Healthy eating starts with getting the right groceries. If you provide the best basis for your kitchen cupboards and refrigerator, the step to a healthy diet can be made a lot easier. Supplementing yourself with essential vegetables and fruits is very essential to fulfill your daily nutritional requirement. But it is also a fact that most of us either hate or don’t have enough time to consume required veggies and fruits. Here we are going to focus on 10 essential foods for daily nutrition. Let’s have a look.
Vegetables and Fruits
This type of food is the most important because of the high amount of vitamins, minerals and even dietary fiber. You cannot run a marathon on it, but it fulfills a very important part for the functioning of your body. Your body needs vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber for various physical processes. Think about digestion, immune system, growth and much more! Sufficient fruit and vegetables are very essential to eat daily. But for most of us, it is not an easy job to consume these raw veggies and fruits. Therefore, supplements like Balance of Nature Fruits & Veggies are an easy way to get all essential fruits and veggies on daily basis.
Bread products
It is important for your body that your diet consists of at least 50 to 55% carbohydrates. You should see carbohydrates as fuel for your body and you certainly need enough. Slimming diets often assume that the amount of carbohydrates will be drastically reduced. I am of the opinion that it is not good to reduce carbohydrate intake due to the yo-yo effect and ketosis. It is much better to make the right selection of carbohydrates in which many dietary fibers, vitamins and minerals are processed.
Berries
Berries are very healthy because of their high content of antioxidants. Antioxidants are combinations of vitamins and minerals that ensure a healthy metabolism. They protect you from free radicals that are harmful to cells and tissues. These radicals play a role in heart disease and cancer. In addition, berries are rich in dietary fiber and vitamin C, another antioxidant. Others such as blackberries, cranberries, strawberries and raspberries are also certainly a good alternative.
Lentils
Lentils are packed with good nutrients such as fiber, proteins and minerals. With lentils such as chickpeas, kidney beans, white beans, and capuchins you can easily make a healthy meal. Whether it’s a lentil soup, a chili con carne or a saladis, because of high quantity of proteins, iron and B vitamins, they are also good meat substitutes. Another health benefit of consuming legumes is that they help in suppressing your appetite and make you feel fuller. This is due to the unique combination of proteins and fibers. After taking legume meal it takes a while before you get hungry again.
Walnuts
For those who think that nuts are only fattening, it is time to abandon this position. Since 2105, there has been an official recommendation from the Health Council: eat a handful of nuts every day as part of a healthy diet. Nuts are healthy because they contain the healthy unsaturated fats and a lot of fiber. They also contain proteins and vitamins and minerals. Real nutrient bombs. Walnuts have the most optimal amount of healthy fats. But other nuts are also fine, because varying is also best for nuts. It does not matter for the fat content whether the nuts are raw, baked or roasted. Choose what you like best.
Rice
Rice is the most popular food in the world and has already made a name for itself in most countries. A lot can be said about whether rice is healthy – on the one hand, you can say that rice is absorbed by your body too quickly. On the other hand, rice contains a lot of B vitamins and provides energy. You can say something about both arguments. However, the health benefits of ”white rice” are minimal because the husks have been removed. These skins are just as important as whole grain products! To take full advantage of the health benefits of rice, it is wise to only eat brown rice with the husks still completely intact.
Legumes
Luckily legumes are eaten quite a lot all around the world and are great sources of soluble fiber. In addition, legumes are low in fat and contain a lot of protein, important for building your body. Research has shown that soluble fiber is important for reducing bad LDL cholesterol. In addition, these fibers ensure that carbohydrates are absorbed into the blood less quickly in the small intestine. This is particularly useful for feeling full and helps with weight loss. Legumes are also rich in copper, iron, magnesium and folic acid . Important if you don’t eat a lot of meat! Legumes include peas, soybeans, lentils, brown and white beans.
Dairy products
I have personally been very conflicted about the health benefits of dairy products. At first I was not in favor of dairy products because of the hormones (milk comes from pregnant cows). In addition, full-fat dairy products contain relatively many saturated fats, so I prefer to leave it alone. But the advent of the low-fat variety has changed my opinion regarding dairy products. Dairy products contain many important vitamins and minerals such as calcium, magnesium, vitamins B1, B2, B6, B12, A, D and E! It is best to go for an organic lean variety to avoid getting too much saturated fat. In addition, low-fat yogurt is fine because it also contains important bacteria for a good intestinal flora.
Fats and Oils
Fats are an important part of your diet. It is recommended that at least 30 to 35% of your calories consist of healthy fats. Saturated fats increase your blood cholesterol and trans fats are very unhealthy for you. It is wise to have your intake of fats mainly consist of omega 3 and omega 6 with the right balance. In addition, the healthy fats have vitamins A, D, E and of course the important essential fatty acids. Oils and fats are mainly used in the preparation of foods. Good oils are oil oil, sunflower oil, soybean oil and a number of other variants. These are good because they contain a lot of polyunsaturated fatty acids.
When it comes to margarine and butter, it is important that you do not consume too much of it. With this, your quota of fat per day is quite easily achieved. In addition, butter has a relatively high amount of cholesterol and saturated fats. A good alternative is low- fat margarine with a lower fat percentage and many unsaturated fatty acids. In moderation is certainly the rule with butter, margarine and oils!
Oatmeal
Oatmeal is very pure, hardly processed and without additives. The special fibers in oatmeal put your intestines to work properly. Oatmeal provides satiety for a long time and the special fiber in oatmeal, the beta-glucans, help to lower cholesterol in your blood. In addition, oatmeal is cheap. Of course you can cook porridge with it, but it is also delicious as a base for homemade muesli or granola, in cookies, muffins, and fruit crumbles.
