Simplicity is the key to driving the improvement of our habits, especially when we talk about nutrition.
Well today, this is what I will talk about by pointing out 10 simple and not suffering ways to eat healthy .
We all know that we should nourish ourselves in a healthy and natural way and everyone knows that our health and our life is worth it, however, most people hide even when it is their own inner voice that reminds them of these things.
Because? Well the reason is pretty obvious. Used for years with a lifestyle considered by most "normal" people (even if harmful and debilitating) we tend to think that healthy eating is a difficult and suffering thing, a sacrifice, and when doctors and nutritionists impose rules and prohibitions on us. then we get scared even more.
I think that food is one of the greatest pleasures of life, however, a pleasure that must be enjoyed without bans and complicated rules!
In case, if necessary, we need only to be aware of the fact that probably some foods are against our health and should be replaced with healthy alternatives. This is different from banning!
Forbidding means taking away something, limiting my possibilities. Replace instead is a word that widens my point of view and makes me understand that I have several possibilities!
Good to talk. Let's get to know these 10 points:
1. Avoid processed and refined foods and choose those that are not refined and natural
Rather obvious, right? Well not by chance I chose to start with this point. If you had to throw away everything that until now you have heard about natural food and keep only 5 words these would be: "eat whole and natural foods" are 5 words that can greatly improve the way you eat and your health.
Some specific examples that accompany this advice could be:
- Brown rice instead of white rice
- Fruit instead of fruit juice
- Whole organic flour instead of the refined OO
2. Take most of the foods you eat from plants
My opinion and the reasons why I do not recommend the food of animal origin I have expressed well in the second pillar, however, I'm not saying that you have to become vegetarian or vegan if you're not already, or maybe it's not for you. It is not my intention to try to force those who are not yet ready and I like to be impartial from this point of view whenever possible.
Unlike other vegetarians or vegans, I think that animal products are not an absolute evil.
The problem with meat, however, is given by the enormous quantity that people today consume. Perhaps our ancestors the meat ate it when they managed to oust it or in times of famine. Today, however, in "modern" time people treat each meal as a post-hunting party, not to mention the fact that thousands of animals are killed every day to end up in the bins of supermarkets.
The point is that if you really want to eat it, the meat should be used as a flavoring or as a side dish and rarely but very rarely, the meal should be focused only on meat. This is because beyond all ethical or healthy discourse, the caloric density of meat leaves little room for other foods and puts a digestive load on our body that weighs us down for hours after eating.
3. Cook your foods
Cooking the foods we eat at home gives us the great advantage of knowing perfectly every single ingredient used. You can not say the same obviously of the multitude of products ready immediately or those from "fast food" rich in glutamate, hydrogenated fats, thickeners, flavors, dyes and so on.
In addition to the normal foods you can prepare in your home with a blender and a food processor even foods such as pesto, sauces (tomato, mayonnaise, ketchup etc.), cereal and legume flour, sprouts, juices and centrifuged bread and much more.
4. Make sure that foods like raw fruits and vegetables exceed 60% of your diet
There are a lot of debates about the virtues of raw food compared to cooked, some say that raw food is more easily digested thanks to digestive enzymes that are destroyed by cooking. On the other hand, however, many foods are inedible if they are not cooked.
Trying to get a middle ground you could safely eat healthy without giving up cooked food, however, since we eat almost always cooked food would be advisable to decrease consumption in favor of raw food.
Raw foods along with their precious enzymes help us to digest and assimilate better what we eat.
A healthy habit that you can develop is to make a nice fruit or vegetable shake every morning and a mega salad every afternoon. Combine it all with some fresh seasonal fruit to eat as a snack and you will greatly increase the amount of raw and healthy food without even realizing it, which brings us to the fifth point:
5. Drink a smoothie and eat a salad every day for at least a few months
These foods will allow you to remember or never forget how well your body feels when you feed it with fresh and live foods. After starting the day with a smoothie I assure you that it will be very difficult to endure fast food at lunchtime and when it is time to think about preparing dinner, a nice salad will be there ready to help you make the right choice.
At this rate two healthy meals will turn into 3 or 4, leaving little room for junk food.
6. Do not eat any food for too long
I realize that few would be willing to give up products like pasta and bread and I understand it very well because I thought so too.
But most of the foods in our culture, for example, are wheat based and it is very easy to find it in almost every meal we eat if we do not pay attention. In addition to being harmful it is absolutely ridiculous to base our diet so heavily on one food given the multitude of possibilities that surrounds us.
People have different levels of sensitivity to wheat. There are people (like celiacs) for whom gluten is terribly difficult to digest, but also for those who are not celiac, this abuse of wheat, at least, negatively affects the vitality.
The good news is that there are so many alternatives to wheat today and they are within everyone's reach, as I explained in full in the previous article .
My advice (if you can not just replace wheat) is to limit it to one meal a day or ideally just a few meals a week.
However, the speech is not limited to wheat, any food even the most healthy if taken too often creates intolerance and slowly begins to row against our health.
7. Vary the foods as much as you can
If the vegetarian diet is not for you, you are most likely looking at this lifestyle as a "deprivation" process. Probably all your meals are concentrated around the meat and without it your plate seems empty.
The reality that surrounds us, however, is very different. If you are aware of what you eat and do not limit yourself to a vegetarian junk food like most of those you find on the market.
Once "forced" to leave the normal routine, you will move the focus from the usual foods and you will end up adding several different foods to your diet and this is a great thing for your health and your well-being.
It means that you will increase the mix of substances such as vitamins and minerals rather than getting an exaggerated amount of some and a limited amount of others as happens when you eat the same foods several times.
8. Avoid drinking calories
Apart from the morning smoothie, avoid drinking calories. If you have already been paying attention to what you eat probably you already know this, but it seems right to remember it.
Drinks (even natural juices of fruit juice) do not take up much space in your stomach, so it is very easy to take a few calories before feeling full.
This reasoning also applies to smoothies since you can drink a lot more fruit or vegetables than you can eat, however, since they are natural foods we can also use them in the morning as the only meal to recharge.
What we must absolutely avoid, however, are all kinds of carbonated drinks, even the so-called dietetic drinks. They are drinks that do not find any place in a healthy diet.
9. Eat only when you're really hungry
Eating for me, as for you I think, is one of the most significant joys of life and when we are imposed a limit we can not but suffer.
Fortunately, however, if your diet is correct it is not necessary to limit your intake unless you have a serious weight problem. When you eat healthy and natural foods that contain all their original nutrients your body will naturally regulate itself.
It is also very important to be calm during the meal, to savor what we eat and chew it well .
10. Finished reading, remember to take action
If after reading this article you do not practice anything we have lost time both.
Obviously if you've never done it or if you do not do it often, looking for natural food and starting to cook everything you eat will not be easy. It will take more time and money, probably much more than you spent before.
But with practice and with the passage of time everything will become easier and all this will become a habit and most likely this will mean less money spent in fast food and medicine and a longer and healthier life.
There is no better time than now to start and I can bet that once you do, you will wonder why you have not started before to follow these simple steps that you probably already knew :).