A healthy diet intake is the ultimate source of good health and balanced body weight which you cannot get through three or four varieties of foods. You have to include multiple varieties of diet intake in order to avail a wide variety of nutrients for ensuring overall good health. In this context, you must go through our tips for a healthier diet.
People who show negligence towards their diet habit or follow unhealthy diet routine in their day to day life are very much at risk to develop chronic forms of diseases at the very early stages of their life such as type 2 diabetes, heart diseases, high cholesterol, hypertension, osteoporosis and some sorts of cancer diseases too.
Your regular diet intake reflects in the form of your external appearance and internal health condition. Without eating healthful diets neither you can expect facial beauty nor you can expect healthy weight and disease-free life.
The foods that you eat not only provides energy to you to perform your day to day life responsibilities but also boost your mental health. In one term it creates a framework for your overall life. So considering it as the foremost important responsibility and necessity of your life makes sure that you stop neglecting your regular diet plan.
11 Tips for a Healthier Diet
When we think about healthy food, our mind simply shows some pictures of a few healthy veggies, fruits, and non-veg food products. However, in reality, the concept of a healthier diet is far beyond all these limited beliefs.
You have to understand what quantity and quality of food are good or bad for you and why it is so. For enlightening your path in this regard below we have enlisted some healthy diet suggestions for you.
Reduce Your Sugar Intake
Sugary diets whether is in solid form or liquid is the weakness of every second person but remember it only satisfies to your taste buds demand its nutritious value remain very low. Moreover, sugary foods, drinks, beverages, and refined grains are no way good for your health.
It stimulates your cholesterol level, diabetes level and causes cardiovascular diseases which are chronic health concerns and can affect your overall lifestyle. Some commons sugary diets that is the part of common people’s a day to today’s lifestyle such as white bread, candy, soda, pasta, snacks, and baked foods increases insulin sensitivity and inflammation.
Moreover, it adds empty calories to your body which is the primary cause of uncontrolled weight gain issue. Likewise, refined grains are also unhealthy just like the added sugar as it has very less nutrient value and fiber content.
So to avoid such major health concerns and for making your diet healthier try to replace these sugar diets with natural sugar-rich products. Replace sugary beverages with other sugar-free beverages which have high nutritional value along with good taste. By including such a healthier diet in your intake you can control your excess body weight and prevents the risk of chronic diseases.
Eat Multiple Variety of Nutrient-Rich Foods
Some people have a tendency to eat and follow the same diet pattern due to the rich nutrient dense value of those foods. This is good for you but not enough as limited foods choices limit your nutrient intake as alone they cannot provide you with every type of health and nutritious value.
So make sure that your day to day diet plan contains multiple varieties of nutrient-rich foods. Yes, you cannot eat all and everything in a day so segregate them wisely for other days and follow this variation throughout the year.
Don’t avoid anything and try to include every possible intake of a huge variety of foods like whole grains, fresh seasonal fruits, vegetables, and nuts etc. In this way, your body gets multiple ranges of nutrients to make you flourish and healthy.
One special benefit and safety that you can ensure by following this diet pattern is that you can prevent the risk of getting toxic foods which is quite possible in the cases when you remain dependent on 2 to 3 number of foods on a daily basis if those foods enriched with toxic substances or pesticides.
Avoid “Diet Foodsâ€
Foods labeled as diet foods are hardly as healthy enough as it generally claims for. People who consume such foods fearlessly with the assumption that there will be fat-free or low fat or have low-calorie value mostly ends up with discouraging results.
The bitter reality is that these so-called diet foods are often enriched with a high amount of sugar and other ingredients which makes your health worst. These added sugar and other ingredients are mixed in these foods to enhance their texture and taste which fills the gap of low fat and calorie value.
So in order to enhance your diet quality make sure that you avoid consuming such diet foods otherwise unknowingly you give an invitation to obesity and other health concerns. Moreover, the nutritional value of these foods is almost negligible.
Prefer Skim Milk Coffee over Whole Milk
For jump start of the day people often prefer coffee as their favorite drink. This is good for you but make sure that your hot drink is prepared in a healthy way with healthful ingredients. For assuring this prepare your coffee drink with skim milk which remains free of cream and fat content of milk.
Coffee drinks which are prepared with whole milk are a high source of fats which contributes to your body weight and its over-consumption gives birth to many diseases in the long run. On the other hand, skim milk contains only healthy nutrients vital for your bodies such as calcium, protein and Vitamin B 12.
Eat Whole Fruits Instead of Drinking
Fruits are the natural source of multiple varieties of healthy nutrients such as fiber, antioxidants, vitamins, and water which one cannot get purely through any supplement form. People who have a habit of eating whole fruits in a day have a great health value than those who avoid eating fruits.
However, regarding fruits consumption, one latest study has cleared that the nutritional value of whole fruits is far more than their liquid forms. That means the nutritional value of fruit gets half if you drink it whereas its nutritional value gets dual when it is consumed in the whole form.
Along with other healthy compounds, the best part of having whole fruits is that you get a taste of natural sugar so it doesn’t even give a spike to your blood sugar level. On the other hand, this feature or benefit is not available with the fruit juices.
Most of the time these fruit juices are prepared with added sugar and other ingredients for enhancing its taste and flavor which is harmful especially for the diabetes patients.
Moreover, the fiber content of fruit juices is very less with a comparison to direct fruit content which is another drawback of it that contributes to your sugar level and also fails to satisfy your hunger with small one drink.
So as a healthy diet choice make sure that you choose only whole fruits and avoid the consumption of fruit juices.
Choose Baked and Roasted Foods Over Grilled or Fried Foods
The nutritional value of food not only depends on the quality of its ingredients but it also depends on your way of preparation. Foods which are prepared with baking and roasting procedures are far healthier than the foods prepared through the grilling and frying methods.
This happens because in the grilling and frying process the real and natural essence of food is mostly burnt and loses its original health value. Also, many toxic compounds are produced if food is prepared through broiling, grilling, and frying methods.
Hence when you eat them you don’t get as much health benefits as you can get through the foods prepared by baking and roasting methods. Moreover, you are more likely to develop some potential disease due to the existence of toxic compounds produced during this unhealthy food preparation process.
So consider this tip in your healthy diet regimen and follow only healthy food preparation process like simmering, baking, slow cooking, pressure cooking, poaching, stewing etc. Also if you buy foods from the market then make sure to buy only roasted and baked foods items and avoid the consumption of grilled and fried foods for the sake of your good health.
Prefer Fresh Berries over Dried Ones
Berries are of the most common food choices by people of all ages. This fruit is not only good by taste but it’s nutrient value is amazing which ensures to boost and promote your overall health. It is rich in fiber, nutrients and anti-oxidants content.
However, all these health benefits are not equally available with berries found in the dried forms with a comparison to fresh and frozen berries. This is because dried berries are free of water content hence contains a high value of calories and sugar compounds.
As a result of it, people who consume them are quite likely to gain more calories and sugar level which not only promotes your body weight but also raises your blood sugar level. So if you want to choose only healthy diets in your life make sure that you prefer only fresh and frozen berries instead of dried ones which are unhealthy for you.
Eat Whole Grain Foods
If you really want to make your total diet chart healthier one then make sure that you only choose food products while buying from the market which is labeled with whole grains. For assuring this read the ingredients first before jumping to buy a product.
Whole grains are far more beneficial and healthy than the refined grains which contribute to many severe health concerns with time. Along with that these refined foods have very less nutritional value with a comparison to whole grain foods.
People who only eat whole grain food products such as whole wheat, barley, brown rice, oats etc. indirectly gain several health benefits. The whole grain consumption ensures your longevity, maintain your body weight and reduces the risk of many major diseases like type 2 diabetes, stroke, cancer, and cardiovascular diseases.
Whole grains are rich in fiber, minerals, vitamins and phytochemicals content which you cannot avail with refined grains. So as healthy food choices always pick whole grains labeled food items for you.
Prepare Foods with Healthy Cooking Oils
One of the common drawbacks of cooking that promotes the growth of many severe forms of diseases includes the usage of highly processed vegetable and seeds cooking oils in the kitchen. These oils are prepared with high processing method which contains a heavy amount of Omega 6 fatty acid.
Whereas the Omega 3 value in these oils remains very low with a comparison to Omega 6 fatty acid. As a result, it causes to trigger many health issues like it boost inflammation problem in people who consume foods prepared out of these oils.
This further leads to the growth of chronic forms of diseases like high cholesterol, hypertension, heart disease, autoimmune and osteoporosis diseases. For avoiding the risk of all these major health concerns and for increasing nutritional value of your meal make sure that you use only healthy cooking oils such as rice bran oil, extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, and avocado oil.
Reduce Your Sodium Intake
Sodium is an essential ingredient for preparing any meal which is healthy if you use it in a moderate form. However, the bitter truth is that foods available in restaurants and some processed foods contain sodium greater than its moderate limit which is highly unhealthy for the health.
This issue gets severe especially for people with prehypertension or hypertension health concern as it raises the blood pressure level too high which further increases the risk of chronic health issue growth. So to avoid such concern make sure that you avoid consuming food items which are rich in high sodium content.
Also prepare your meal at home with moderate usage of sodium. As a healthy option, you can eat potassium-rich foods which can help you to reduce your daily sodium intakes such as bananas, avocados, beans, dairy products, and some fishes.
Drink Alcohol in Moderate Quantity
If you like to consume alcohol then make sure that you drink it only in the moderate quantity as excess consumption of alcohol is really very harmful to your health. As per the health specialist, 1 drink in a day for women and 2 drinks for men are considered as the moderate limit.
Exceeding this level can trigger many health concerns like liver damaging, some sorts of cancers and many other chronic conditions which become very difficult to deal with. However, by reducing your limit to the moderate level you can ensure many health benefits including healthy heart health.
Overdoses of alcohol are very harmful especially for people who are on special medications as it can interfere with the effectiveness of those medicines and for pregnant ladies, it is absolutely harmful. Also if you are already suffering for any chronic health concern then you must consult with the doctor regarding the alcohol intake limit.
If you want to live long and diseases free life then start following our tips for a healthier diet by today itself as it will keep you healthy in all respect in a very natural and efficient way.
[expand title=”View Article Sources“]
- https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/healthy-eating-tips
- https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/11-simple-steps-to-a-healthier-diet#1
- http://www.berkeleywellness.com/healthy-eating/food/slideshow/14-keys-healthy-diet
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