and vegetables?
Fruits and vegetables are always recommended by many diets as they are highly nutritious with a lot of health benefits.
Not having enough fruits and vegetables can lead to deficiencies and diseases such as scurvy, night blindness, Hemorrhagic disease, cardiovascular problems, certain cancers, digestive problems, and metabolic disorders.
However, eating at least 5 portions of fruits or vegetables every day can help you stay healthy. Even from a single fruit, you can get enough nutrients and vitamins needed for the body to function well.
Here is why you should eat more fruits and vegetables;
- Fruits and vegetables are important sources of Vitamin A, vitamin C, magnesium, zinc, potassium, dietary fiber, and other nutrients.
- Eating fruits and vegetables can help maintain a healthy weight as they are packed with natural fiber, and have got low calories.
- Fruits and vegetables can improve immunity and protect against diseases such as type 2 diabetes, stroke, certain cancers, high blood pressure, heart disease, and others.
- The vitamins in fruits and veggies help to keep the skin and eyes healthy and improve their performance.
There are different types of fruits you can eat such as Apples, citrus (oranges, lime, grapefruits), tropical (bananas and mangoes), berries (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, kiwi), melons, tomatoes, avocados, and others.
Good vegetables includes; leafy greens, cruciferous, marrow (pumpkin, cucumber, zucchini), root (potato, sweet potatoes, yams), edible plant stem (celery, asparagus), and others.
Fruits and vegetables can be eaten in quite a number of ways.
- They can be made into smoothies.
- Cooked and eaten in meals.
- Made into salads.
How to make vegetables much tastier.
- Use salt to hide the bitter taste of vegetables especially when you are eating them in salads.
- Oil can make vegetables taste better. Use oils such as olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, or even butter.
- Roast, pan fry or stir fry your vegetables to give them a caramelized flavor and to remove excess moisture.
- Eat high-quality veggies that are still fresh. Frozen or overstayed veggies will taste worse compared to the fresh ones.
- Eat your veggies with tasty accompaniments such as butter, chili oil, soy sauce, miso paste, spices, and fresh herbs.
- Add seasoning to vegetables to make them taste better.
- Don’t overcook them.
- Squeeze citrus fruits on top of them. Lemons, lime, and oranges can do the magic here.
- Get creative with recipes; try international recipes in recipe books or the ones you see on Tv shows to get your veggies to taste better.
Understanding calories.
BY definition, a calorie is the amount of energy or heat it takes to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1-degree Celsius. Simply, calories are the energy we get from the food we consume.
Calories are blamed for weight gain and a lot of stuff. But are all the myths true? Let’s break down these theories.
Calories are a unit of measurement of how much energy certain foods contain. Different foods will provide you with different amounts of calories and nutrients. Foods that are considered healthy usually provide fewer calories backed by a lot of nutrients.
Whereas empty calories provide a lot of calories to the body without any nutritional value.
The relationship between calories and weight is simple, our bodies burn calories for energy in order to function properly. Therefore, the way we consume and burn calories will affect weight in the following ways.
Weight gain: eating more calories than your body can fully burn or use in a day will cause weight gain.
Weight loss: consuming fewer calories than your body burns in a day will lead to weight loss.
Weight maintenance: balancing calorie consumption and burning will lead to weight maintenance. Here I mean you are consuming more calories than your body fully burns through metabolism and physical activities.
Let’s talk about how bodies burn calories. The body burns calories through a process called metabolism and the activities you do.
Metabolism refers to all the chemical reactions that take place in the body to maintain the living state of cells and all body functions. It’s through these processes that the body burns calories. On the other side, through our day-to-day activities such as walking, exercises, running, and all other activities.
Do calories make you fat?
When consumed in large amounts that the body can’t fully burn, calories are stored by the body as reserve energy in form of fat. However, when you can fully burn the calories that you consume, you are likely to maintain your current weight.
Weight loss comes along when you are burning more calories than you consume.
How are calories related to healthy eating?
Since calories come from the food we eat, it is important to know that they are literally the same but differ in the benefits they give to the body.
Calories from a pizza will not be the same as those from an apple in terms of nutritional value. Unhealthy foods provide a lot of calories that aren’t backed with nutritional value. These are usually termed as empty calories.
However, healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables provide fewer calories that are backed with a lot of nutritional value.
Learn more about calories from these articles by Foreversuperslim.com a weight loss blog :
What is a calorie? How do calories relate to weight loss?
Empty calories. Why you should avoid them and how.
Is Sugar good for you?
Many foods we eat in a day contain sugar, even when it’s not table sugar, there are various types of sugar you will find in food.
Sugar is a source of carbohydrates and provides4 calories per grams or 16 calories per leveled teaspoon. Sugar on its own has no nutrients.
Glucose is a type of sugar the body gets from the food we eat and it’s from glucose that the body gets the energy to fully function.
When it travels through the body by a hormone known as insulin, it’s referred to as blood glucose or blood sugar. However, too much glucose in the bloodstream is not healthy its referred to as diabetes.
High blood sugar can damage the blood vessels, kidneys, eyes, and other organs in the body.
High blood sugar also increases the risk of heart disease, nerve damage, stroke, heart attack, and a disease called retinopathy.
Additionally, consumption of too much sugar can lead to tooth decay, increased risk of depression, fatty liver, accelerated skin aging, and increased risk of certain cancers.
Table sugar is obviously added sugar and other examples are honey, stevia, and other sweeteners. These should be consumed in moderation in order to stay healthy.
It should be noted that sugar is not bad for you and in fact, is needed by the body. It is however bad when it is consumed in large amounts. Sugars that exist naturally in foods are healthy. However, added sugars harm the body than they benefit it.
Candy, cookies, ice cream, pastries, sweet rolls, doughnuts, soft drinks, sodas, energy drinks, juices are some of the foods with a lot of added sugar.
Are supplements healthy?
Dietary supplements are consumed by many people in order to meet their nutrients and vitamin requirements for a healthy body. But are these pills or powders healthy? Let’s break it down.
Dietary supplements help people get nutrients they may have not got enough from food. Since different nutrients are essential for a healthy body, getting them from supplements will help the body become healthier and stronger.
However, some people misuse supplements and use them as a substitute for food which leaves them with a lot of health risks.
According to Dr. JoAnn Manson, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, “Supplements are never a substitute for a balanced diet. They can be a distraction from healthy lifestyle practices. “
In summary, dietary supplements will be safe provided you don’t use them as a substitute for a healthy diet, they should just help you to make ends meet and that is to get nutrients you aren’t getting from the food you eat.
The bottom line.
You are what you eat and when you eat healthy foods you will be healthy. There is a lot of hidden power in natural foods and having someone to walk healthy eating with you is precious that’s why we shall bring the health benefits in natural eating and foods.
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