Most people know that they must cut out salt, sugar, and fatty food if they want to stay healthy. However, this can feel rather restrictive. Instead of concentrating on what you shouldn’t eat, here are some ways to tweak your diet to prevent disease.
Eat a Balanced Diet
You should eat a balanced diet if you want to stay healthy. Your meals should include some protein, carbohydrates, and vegetables. You can balance these by separating your plate into three equal sections. Fill one with carbohydrates, one with protein, and one with fruit or vegetables. This will help you to prevent conditions such as type 2 diabetes, stroke, or heart disease. To learn how your body reacts to different food groups you could monitor your blood glucose levels to see which foods work best with your body.
Eat More Fruit and Vegetables
You should aim to eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables per day. However, the more you can eat, the better. These foods will help you to control your blood pressure and prevent you from developing diverticulitis and heart disease.
Eat Healthy Carbs
Many carbohydrates are not considered healthy because they are processed, and this means that most of their nutrients have been stripped out. However, it is important that your diet includes some carbohydrates, and cutting them out altogether is not good for you.
Eat healthy carbohydrates such as whole grains, rice, and pasta rather than the white alternative if you want to stay healthy. They will fill you up for longer and help to prevent you from overeating, thus preventing diseases such as gallbladder disease and some types of cancer.
Plan Ahead
Developing your diet to prevent disease doesn’t mean that you can’t be sociable. You can still go out for dinner or enjoy sharing food at an event but planning means that you can still make healthy food choices. Look at the menu before you visit a restaurant and decide what dish looks the healthiest. Don’t be afraid to call the restaurant if you want to know how the food is cooked or request a healthier alternative. Doing this means you aren’t put on the spot or tempted to make unhealthy choices when the menu arrives, and you can stick to a healthier eating plan.
Eat Regularly
You may have been used to skipping meals in the past, thinking that this will help you to maintain your weight or stop you from eating unhealthy food, but it does the opposite. This is because you are more likely to eat unhealthily or binge if you are too hungry. The best way to keep your body healthy and disease free is to eat three meals per day every day and include snacks too.
Change what you eat rather than how regularly you eat if you want to avoid bowel and kidney problems. There are loads of safe snacks that will fill you up without causing an adverse effect. For example, carrots with hummus, or plain popcorn are both easy things to throw together that will keep you full and healthy.
Don’t Be Too Strict with Yourself
Being too strict with your new eating plan will get boring quickly. The trick is to allow yourself an occasional lapse and then get back to healthy eating. This way you are less likely to binge eat the wrong food or give up trying to manage your diabetes entirely. Eating everything in moderation is an effective way to develop your diet and prevent disease without making yourself feel deprived.
With a few small tweaks, you can develop your diet and feel the benefits of becoming fitter and healthier. You may be surprised how much difference these tips can make.
