What is Healthy Nutrition?

The proper nutrition system is the real base which determines the general healthy state of the body, creates excellent mood and good physical shape, which no cosmetics can replace. If you adhere to the basic rules of proper nutrition, then most diseases will pass you by and you will always be full of energy.

The principles of healthy eating

• Eat when you feel hunger;
• Chew every bite well;
• Eat in small pieces;
• Eat in a relaxed state;
• Concentrate on the process of eating food;
• Eat while sitting;
• Limit the menu of one meal to 4 dishes maximum;
• Divide your daily diet into 4-5 small meals instead of 2-3 large ones;
• Move actively throughout the day;
• Do not drink while eating and do not drink immediately after eating;
• Lunch is the main meal of the day;
• Eat freshly prepared food;
• Eat natural food;
• Do not consume (or minimize the use) of harmful products (mayonnaise, ketchup, “fast food”, alcohol, etc.);
• Eat more fiber – fresh fruits and vegetables.

Balanced nutrition is reflected by the correspondence of the calorie content of food to how much energy a person spends, how actively he or she moves. By changing the balance of the main components of food (carbohydrates, proteins and fats), you can build a proper diet. An important role in the healthy diet menu is played by the natural, initial compatibility of products.

Where to start proper nutrition

There are no special secrets in how to switch to proper nutrition. And healthy food does not require additional financial expenses. Healthy foods do not have to be very expensive – it’s enough that they are natural and fresh. The whole nuance is how these foods will be prepared and consumed.

To begin with, prolonged heat treatment always “kills” the lion’s share of the benefits in any food product. Therefore, it should be minimal. Do not forget that fried food is not healthy for the stomach a priori and it is harmful due to contact with the fats in which it was cooked – even fresh fat is harmful and reusable fat “gives” carcinogens! One of the best cooking methods for today is a double boiler.

You need to include into your diet all food groups (from greens and fruits to beans and oils). Their percentage can be determined by your taste preferences and characteristics of the organisms of family members, but the diversity and coverage of the entire spectrum is a requirement that is indispensable for the full supply of vitamins to the human body.

Regularity and accuracy in time in meals is the key to a clear “work” not only of the gastrointestinal tract but also of the whole body system. Regular nutrition regulates sleep and the nervous system, normalizes the state of blood vessels and pressure.

A minimum of salt, sugar restriction, control of buns and cakes, replacement of fizzy drinks with herbal tea or compotes – it’s easier to get used to all this than you think. The human body is completely rebuilt in 21 days including in terms of taste preferences.

Snacks in proper nutrition will also undergo a change. You’d better forget about the frequent use of buns, cakes and other flour, sweet products. For breakfast, you’d better choose porridge, banana, etc., and put the bun, cake aside. In addition, during the day everyone loves to eat cookies and sweets in the office, which also leads to the consumption of excess calories that eventually are not burned and stored in fat folds. No one says that you need to completely stop eating buns but you need to learn how to control their quantity and eat them strictly before lunch.

For late dinner, proper nutrition advises cooking meat and a green salad. Meat protein remains one of the most useful and almost indispensable ingredients, and carbohydrates can be obtained not only from pasta, rice and buckwheat but also from vegetables. In addition, vegetables contain fiber, which will improve the digestive tract.

The main law of healthy eating

The main principle of a healthy diet is balance. Starting with the elementary ratio of calories consumed by us and our physical activity and ending with a reasonable balance of foods from different groups.

For example, apples are healthy and they are included in most diets. Eating apples a couple of days is very useful for the body, and easting them for a week is harmful because a person stops receiving fats and other components that are absent in apples. The second example is aromatic butter. This is fat in its purest form. Its irrepressible consumption leads to obesity and liver problems. But a thin layer of butter on morning toast is a charge of energy and strength needed to start a productive day. Healthy eating – healthy living!

Calories must be spent!

This does not mean that you can eat low-calorie fruits and lie all day in bed. You will not like the result – the skin will acquire a greenish color and you will feel no strength at all. Active movement not only trains muscles but also normalizes the functions of internal organs. Don’t want to go to the gym or do the cleaning? Just dance – even at home! The benefits of proper nutrition will always be inferior without normal physical activity.

Variety in foods

At the beginning of their journey to a healthy lifestyle, many people are interested in a list of foods for proper nutrition. This is not quite the right step. It will be easier to find out the list of harmful foods and exclude them in whole or in part. Most professional athletes eat the exact same foods as everyone else. The whole secret is the balance of ingredients, crushing meals, and cooking methods.

Do not say that you do not like something – just try to cook this product in a different way! Bad beans? Just cook them in a double boiler with oriental spices: turmeric, a mixture of peppers, and herbs. Read one of the recipes online and it will immediately become clear to you – it is delicious!

All food groups must be present in the diet. Porridge. Fresh greens. Meat and fish, but not chicken wings from the nearest fast food. Do not like boiled or steamed foods? Bake them in the oven! Vegetables, fruits, fresh and unsalted nuts, vegetable oils and animal fats. Eggs, including quail ones. Fermented milk products (kefir or fermented baked milk, sour cream).

But mayonnaises and other shop sauces, ketchups and bags of “quick” soups are not a variety but a garbage for the stomach and other organs!

Macronutrient balance

Macronutrient balance is just fats, carbohydrates and proteins. Their correct balance is the main rule of a healthy diet. Fat energies give strength, protein builders trigger internal metabolic and other processes, smart carbohydrates feed not only the brain but also the stamina of the body as a whole. And they are able to make a person energetic, healthy and cheerful only when they are balanced into a single food system.

One-week healthy and balanced meal plan example

Information on one-week proper and healthy nutrition is very widespread on the Internet but you should understand that proper nutrition is a healthy lifestyle that is not observed for any specific period of time but every day throughout the entire time. A sharp change in diet towards healthy nutrition can be a serious stress for the body. In addition, you need to remember about physical exertion, which allows you to burn excess calories accumulated per day and does not allow the body to stagnate, help improve blood circulation, the digestive tract and the cardiovascular system.

It is not very difficult to observe and plan the correct one-week diet but it is definitely necessary to draw up a daily plan!

Sample meal plan for onw week may look like this:

1. Breakfast. In the morning, you need to eat something light but high-calorie, so that there is enough energy to go to work and have it for half a day. You can eay oatmeal or other porridge, granola, cheese, fruit. Try to make breakfast varied; it will be problematic to eat the same foods every day;
2. Snack. Unsweetened fruits (bananas are also quite suitable for those who train in the gym), vegetables, kefir;
3. Lunch. For lunch, you must eat meat: fish, pork, beef, chicken, etc. And do not forget to add a side dish to taste! For example, fried pork with buckwheat porridge;
4. Afternoon snack. In an hour or two after lunch, you will definitely want to have something to eat and you can pay attention to kefir, low-fat yogurt, nuts, dried fruits or bananas;
5. Dinner. This meal should not be heavy. You can cook some meat and a vegetable salad. It is recommended that you eat vegetables every day because they contribute to better digestion. Besides, they are rich in fiber and vitamins;
6. Before going to bed. Many people “travel” to the refrigerator and look for something to eat before going to bed. Such uncontrolled meals can lead to extra pounds. Before going to bed, you can drink a glass of kefir, fermented baked milk, eat low-fat cottage cheese, or a vegetable salad with olive oil.

It is important to note that proper nutrition for weight loss is almost the same as described above. It is clear that weight loss should be coordinated by specialists in this field but the concept and scheme are unlikely to change.

In addition, it is important to understand that the diet, foods, and proper nutrition menus for people involved in sports will be significantly different from the above because the body of these people consumes more micro and macro elements, calories, etc.

As you can see,it is very simple to switch to a healthy lifestyle and nutrition. The biggest problem is the rejection of your favorite “harmful” dishes. We hope that we answered the question of how to start proper nutrition and helped you in switching to a healthy and long life.