Eating A Healthy And Balanced Diet

Eating healthily is definitely an endeavor that’s not that easy to achieve. You really need to pay attention to what you eat and when you eat it, count your calories and pay attention to what’s in your plate and how much of it.

Balancing your diet is another extremely important factor, which might even help you and motivate you to eat more healthily than ever before.

But what does “balanced diet” mean? How can you achieve it?

Breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It kick-starts your metabolism, so you should include foods that are rich in protein such as eggs, salmon, lean ham or dairy. Since we burn more calories digesting protein than carbs, it would be a great thing to stock up your body with proteins as you will eat fewer calories during the day. What’s very important is not to skip breakfast as this affects your blood sugar levels and you will end up choosing all the wrong foods later. Stick with eggs and vegetables – you can never make a mistake there. This meal plays an important role in keeping your body and weight healthy.

Tip: Switch to whole-wheat bread

For all of you who love bread, you might want to consider switching to whole grains from refined grain products. This can benefit your body in so many different ways, and can help you reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and even cancer. If you want to add fiber, vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals all at once, you might want to make a sandwich out of whole-wheat bread instead of white. Just something to have in mind.

Lunch

As far as lunch is concerned, make a mix of lean protein and starchy carbs. Also, remember that not every fat is bad, so you might want to incorporate healthy fats into your lunch as well, such as fatty fish or virgin olive oil. Carb-rich foods also supply energy, so make sure to have them as well, as you don’t want to suffer that classic mid-afternoon slump. However, choose carbs that produce a steady rise in blood sugar, and avoid the sugary “white” foods.

Tip: Use the perks of supplements

Most often than not, we are unable to consume all the vitamins and minerals that we should throughout one day. Sometimes we don’t have time to think about what we’re going to have for lunch, let alone count the calories and think about vitamins and minerals. This is why you should always opt for supplements such as the powerful CoQ10 antioxidant that plays a very important role in your cardiovascular system, vitamins or even magnesium. These supplements are there to help you out during a hard and busy day, so it’s always good to have them in your kitchen.

Dinner

Having dinner is a delicate issue, and all of us have different ideas of what that means. Some of us skip dinner, other curfew carbs. Be that as it may, it’s very important to have a balanced dinner. Make sure that you don’t eat foods that are rich in calories; you can always opt for a fresh vegetable salad and healthy essential fats, such as salmon or sardines. Your body will need these healthy fats along with protein for the night.

Tip: Drink unsweetened tea instead of soda

The best drink that you can have during the day is water, so make sure you’re always well hydrated and that you drink enough water. If you have a need for soda, drink unsweetened tea instead. Opting for this can save you almost 8,000 calories and 448 teaspoons of sugar per month.

Final tip: Control your portions

Overeating is quite a common trend nowadays, so if you don’t want that to happen to you, you need to learn how to control your portions and how to divide your plate. The best way would be to divide your plate into three parts where you will have the following ingredients:

1. Protein
2. Vegetables
3. Grains

If you want to go the extra mile and be a bit more original, you can add the fourth part where you will have some fruit either during the meal or as a dessert, and have a glass of milk (if it’s breakfast or dinner) or water next to you.

Balancing your diet might be a nerve-wracking task, but it’s definitely an inevitable one. If you really want to have a healthy life and eat healthily, you need to learn how to balance your diet, control the daily intake of calories, and control your portions.