Eat Your Way to Better Health !!

Eating healthy does not mean that you have to deprive yourself of foods that you love, or impose strict dietary limitations and remain thin. It simply means to increase your energy levels, improve you outlook by feeling positive and stabilize your moods. Do not feel overwhelmed by all the 'expert' advice that you hear. Here are some great ways to improve your dietary habits and attain good heath as a bonus.

1. Prepare more of your own food to control what you eat. A healthy diet includes a wide variety of nutritious foods that contain large amounts of vitamins and minerals. All these are obtained from green vegetables and including greens in your food will help you fill up the plate faster! Also cut back on the unhealthy foods in your diet and replace them with healthy alternatives. Start small.

2. Eat in moderation. That simply means eating only what the body requires and not over-stuff the body. Eating moderately also means to balance your diet with equal amounts of carbohydrates, protein, fats, fiber, vitamins and minerals. It does not mean to completely eliminating the foods that we love. Eating bacon in breakfast once a week, or indulging in 100 calories of chocolate on a long afternoon would not be harmful. However, indulging in your favorite foods does not mean polishing off that box of doughnuts in your fridge. Use your common sense!

3. Cut back on those carbs for a healthy looking you. This does not mean to completely eliminate them from your diet, as it only results in failure! The main carbs to reduce include sweets and refined products like white flour, cakes, pies, candy etc. These are easily digestible and increase the blood sugar levels. Replace them with healthy carbs like whole grains, beans, fruits (in moderation) and green veggies.

4. Increase your protein intake. Proteins play a big role in the metabolism and provide you with vital energy for the day. Replacing your red meat with fish, chicken or plant based products like beans, soy, nuts is a great way to improve your protein content. Divide the extra protein in small amounts throughout the day. Snacking on nuts, peas, tofu and soy products instead of chips and pizza is a great trick to incorporate and increase protein in daily diet. A nursing mother needs 20g more protein in her diet than she did before pregnancy.

5. Don't fear to include fats in regular diet. However, learn to differentiate between 'good' and 'bad' fats. Including monosaturated and polysaturated fats like olive oil, peanut oil, sunflower oil, fatty fishes like salmon, herring etc and walnuts help nourish the brain, heart and gives you a youthful looking skin. However, saturated and trans fats found in fried chips, baked goods, red meat, processed foods should be reduced from the diet.

6. Drink plenty of water to flush out the toxins in the body and decrease tiredness of muscles.

Remember, you are what you eat. Making some good food choices and replacing some common foods with healthier options can go a long way to better health.

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