Healthy Eating, Made Easy!

We all want to be, feel and appear healthy, for ourselves but also for others. So, you might ask, why is it so confusing?? How the hell do i do it and sustain it?

I am going to simplify it for you here.

First of all, what eating healthy isn’t:

1. Restrictive
2. Unsatisfying – feeling hungry/ craving other foods
3. Impossible
4. Unattainable

Our society has led us to believe that living a healthy lifestyle is IMPOSSIBLE. They profit off of this hatred for physical activity and eating healthy.

The truth is quite simple. It’s not that bad, in fact it’s not bad at all. Its invigorating and there is a sense of great joy in giving your body what it needs to thrive not merely live, not even that.

This lack of care or effort for not only your body but yourself is destructive in EVERY aspect of your life.

Your brain needs nutrients, don’t give it that, IT WONT FUNCTION PROPERLY.

YOU ARE CAPABLE OF ANYTHING. GIVE YOURSELF WHAT YOU NEED.

So, I bet you still don’t believe me that i can make it simple for you.

A healthy diet =

1. Mainly consisting of fruit, vegetables and wholegrain.
2. A small portion of your diet should come from meat/ fish/ dairy/ alternatives.
3. Drink around 2 litres of water a day. (dependant on age and weight)

So, what does this look like?

1. Every meal should include a portion of vegetables/ fruit.

I have 2 portions of fruit with my breakfast. Then my lunch and dinner have a portion (large) of vegetables. Snack on fruit and veg. THAT’S IT!

Let’s add things into our diet! We need fruit and vegetables. They are ESSENTIAL for preventing disease and a healthy body. If you don’t eat fruit and veg you are 100 x more likely to develop a chronic disease.

2. Stop eating white carbohydrates.

They are stripped of the wheat germ (all the nutrients are removed). Swap to whole wheat bread, pasta, rice. Wholegrain foods don’t taste much different. Trust me on this. It is not a big change and very important for your health.

White carbohydrates and sugar (refined sugar) cause an increase in the insulin response in which increases inflammatory hormones in your body. Inflammation causes cancer and many other chronic illnesses.

3. Protein is important but not as important as you think.

We don’t need that much protein in a day. The average women need roughly 45 grams and men around 55 grams of protein a day for the average man. Chicken has roughly 25 grams of protein. Milk/ cheese/ yogurt /eggs etc are high in protein.

Around one portion of meat/ fish a day is sufficient along with milk, cheese, nuts etc. It’s about time everyone stops worrying about protein.

Vegans and vegetarians must be careful, especially vegans. You must ensure you are getting enough protein and all of the essential amino acids. (if you would like more information on this, i wrote a blog post on vegan diets, “The vegan diet, Review of the Game Changers”)

Over consumption of protein is stressful on the body and is simply unnecessary. The bulk of our food should be coming from carbohydrates – fruit, veg and whole-grains. The nutrients from these foods are essential in higher quantities.

4. Fat is not to be feared.

We need fat in our diets. Unsaturated fats are essential for the body and the brain. We need MUCH MORE unsaturated fat than what we do saturated fat. We still need saturated fat in very small quantities.

Saturated fat

1. Cheese
2. Vegetable oil
3. Beef/ meat

Unsaturated fats

1. Olive oil
2. Nuts
3. Oily fish such as salmon
4. Olives

Simply, eat more unsaturated fat than saturated. Use olive oil/ other unsaturated oils for cooking, etc.

5. Drink as much water as possible.

Our bodies need water! We can only live 3 days without it! Stop drinking juice of any kind and just drink water! Do your body a favour.

6. Limit processed food.

You can eat so much food on a healthy diet. However, processed food isn’t in the equation. It is totally useless to your body. No nutrients just empty food, full of chemicals. I can assure you it doesn’t beat a home cooked meal or the feeling of being healthy.

Processed food

1. Anything you or someone else haven’t made from scratch.
2. Ready meals
3. Chocolate
4. Store bought pizza.

BE AWARE OF REFINED SUGAR. Our bodies need sugar from fruit and veg but NOT from chocolate or sweets. It’s addictive and your body doesn’t need it. Again consumption/ over consumption of sugary foods causes chronic disease. (If you would like more information about the dangers of sugar, I also have a blog called “sugar addiction”)

Remember, small, sustainable changes. Awareness is everything. Knowledge is everything. You are capable of more. A healthy diet will only allow you to excel in life.

Let’s make a change! It really will change your life!

Thank you for reading, Follow for more 🙂