Your diet will have a significant influence on the quality of your life. People whose diets are rich in salty, fatty, and sugary junk foods tend to develop more diseases and health problems than people whose diets are clean. Diabetes and heart disease are two examples of diseases more common among people who don’t take steps to ensure that they eat well.
It is reasonable to say that the healthier you are, the longer you are likely to live. This post will tell you how you can achieve a healthy lifestyle (and what role nutrition plays in a healthy life).
How Does Nutrition Influence Our Lives?
The answer to this section’s titular question is simple: the body needs nutrients to survive, if it can’t get them, then it can’t function properly. When the body doesn’t function properly it is more susceptible to illness and disease.
It is also worth noting that when the human body doesn’t function properly, people’s daily performance is negatively impacted. You won’t be able to exercise, work, or even sleep properly if your body isn’t nourished and properly cared for. Getting more nutrients is very simple, so there’s no reason not to.
Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting is a highly effective way of improving your health and bettering your nutrition, as contradictory as it sounds. According to the experts over at DrBerg.com, one of the main advantages of fasting is that it can boost your brain health. However, it can do a lot more than that.
Intermittent fasting can also increase your metabolic rate, which helps you to burn more calories and lose weight. When you eat again, the nutrients will be absorbed quicker and will be more beneficial to your body. Intermittent fasting can be complimented by a keto diet.
Fruit and Vegetables
If you want to eat a more nutritious diet, then begin incorporating fresh fruit and vegetables into it. A lot of people eat fruit and vegetables from tins, which is senseless. You can buy fresh produce for next to nothing in most farmer’s markets and grocery stores. A common complaint among people who refuse to eat fresh produce is that they don’t like cooking. Cooking is actually very good for your mental health. It is an activity that’s definitely worth taking up.
Eating Breakfast
There is no reason to skip breakfast unless you are fasting. A lot of people are under the impression that breakfast is a pointless meal, but that is not true. It is arguably the most important meal of the day. Breakfast sets you up and helps you to get the energy that you need to get through until lunch. Not eating breakfast can leave you feeling weak and tired.
A lot of experts say that you should eat a very large breakfast and eat smaller lunches and dinners. Establishing a breakfast routine is something that will benefit you for the rest of your life.
Eat More Fish
In the world’s ‘green zones’ (i.e., places where they have very long life expectancies) fish is a staple food. If you want to live a very long life, then you too should begin consuming more fish. The consumption of fish can help you to get a lot more nutrients, including Omega-3. It is important to note that while fish is very good for you, you should still try to eat a balanced diet. Don’t eat fish alone. Make sure that you also eat lean meats, fresh produce, nuts, and legumes.
Saturated Fat
Saturated fat is a killer. Unfortunately, it is a big part of a lot of people’s diets. Saturated fat is consumed by so many people because it is in more or less everything that’s processed. If you want to live a happy, healthy, and long life, then you should start curbing the amount of saturated fat that you eat.
There is no real advantage to eating saturated fat. You can eat much healthier fats by consuming nuts, meat, fruit, and vegetables. If you are going to eat processed food, then make sure that you check out its nutritional information and look at its fat content first.
Sugar Intake
In addition to reducing the amount of fat that you consume you also need to significantly bring down your sugar intake if it’s excessive. Lots of sugar in your diet can contribute to the development of diabetes. Having a lot of sugar in your diet can also make you more susceptible to infection since bacteria love sugar. Reducing your sugar intake is very easy. All you have to do is to stop eating heavily processed foods, cakes, and sweet treats. You can still get sugar naturally from fruit and even honey, so you don’t have to cut it out completely.
Eat Less Salt
Salt can be very bad for your health. The average adult should consume no more than 6g a day. Unfortunately, a lack of salt in food can leave it tasting bland. If you do not much enjoy food that is not heavily salted, then you may want to invest in low-sodium salt or some spices.
You can use spices to flavor your food and make up for the absence of salt in it. If you are going to use salt and don’t like low-sodium salt, then use sea salt. Sea salt is much less processed than ordinary table salt.
Stay Hydrated
Finally, ensure that you stay hydrated. Dehydration can be very bad for your health. It doesn’t matter how many nutrients you get through the food that you eat, if you aren’t hydrated then you won’t be in good health.
A staggeringly large percentage of the U.S. population is chronically dehydrated at all times. The average person needs around 3L of water a day. With that said, some people need more, and some people need less. Never consume more than a liter an hour, since that can lead to overhydration. Overhydration can actually be fatal.
A healthy, nutritional diet is the cornerstone of a healthy life. If you haven’t been following a healthy diet, then now’s the time to change that. Thanks to the huge push in the media for people to eat more plant foods, they are more affordable and easier to find than ever.