Diet and its rules – what should you pay attention to?

Diet and its rules – what should you pay attention to?

Diet is one of the decisive factors that affect a person’s health and well-being. That’s why it’s so important to eat right. However, this term encompasses different types of diets – it can be a healthy weight loss diet, a healthy diet for the convalescence period, a diet for people who work hard physically, etc.

Basic Principles

The secret to a nutritious diet is to give up highly processed foods and choose healthy food. What should proper nutrition look like? Which products to choose? You will find the answer among the 10 principles of healthy eating …

  1. How to eat healthily – rely on vegetables and fruits When you hear „healthy food”, the first thing you think of is vegetables and fruits? Rightly so, because they are a source of many valuable vitamins and minerals. It is worth reaching for multi-colored vegetables and fruits. The colour determines the nutritional value to a large extent. Green vegetables are rich in folic acid, calcium and iron. Red, yellow and orange are rich in carotenoids. The daily menu should include both vegetables and fruits, but there should be much more of the former. It is worth reaching for native and seasonal fruits and vegetables, and in winter, when their availability is lower, you can use frozen foods.
  2. Variety of meals is the key to proper nutrition – a varied diet is one of the main principles of healthy eating. Choose products from different groups. Make sure that your daily menu includes vegetables, fruits, whole grains, products that are a source of protein (dairy, meat, fish, eggs, legumes) and healthy vegetable fats. The more diverse your plate is, the lower the risk of nutritional deficiencies.
  3. Reach for healthy products, i.e. low-processed food. It is important not only to diversify the meals, but also to be able to choose valuable products. Healthy food is food that is as little processed as possible, preferably prepared at home. Eliminate fast food, salty snacks and other highly processed foods from your diet. How to recognize them? After the long list of ingredients on the label, among which there are large amounts of fat and sugar, as well as preservatives, dyes, artificial flavors or flavor enhancers. Highly processed food does not add any value to the diet, it is a source of the so-called empty calories – it provides a lot of energy, but few vitamins and minerals. If you don’t have time to prepare meals on your own, use the help of SuperMenu dietary catering. You can be sure that you have only healthy, low-processed food on your plate.
  4. Opt for wholesome protein. The best sources of complete protein are animal products: eggs, meat, especially poultry, and fish. Remember, however, that a healthy diet should also include good, plant-based sources of protein, such as legumes and high-protein groats, such as quinoa or amaranth. This is important, especially in a vegetarian diet.
  5. Do you want to eat healthily? Don’t be afraid of fat! Healthy human nutrition means maintaining the right balance between individual ingredients. Fat also plays an important role, as it is necessary for the proper functioning of the body, m.in. it supports the absorption of vitamins (A, D, E and K), participates in the synthesis of hormones, improves the condition of the skin. Oils such as rapeseed, linseed or olive oil should be used mainly cold, for example as an addition to salads. For frying and baking, choose clarified butter and coconut oil, as they have a high smoke point.
  6. Choose boiling and baking instead of frying. However, it’s a good idea to cut down on frying in favor of cooking, stewing, and baking. Steaming food is particularly beneficial for health, as it is associated with low vitamin losses. You can also prepare healthy food by boiling products in water or under pressure and baking them in a casserole dish. If you do decide to fry, do it in a good pan that allows you to prepare the dish without fat or with the addition of a small amount of fat allowed.
  7. Take care of your diet and health – avoid sugar and sweets Unfortunately, the principles of proper nutrition cannot do without prohibitions. White sugar and most store-bought sweets should be completely eliminated from a healthy diet. However, there is no such thing as a hopeless situation. You can prepare healthy sweets yourself. You will find a lot of interesting recipes on the internet. You don’t have to deny yourself a cake, but instead of the one from the store, opt for homemade baking without added sugar. Use erythritol, coconut sugar, honey, stevia, or xylitol for sweetening. You can also order a sugar-free diet at SuperMenu if you want to eliminate it from your daily menu.
  8. Don’t add salt to your food – use herbs and natural spices instead When we think about how to eat healthily, it’s a good idea to limit your salt intake. Its excess in the diet disturbs the water and electrolyte balance of the body and increases the risk of hypertension. Give up abundant salting of dishes and the use of ready-made salt-based mixtures. The addition of natural spices such as herbs (thyme, lovage, tarragon, oregano, marjoram), dried paprika, pepper, turmeric improve the taste and aroma of dishes.
  9. Take care of healthy food and adequate hydration Your body needs at least 1.5 liters of fluids a day, and if you are an active person, even more. It is best to quench thirst with mineral water – low-sodium and non-carbonated. Coffee, tea (especially green and white) and herbal infusions without added sugar or freshly squeezed vegetable and fruit juices are also healthy drinks, but water should play a major role. Give up sugary drinks.
  10. Healthy eating is not everything! Excessive alcohol consumption contributes to the development of many dangerous diseases, e.g. pancreatitis, cirrhosis of the liver and cancer (m.in. esophagus, stomach, colon, breast). Ideally, give up alcoholic beverages altogether or at least limit yourself to a glass of dry red wine a day, drunk from time to time. For other stimulants, there is no concession – quit smoking once and for all!

These are, of course, general advice, it is worth reaching for the principles of healthy eating on a daily basis, which are defined by the Pyramid of Healthy Nutrition and Physical Activity, published in 2016 by the Food and Nutrition Institute. The optimal diet and the pace of its introduction vary depending on factors such as age and health, the type of work performed, and the conditions of the body (e.g. allergies may exclude certain ingredients from the diet). Although after typing phrases such as „healthy weight loss diet” or „healthy diet recipes” into a search engine, we get a lot of pages leading to various websites that offer ready-made solutions, you should not trust them completely – what will be good for some may not necessarily be good for others.

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