To be frank, everyone knows about the benefits of healthy eating, but this is an axiom that is not tested in practice. There are all sorts of reasons: the taste is not the same, it takes a long time to cook, expensive products. It is necessary to discard these prejudices about food and products. Proper nutrition is a solid foundation for a healthy body and reducing the risk of chronic diseases. The habit of eating right will help you avoid discomfort in the future.
In the early 70s, Finland conducted an experiment. The goal was to confirm the reduction in the risk of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease with a balanced diet, without complicated diets. The North Karelia project lasted 35 years. The result of the scientists’ work is a 7-fold reduction in mortality from cardiovascular disease. Far from unique methods were used to promote healthy eating. The first thing the participants did was to give up smoking and diets, reduce their butter consumption by 70-80%, and increase their vegetable oil consumption.
The main food is vegetables, fruits and dairy products with a low percentage of fat. A novelty was teaching the techniques of cooking traditional dishes for proper nutrition. Frying food was completely replaced by baking and boiling. By the way, if you adhere to such cooking technologies, the maximum amount of nutrients is retained in the products.
This experiment is about 5 simple life hacks for maintaining a healthy lifestyle without strict diets. These rules will help you feel healthier. A portion of low-fat cottage cheese, oatmeal, and fruit are the solution for a person who cares about his or her liver, stomach, heart, and other organs.
Why should you give up diets if you are losing weight?
You’ve decided to lose some weight. The first mistake would be to follow a weight loss diet, and there are many of them: lactose-free, low-carb, vegan, and gluten-free. But you need to lose weight without diets. Ask yourself the main question: will there be a long-term result from diets? Unfortunately, these are restrictions and pressure, and they create an internal protest and serious dissatisfaction with yourself. The body is saturated with the necessary foods, and then it has an apple and a glass of water as food. With diets, you will quickly lose some pounds, but it is stressful. You’ll reach your goal in a short time, but it wreaks havoc on an already imperfect diet.
Gluten-free diet is now popular, but needed by people who suffer from celiac disease (damage to the villi of the small intestine), gluten – protein, found in wheat, rye and barley. Replace ordinary pasta with those made from durum wheat, sacrifice fast food and white bread. Give up diets for weight loss, not health. A few grams of dark chocolate, proper nutrition, self-care, positive emotions and training are the correct state of the body.
Proper nutrition without diets
For a proper diet, you should give up many products. But these products will not bring any benefit other than taste. Roasting meat is our weakness, but if you bake it with avocado, tomatoes, peppers or even fruits, you no longer want to fry it and wash the stove of grease. Remember, we are what we eat. The beauty of people is given by nature, but it requires care and healthy food, and not adherence to diets that deplete the body.
Healthy eating and its formula
Proper nutrition – a balanced diet. This is the percentage of proteins, fats and carbohydrates: 25 – 25 – 50. These figures were provided by Robert Haas. Proper well-being is when there are all the necessary nutrients.
Different varieties of fish, nuts, vegetable and olive oil are foods that contain unsaturated fats. A cake, cakes, burgers, chicken peel, snacks, butter, margarine – saturated. The difference is that saturated settle on the walls of blood vessels and increase cholesterol levels. Protein – building material, strengthens bones, hair and nails. Complex carbohydrates are best eaten in the morning, because they are absorbed for a long time, but give a boost of energy for the whole day, oatmeal or omelet is suitable. Buy food with simple carbohydrates when you need to quickly cheer up or recuperate. Eat baked meat for lunch, serve it with a salad of fresh seasonal vegetables. Make dinner easy: sauerkraut all with the same meat or cheese, fruit, tea or light dessert.
Food – energy and it must be spent correctly. If there is more food than movement, be prepared for an energy imbalance. The energy for the body is kilocalories, 2500 is the number that is needed on average. But for the right menu, you need to calculate the calorie content of dishes, taking into account the energy consumption throughout the day, age, weight and gender. About 5 years ago it had to be done manually, but now there are mobile applications.
Imagine the situation, you worked in the sweat of your forehead all day, there were no products on hand for a snack. We came home and ate, all 2500 calories now, and then went to bed, the body is under stress all day, and in the evening you finished it off. Dinner was exclusively from healthy food? Anyway, the result of such nutrition is heaviness in the stomach and excess weight, which will force you to use diets.
Proper nutrition is a balance in meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner, 2 snacks, you need to eat often, but little by little. Perfect every 2 hours. For a full life – do not miss breakfast, this is the beginning of the day and let it be worthy. Kathleen Zelman is a famous American nutritionist, author of a number of books on proper nutrition, completely agrees with us. Breakfast you start the mechanism of “sleeping” metabolism.
Snack wisely, the glazed bar will fill with energy, but nuts, bananas, dried fruits, yogurt, will fit into the mode of proper nutrition no worse. Remember in foods with saturated carbohydrates – high cholesterol.
You do not always need to eat, 5 meals of healthy food are not enough. In addition to products, drink water, there is a simple formula of 40 ml of liquid per kilogram of weight. Increase the volume of fluid is during a hot summer or when doing sports. Avoid alcohol, although it is a liquid, but not the best for proper nutrition.
Proper nutrition requires replacing the following foods:
Muesli for oatmeal, find useful and affordable breakfast cereals – a rarity.
White bread for whole grain, and it is better to bake bread at home, choosing quality ingredients. It’s costly, but the taste and benefits make up for it.
Replace popcorn, crackers, chips, snacks with fruits, vegetables and other fresh food.
Throw out ready-made sauces if you like to season salads, there are excellent alternatives based on olive oil.
Say no to nectars – they are not juices, teach yourself to drink a glass of fresh in the morning on an empty stomach.
Carbonated, sweet drinks – water, juice, compote.
