It is easy to underestimate the importance of diet, but good health depends on a well-balanced intake of calories, vitamins, and nutrients that we get from food. Making healthy food choices are more important than you may have expected and more crucial than ever before in todays world. There are obvious choices that can make for a better diet. For example, eating organic products but having a healthy diet is more than just choosing organic labeled foods. Here we will look at what makes for a healthy diet and how a healthy diet can lower your risk of disease, boost your immunity and increase your energy levels. We will also look into how exercise can be an essential tool to couple with a good diet to improve your health as you continue your journey to better and healthier eating.
What makes for a good diet, you might ask? Well, for everyone, this might look slightly different depending on where you live and what type of eating restrictions you have, but a bottom-line good diet should look fairly similar for everyone. The base of a good diet includes vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, eggs, dairy, healthy starches (such as quinoa), meat and fish (or vegetarian proteins such as tofu), beans and legumes, and drinking water (an often overlooked and forgotten part of having good health). If your diet lacks in any of these areas, you may have something to improve on. Here are some reasons you should motivate yourself towards healthier eating;
- A good diet can lower your risk of diseases, such as obesity, high blood pressure, and type-2 diabetes, among other things. Obesity is often caused by a poor diet, consuming more calories than you burn in a day. This dangerous mix is all too prevalent in American culture. That being said, many people are unable to exercise due to numerous health issues and disabilities, which is a perfect example of the importance of diet. For everyone, paying attention to your diet is essential, but if you are unable to exercise, the stakes of having a bad diet become only more extreme. An easy way to improve your diet is to pay attention to your sugar consumption and pay attention to the calories you are consuming. These sugars and calories are often found in starchy foods such as pasta, bread, potatoes, and foods with added sugars like many processed foods, such as breakfast cereals. Consuming too many sugars from foods like pasta (pasta breaks down into sugars in your body) causes your blood sugar to spike, giving you bursts of energy but limited nutritional value.
- A diet high in vegetables such as spinach, microgreens, bell peppers, and fruits such as citrus fruits are all great sources of vitamins. Vitamin C is found in these before-listed foods and can help boost your immunity and improve your skin. Vitamins from our diet are an important way to keep you from getting sick and help keep your skin looking healthy and beautiful.
As you improve your diet and up your exercise, please consider looking into what best suits your needs and abilities. Smart dietary decisions can benefit you and keep you healthy in the long run. A healthy diet is all about balance and good choices that, in turn, can help you lower your risk of disease. A healthier you equals a healthier society and that benefits everyone.