Healthy nutrition can help you feel great, but it can also help prevent and manage many diseases. Good nutrition does not happen automatically. It is the result of making smart food choices every day. If you need some fresh ideas of how to keep your nutrition high, take a look at the tips below.
To understand nutrition better, read about food groups. This is the basis of a healthy diet. Make sure you eat aliments from all these groups everyday in reasonable quantities. The main food groups are carbohydrates, vegetables, fruits, dairy, oils and meats. Learn how to classify aliments according to their groups.
Nightshades (eggplant, tomatoes, bell peppers) have pros and cons nutritionally. Consider them carefully. They may not agree with your digestion. On the other hand, they may add real food value to your diet. The tomato has recently been cited as a great source of lycopene, which may help prevent cancer. Bell peppers contain vitamin C.
Limit your consumption of red meat to no more than two to three times a week. Research has shown that a diet high in red meat can clog arteries and potentially lead to high blood pressure. Red meat is also high in saturated fat and cholesterol. This can lead to heart disease.
Focus on eating the whole fruit instead of drinking the packaged juice. The whole fruit gives you more complete nutrition than just the juice. It includes the fiber, which is healthy for digestion, and the skin, which contains many important nutrients. Packaged juices usually do not include the fiber and skin, and therefore, do not provide all the benefits of the fruit.
To replace the junky snacks you might have previously brought into the house, stock up on a variety of easy-to-eat fruits that you can grab when dinner is a ways off and you or your family are hungry. Great examples would be berries, grapes, apples cut into chunks and kept in acidulated water, and small or baby bananas. Keeping the fruit in clear containers in the fridge, or on the counter, will increase its “curb appeal.”
A great nutrition tip is to be mindful of what you put into your oatmeal. Oatmeal is one of the healthiest foods you can eat, but if you start adding ingredients to it, it can become an unhealthy meal. Avoid putting ingredients such as brown sugar or dried fruit into your oatmeal.
To keep your skin healthy, you should consider limiting your sodium intake. Sodium can make your skin puffy. Soda can be very high in sodium. If you are a big soda drinker, you should look for alternates. Sometimes low sodium sodas are available. Making the switch can be great for your skin.
Don’t let yourself think that good nutrition will just take care of itself. If you are ready to start making better food choices to prevent and manage disease, use the powerful information found in this article to get started making the right food choices every time you eat.