The Health Diet Food — A Detailed Guide for Beginners

Although healthy eating can be quite simple, popular “diets” and increased dietary tendencies have led to confusion.

In fact, these trends often deviate from the basic nutrition principles that are most important.

It is a comprehensive beginner’s guide to healthy eating, based on the latest in nutritional science.

Why Should You Eat Healthy?

Research links critical illnesses to a poor diet (1Trusted Source, 2Trusted Source).

For example, eating healthy can reduce the likelihood of developing heart disease and cancer, the world’s leading killers (3Trusted Source, 4Trusted Source, 5Trusted Source).

A good diet can improve all aspects of life, from brain function to physical performance.In fact, food affects all your cells and organs (6Trusted Source, 7Trusted Source, 8Trusted Source, 9Trusted Source).

If you participate in exercise or sports, there is no doubt that a healthy diet will help you perform better (10Trusted Source).

Calories and Energy Balance Explained

In recent years, the importance of a calories has been pushed aside.

While calorie counting is not always necessary, total calorie intake still plays an important role in weight control and health (11, 12Trusted sources).

If you add in more calories than you burn, you will store them as new muscle or body fat. If you consume fewer calories than you burn every day, you will lose weight.

If you want to lose weight, you have to make some calorie shortages (13Trusted Source).

Conversely, if you are trying to gain weight, muscle increases, then you need to eat more than your body burns.

Understanding Macronutrients

The three macronutrients are carbohydrate (carb), fat, and protein.

These nutrients are required in relatively high amounts.  They provide calories and have different functions in your body.

There are some common foods within each macronutrient group:

Carbs: 4 calories per gram.  All starchy foods such as bread, pasta and potatoes.  Also includes fruits, legumes, juices, sugar and some dairy products.

Protein: 4 calories per gram.  The main sources include tofu such as meat and fish, dairy, eggs, legumes and vegetarian options.

Fat: 9 calories per gram.  The main sources include nuts, seeds, oil, butter, cheese, oily fish and fatty meat.

Understanding Micronutrients

Micronutrients are important vitamins and minerals that you need in small doses.

Some of the most common micronutrients you should know include:

Magnesium: plays a role in more than 600 cellular processes including energy production, nervous system function and muscle contraction (14Trusted sources).

Potassium: This mineral is important for blood pressure control, fluid balance and the function of your muscles and nerves (15Trusted Source).

Iron: Known primarily for carrying oxygen to the blood, iron has many other benefits, including improved immunity and brain function (16Trusted Source).

Calcium: an important structural component of bones and teeth, and an important mineral for your heart, muscle, and nervous system (17Trusted Source, 18Trusted Source).

All Vitamins: Vitamins from vitamin A, K, play an important role in every organ and cell in your body.

All vitamins and minerals are “essential” nutrients, meaning that to survive you must get them from the diet.

The daily requirement of each micronutrient varies between individuals.  If you eat a real food-based diet that includes plants and animals, then you should get all the micronutrients that your body needs without taking supplements.

Eating Whole Foods is Important

You should consume at least 80-90% of the food.

The term “whole foods” generally describes natural, unprocessed foods with only one ingredient.

If the product looks like it was made in a factory, it is probably not a complete meal.

Whole foods are nutrient-dense and have low energy density.This means that they get fewer calories and more nutrients per calorie than processed foods.

In contrast, many processed foods have very low nutritional value and are often called “empty” calories.Eating them in large amounts is linked to obesity and other diseases.

Foods to Eat

Try to base your diet around these healthy food groups:

Vegetables: These should play a fundamental role in most meals.  They are low in calories loaded with important micronutrients and fiber.

Fruit: A natural sweet treatment, the fruit provides micronutrients and antioxidants that can help improve health (19Trusted Source).

Meat and fish: Meat and fish have been major sources of protein throughout development.They are a staple in the human diet, although vegetarian and vegetarian diets have also become popular.

Nuts and seeds: These are one of the best fat sources and also contain important micronutrients.

Eggs: Considered one of the healthiest foods on the planet, whole eggs pack a powerful combination of protein, beneficial fats, and micronutrients (20).

Dairy: Dairy products such as natural yogurt and milk are convenient, low-cost sources of protein and calcium.

Healthy Starch: For those who are not on a low-carb diet, whole-food starchy foods such as potatoes, quinoaand ejkyl bread are healthy and nutritious.

Beans and legumes: These are excellent sources of fiber, protein and micronutrients.

Beverages: With drinks such as coffee and tea, water should make up the majority of your fluid.

Herbs and Spices: These are often very high in nutrients and beneficial plant compounds.

Foods to Avoid Most of the Time

By following the advice in this article, you will naturally reduce your intake of unhealthy foods.

No food needs to be eliminated forever, but some foods should be saved for limited or special occasions.

  Contains:

Sugar-based products: Foods high in sugar, especially sugary drinks, are associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes (21Trusted Source, 22Trusted Source, 23Trusted Source).

Trans Fats: Also known as partially hydrogenated fats, trans fats have been linked to serious diseases, such as heart disease (24Trusted Source, 25Trusted Source).

Refined carbs: Foods that are high in refined breads, such as white bread, are associated with over-eating, obesity, and metabolic disease (26Trusted Source, 27Trusted Source, 28Trusted Source).

Vegetable Oils: While many people believe these are healthy, vegetable oils can disrupt your body’s omega 6-to-3 balance, which can cause problems (29Trusted Source, 30Trusted Source).

Processed low-fat products: Often disguised as a healthy alternative, low-fat products usually contain too much sugar to improve taste.

Why Portion Control is Important

Your calorie intake is an important factor in weight control and health.

By controlling your portions, you can avoid consuming too many calories.

While whole foods are certainly a lot more difficult than processed foods, they can still be eaten in large quantities.

If you are overweight or trying to lose body fat, it is especially important to monitor your portion size.

There are several simple strategies to control portion size.

For example, you can use small plates and take a small-to-average serving first, then wait 20 minutes before returning for more.

Another popular approach is measuring the portion size with your hand.  An example meal would limit most people to the size of 1 handful of carbs, 1-2 palms of protein, and 1-2 thumb-sized portions of healthy fat.

More calorie-dense foods such as cheese, nuts, and fatty meats are healthy, but make sure to pay attention to certain portions when you eat them.

How to Tailor Your Diet to Your Goals

First, assess your calorie needs based on factors such as your activity level and weight goals.

Quite simply, if you want to lose weight, you should eat less from your barn.  If you want to gain weight, then you should consume more calories than you burn.

Here is a calorie calculator that tells you how much you need to eat, and here are 5 free websites and apps that help you track calories and nutrients.

If you dislike counting calories, you can simply apply the rules discussed above, such as monitoring portion sizes and focusing on whole foods.

If you have a certain deficiency or are in danger of developing someone, you may want to prepare your diet for this.  For example, vegetarians or people ending certain food groups are at greater risk of missing certain nutrients.

In general, you should eat foods of different types and colors to ensure that you get all the macro- and micronutrients.

While many debate whether low-carb or low-fat diets are the best, the truth is that it depends on the individual.

Based on research, athletes and people who lose weight should consider increasing their protein intake.  In addition, a low-carb diet can work wonders for some individuals to lose weight or treat type 2 diabetes (31Trusted Source, 32Trusted Source).

How to Make Healthy Eating Sustainable

There is a great rule to live here: If you cannot see yourself on this diet in one, two or three years, then it is not right for you.

Far away, people go on extreme diets that they cannot maintain, meaning they do not really develop long-term, healthy eating habits.

There are some frightening weight gain statistics which show that most people regain all their weight soon after attempting a weight loss diet (33Trusted Source).

As always, balance is important.  There is no need to discontinue any food forever unless you have a specific disease or diet.  By eliminating certain foods altogether, you can actually increase craving and decrease long-term success.

90% of your diet is based on whole foods and eating small portions can sometimes still give you excellent health.

It is a far healthier approach than eating and eating 90% processed food which like many people only eat 10% whole foods.

Consider These Supplements

As the name suggests, supplements are to be used in addition to a healthy diet.

Including nutrient-rich foods in your diet will help you to overcome deficiencies and meet daily needs.

However, some well researched supplements have proved to be helpful in some cases.

An example is vitamin D, which is naturally derived from foods such as sunlight and oily fish.  Most people have low levels or lack (34Trusted Source).

Supplements like magnesium, zinc and omega-3s may provide additional benefits if you do not get enough of them from your diet (14Trusted Source, 35Trusted Source, 36Trusted Source).

Other supplements can be used to enhance the performance of the game.  Creatine, whey protein and beta-alanine have all undergone considerable research, supporting their use (37, 38, 39Trusted Source).

In an entire world, your diet will be full of nutritious food that will not require a supplementary diet. However, this is not always achieved in the real world.

If you are already making a continuous effort to improve your diet, additional supplements can help take your health a step further.

Combine Good Nutrition With Other Healthy Habits

Nutrition is not the only thing that matters for optimal health.

After a healthy diet and exercising, you get even greater health benefits.

It is also important to have a good sleep.  Research suggests that sleep is as important as nutrition for disease risk and weight control (40Trusted Source, 41Trusted Source).

Hydration and water intake are also important.  Stay well hydrated throughout the day when you are thirsty.

Finally, try to reduce stress.  Prolonged stress is associated with many health problems.

Take Home Message

The above mentioned strategies will greatly improve your diet.

They will boost your health, reduce your risk of disease and help you lose weight.