Eating a healthy
diet offers a huge range of health benefits. A diet rich in vitamins, minerals
and other nutrients can reduce your heart disease risk, prevent certain types
of cancer and help you to maintain a healthy weight.
So, if you are
looking to lose weight and just become healthier overall, then follow these quick
tips for eating healthily.
1. Replace Refined Carbohydrates
Refined
carbohydrates, like white pasta and white bread are bad for your health. They
can cause blood sugar levels to spike, and they can also lead to weight gain.
Refined carbohydrates offer little nutritional benefit and they do not
encourage satiety, so they are essentially empty calories.
This means that
you crave more food and are much more likely to overeat. On the other hand,
complex carbohydrates and whole grains, like whole-wheat bread, brown pasta and
oats, are excellent for your health. They improve heart health and promote
feelings of fullness, meaning you are much less likely to overeat.
2. Add More Fruit and Veg to your Plate
While meats,
fish and carb-rich, fiber-rich foods provide you with a wide range of
nutrients, getting more fruits and vegetables in your diet is incredibly
important. But, most people don’t get enough.
At meal time,
the majority of your plate should be filled with vegetables and you should
replace unhealthy sweet snacks, like donuts, with fruit.
Fruits and
vegetables are packed with fiber, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, which
reduce cancer risk and improve cardiovascular health. As they are low in
calories, fruits and vegetables can also aid in weight loss.
3. Swap Soda for Water
Soda is full of
sugar, meaning that it can lead to obesity and diet soda is just as bad. This
is because diet soda is filled with artificial sweeteners. These make your body
crave more sugar, so lead to overeating.
Water, on the
other hand, contains no calories, but hydrates your body. Research has shown
that people who drink 7 cups of water per day eat 200 calories less than people
that drink less than a glass. So, swap out soda for water and you will be
reducing your calorie intake and making yourself healthier.
By making a few
simple changes to your diet, you can ensure that you become healthier and even
lose weight.