How to be healthier by adding more good foods to your diet
Do you want to improve your diet but don’t know where to start?
We hear so many different things about health and nutrition that it’s difficult to know what is true and what is not.
So easy to get confused with all the different diets and advice we find on the internet! 😵
Today we’ll therefore clarify what are the most important steps to make your diet healthier.
In fact, while many people want to improve their diet mainly to lose weight, let’s not forget that the main purpose of eating well is to protect (and improve) your health.
Losing weight by eating foods that are not healthy, or by cutting down on important nutrients, wouldn’t be a great idea… right?
So, let’s focus on the basics: what foods you should eat more of and how much.
If you want to improve your diet in an easy (and satisfying 😉) way, you just need to follow these 3 steps:
Step 1: Add more fruits & veggies
We all know we should eat at least 5 portions of fruits and vegetables per day, but sometimes we may struggle to do it.
Fruits and vegetables are excellent sources of antioxidants, vitamins and dietary fibre, so eating enough of them is essential to strengthen your immune system and improve your health.
If you don’t have a lot of time to focus on your diet, eating more fruits and vegetables should definitely be your number 1 priority.
How to do that?
Basically, each of your meals (and snacks) should include at least 1 serve of these foods.
Here is an example:
- Breakfast: eat at least 1 serve of fruit (with your porridge, pancake, in a smoothie…)
- Morning snack: 1 serve of fruit (such as a banana, apple, orange…)
- Lunch: at least 1 serve of vegetables with your main meal
- Afternoon snack: 1 serve of vegetables (such as carrot or cucumber sticks, cherry tomatoes … )
- Dinner: 1 or 2 serves of vegetables (for example 1 serve cooked with your main meal and 1 serve raw, as a salad on the side)
And let’s remember that 5 portions is only the minimum recommended quantity, so the more the better…. 🥕 🍆 🌶
Step 2: Eat your grains whole
Another important change you can implement easily is to eat your carbohydrates mainly as starchy crops and whole grains.
This means that you just need to replace refined grains such as white flour or rice with whole meal flour and brown rice. As simple as that.
The reason for this change is that whole grains and starchy crops are rich not only in complex carbohydrates, but also in dietary fibre and important vitamins and minerals such as iron, potassium, magnesium, calcium, zinc or B-complex vitamins.
On the other hand, in refined grains (such as white rice), a lot of the fibre, minerals and vitamins are removed when the grain is processed.
While they look similar, in reality refined grains contain less precious nutrients than whole grains. So, why get less nutrition when you can get more without any effort? 😉
These are some healthy options you can choose from:
– sweet potato (kumala), yam, cassava or taro (dalo)
– brown, red or black rice
– wholemeal, rye or low GI bread
– wholemeal or Chakki flour
– rolled oats (preferably not instant)
The good news is that you don’t have to change your habits completely to be able to follow this step: you can stick to your usual grains, but you just need to eat them whole. 🙂
Step 3: Add more plant protein
Another easy way to improve your diet by adding more dietary fibre and antioxidants (while also reducing your intake of fat and cholesterol!) is to eat more plant protein.
Good options of plant-based protein include:
– lentils, dhal, beans, chickpeas (chana), peas
– tofu, soy
– pea, chickpea and lentil flour (pea, chana and urdi besan)
One of the main issues with protein found in animal foods (such as whole chicken, cheese or eggs) is that often it is associated with cholesterol as well as a high content of total and saturated fat.
This is harmful for your health because high-fat diets are among the leading causes of a number of health conditions such as high cholesterol, overweight and obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some types of cancer.
So, one of the main advantages of switching to plant protein is to:
- ditch cholesterol completely
- and considerably reduce your dietary intake of total and saturated fat
Another advantage is that legumes have a high content of dietary fibre and antioxidants that will help you improve your health by strengthening your immune system while also feeding the good bacteria of your gut.
Now that you know where to start, I’m sure it will be much easier for you to begin your journey towards improving your health.
Ready to start with step 1?
If you’re looking for ideas on how to put everything into practice, check out this recipe
👉 Kumala, cauliflower and chickpea bowl with sesame dressing
More recipe ideas? Click here
👉 https://healthyeatingfiji.com/recipes/
And if you’re ready to go a step further, get in touch for your personal nutrition session
👉 https://healthyeatingfiji.com/contact-us/