Healthy eating is important for many reasons, including fuelling your body, acquiring necessary nutrients, lowering your disease risk, increasing your longevity, and promoting optimal mental and physical well-being.
Food is one of the many puzzle pieces of your day-to-day life. Between commuting, working, family or social commitments, errands, and many other daily factors, food may be last on your list of concerns. Food is what fuels you and delivers the calories and nutrients your body needs to function. If your diet is deficient in calories or one or more nutrients, spotify song promotion your health may suffer.
The first step to following a healthier diet is to make food one of your priorities.
This doesn’t mean that you have to spend hours meal prepping or cooking elaborate meals, but it does require some thought and effort, especially if you have a particularly busy lifestyle. For example, going to the grocery store once or twice per week will help ensure that you have healthy choices in your fridge and pantry. In turn, a well-stocked kitchen makes choosing healthy meals and snacks much easier.
When grocery shopping, stock up on:
- Fresh and frozen fruits and veggies
- Protein sources like chicken, eggs, fish, and tofu
- Bulk carb sources like canned beans and whole grains
- Starchy veggies like white potatoes, sweet potatoes, and butternut squash
- Fat sources like avocados, olive oil, and full fat yogurt nutritious, simple snack ingredients like nuts, seeds, nut butter, hummus, olives, and dried fruit
If you’re drawing a blank at mealtime, keep it simple and think in threes:
- Protein: eggs, chicken, fish, or a plant-based option like tofu
- Fat: olive oil, nuts, seeds, nut butter, avocado, cheese, or full fat yogurt
- Fiber-rich carbs: starchy options like sweet potatoes, oats, certain
fruits, and beans — or low carb fiber sources like asparagus, broccoli,
cauliflower, and berries
- If you’re interested in healthy eating, making a few small changes can get you moving in the right direction.
- Although healthy eating may look a bit different for everyone, balanced diets are generally rich in nutrient-dense foods, low in highly processed foods, and comprised of filling meals and snacks.
Written by Jillian Kubala, MS, RD on June 24, 2021 — Medically reviewed by Sade Meeks, MS, RD
