Food is an essential part of our life. It is one of the basic needs. Food is not only a need but also an important factor that impacts our health. When we eat healthy, we stay healthy and fit. Eating unhealthily is like inviting diseases into our life. So, eating healthy is important for all of us if our desire is to stay healthy.
Healthy eating need not be complicated and tough. It needs some tweaks to our existing habits, proper planning, and patience to make healthy eating a reality. Here are nine simple tips for healthy eating.
9 tips for healthy eating:
Add raw vegetables in the daily diet– Raw vegetables carry a lot of fiber and nutrients and help in weight control, heart health, staying young and energetic, better digestion. They carry fresh prana, which is essential for a healthy body. Make it a habit to eat raw vegetables at least 20% of your daily diet. You can prepare wonderful salads using raw vegetables like cucumber, carrot, tomato, beetroot, etc. which are tasty and also healthy. You can also prepare smoothies with raw vegetables and drink to your delight. A diet rich in raw vegetables boosts your energy levels and keeps tiredness away.
2. Use ghee – It’s a myth that ghee makes people put on weight. These myths are busted by modern science research, and today, ghee is a superfood. Ghee is highly recommended by our ancient wisdom because of its numerous health benefits. Adding ghee to our meals brings several benefits like better nutrient absorption, strengthening immunity, better digestion, improved skin health. It also enhances the taste of the food. So, add ghee to your diet guilt-free.
3. Consume nuts – Eat a handful of dry nuts every day as a healthy snack. Nuts offer benefits like improved digestion, anti-aging, healthy heart, improved bone health, etc. They are filling and satisfying and, at the same time, delicious. You can eat nuts like almonds, walnuts, cashews, raisins. Don’t consume salted versions of nuts as they are high in sodium and are not healthy.
4. Replace white flour with whole wheat flour – White flour or maida, as it is popularly called, is refined and processed. It does not carry any nutritional value but carries calories. Excessive consumption of white flour can cause diabetes, weight gain, and digestion issues. It is also addictive and makes you eat more. It is commonly used in all bakery items, pizzas, noodles, sweets, and savories. So, avoid these foods sold in the market and prepare these food items at your home with whole wheat flour or choose whole wheat variants. Whole wheat flour is healthy, nutritious, and tasty. All recipes which are made with white flour can also be prepared with whole wheat flour.
5. Minimize white sugar consumption – White sugar is harmful to health and causes weight gain, diabetes, tooth decay, heart diseases etc. It is addictive and leads to over-eating. It is widely used in all sweets and bakery items. So, this should be totally avoided from diet, or at least its consumption should be minimized. Three healthy and tasty alternatives to white sugar are
1. Raw honey
2. Coconut sugar
3. Date paste(which you can prepare at home with dates)
If you are a diabetic, please consult a medical doctor before using any of the above alternatives.
6. Replace aerated drinks with healthy alternatives– All the aerated drinks or cool drinks sold in the market come with high sugar content and harmful chemicals. They don’t contain any nutritional value, and they add calories. They cause obesity, digestion ailments, dehydration, increase the risk of heart ailments, impact kidney health negatively. So, it is imperative to avoid these soft drinks. These can be replaced with healthier alternatives as below
1. Coconut water
2. Lemon water
3. Sugarcane juice
7. Replace chocolates and sweets with healthy alternatives – Some of us have a sweet tooth and crave for sweets and chocolates. These come with high sugar content and are harmful to health. They lead to weight gain and diseases. When these are bought from the market, they carry harmful chemicals and preservatives which impact our health negatively. Healthy alternatives for sweets and chocolates are
1. Fruits
2. Sweets prepared at home with date paste or honey
8. Go for healthy snacks –Unhealthy snacks like samosas, chips, burgers, French fries, etc. are quite harmful to health and lead to numerous health issues. Snacks need not be unhealthy to be tasty. There are many healthy variants of snacks that are delicious which you can easily prepare at home. Go for such healthy snacks.
9.Cook at home – The same food item, which is prepared at home versus bought from a store, significantly varies in terms of nutritional value and health quotient. Most of the cooked and packaged food items sold in the market are loaded with refined and reheated oils, preservatives, high levels of sugar and sodium, harmful chemicals, and they carry very less nutritional value. So, it is always a better option to cook at home. When you cook at home, you are in control of the quality of the ingredients used and can make better choices. You also cook with love and care. Cooking at home is the easiest way to increase the nutritional value of a food item.
These are some tips for healthy eating. The effort you put in making your food healthy is worth your time, and it will come back to you in the form of better health. Be conscious of the food you are taking into your body. We are what we eat. When we eat unconsciously unhealthy foods, we need to pay the price in the future in the form of diseases and ill-health.
Eat healthy and stay healthy!
