A healthy diet is essential for the proper functioning of our bodies.
The importance of having a healthy diet should not be new to you. Imagine you have a car. For the car to run, it needs gasoline. But if you put in adulterated petrol, you will have engine problems. Right?
Our body works with the same logic. For it to work, it needs its fuels. Proteins, carbohydrates, fiber, minerals, and vitamins are some examples.
Each food group has its specific function, and understanding the correct proportion necessary for the proper body functioning is essential. Otherwise, the body breaks down. Diseases such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, gastritis, osteoporosis, migraine, gout, anemia, and many others can be caused by an unbalanced diet.
Pay attention to signs of imbalance in your health, and look at your diet. Are you fueling your body the way it deserves?
Some benefits of having a healthy diet are:
- Maintenance of a healthy weight
- Good bowel function
- Cardiovascular disease prevention
- Control of diseases such as diabetes and hypertension
- cancer prevention
- Combating mental illnesses such as depression
- Improves learning and memory functions
What Foods Should Be The Basis Of A Healthy Diet
As mentioned, the foods that should be a priority for a healthy diet are fresh or minimally processed foods, such as vegetables, fruits, brown rice, wheat grains, and beans of all colors.
This is because processed foods lose much of their nutritional structure, adding practically nothing to the body. For example, we can mention canned foods, cheeses, canned goods, and candied fruits.
How To Maintain A Healthy Diet In Everyday Life
Maintaining a healthy diet in the rush of everyday life has a lot to do with discipline. Buying ingredients from local producers or stores you trust and making your meals at home is a way to ensure your eating quality.
But if eating out is a reality for you, you must choose restaurants that serve freshly prepared dishes and have healthy options, such as brown rice and a variety of salads and vegetables. And, of course, skip dessert and soda.
What Is A Healthy Diet?
The Ministry of Health has prepared a guide for the Population, which suggests another way to build a healthy diet, different from the food pyramid.
The guide, launched in 2014 but still in distribution, considers the regional, cultural, social, and biological habits of groups of different ages and lifestyles.
Based on five principles (going beyond nutrient intake, respecting the current moment, considering the food production and distribution system, following all types of knowledge – theoretical and famous – and offering autonomy), the guide presents the ten steps to a healthy diet.
The steps described below were taken in full from the Food Guide available on the Ministry of Health website. Check out:
- Making fresh or minimally processed foods the basis of the diet.
- Using oils, fats, salt, and sugar in small amounts when seasoning and cooking food and creating culinary preparations.
- Limit consumption of processed foods.
- Avoid consumption of ultra-processed foods.
- Eat regularly and carefully, in appropriate environments and, whenever possible, with company.
- Shopping in places that offer a variety of fresh or minimally processed foods.
- Develop, exercise, and share culinary skills.
- Plan the use of time to give the food the space it deserves.
- Give preference, when away from home, to places that serve freshly prepared meals.
- Be critical of information, guidelines, and messages about food conveyed in commercial advertisements.
Appreciate the food you eat because you will understand your body and health. “You are what you eat” have you ever heard that phrase?
So review your eating habits to build a healthier, more positive relationship with food. You will gain in mood, energy, quality of life and, we have no doubt, taste.
Also Read: What Does A Healthy Diet Look Like?
