How Can You Eat Your Way to a Healthier You?

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A beautiful girl eating healthy food

We all know, to a certain extent, what is good for us and what is bad. Often, it is just the case that we choose to ignore it in favour of the things that we feel make us happy. The best way to approach a healthy eating plan is to not see it in terms of making a sacrifice, but instead by looking at what you want to achieve. Here are some healthy eating pointers:

Get the Carbs Right

Be careful with your carbohydrates. There are two types, and knowing which one is good for you and which is bad is a simple rule that will help you to manage your energy levels and diet. Simple carbohydrates, which include things like sugar and white flour, are quickly absorbed, flooding your body with too much insulin which cannot be used up – these are bad for you. You will end up with energy dips if your diet is full of the wrong type of carbs. Instead, try opting for complex carbohydrates, which are absorbed slowly and provide you with energy throughout the day. These include foods like leafy green vegetables, brown bread and rice, and oats.

Protein Is Precious

We all need protein in order to build muscle and store energy which lasts. A good diet should contain enough protein to take up between 10% and 35% of your daily caloric intake. Protein can be found in a wide variety of foods, including fish such as cod, bass, or sole; lean meats like chicken; beans of all varieties; soy-based products; and nuts. This makes it exceptionally easy to get large quantities of protein into your diet on a daily basis. Protein is particularly important in the diets of those who regularly play sports. If your daily activities require more of a specialist diet, it is important to get the right advice and talk to people at places like www.proteinfoodsdirect.com to get hints and tips for supporting your sports life and diet.

Know Your Fats

As with carbs, there are good fats and bad fats. The trick is to know the ones to avoid and appreciate that you cannot avoid fats altogether, as we need them for our bodies to function. Monounsaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acids are both good for you, so there is no need to avoid them. They can be found in foods like olive oil, fish, and nuts. The fats to avoid are known as trans fats and saturated fats. Pretty much most processed food and many takeaways contain lots of these and should therefore be avoided. Look for labels on food packaging which mentions the word “hydrogenated,” as this is an indicator of bad fats.

Healthy eating on the whole is mostly about remembering some basics and having the will power to stick to your decisions. You should also not kick yourself for messing up once in a while; you are only human, after all. Allow yourself an occasional treat, and it will make the rest of the journey a little easier.