Principals Of Healthy Eating

Perhaps you’ve made a new year’s resolution to start eating more healthfully, or you just feel it is time to change your dietary habits to promote a healthier lifestyle as well as for weight management. But where do you begin?

Start with and keep in mind these five key principles for healthy eating, and you will always be on the right track.

1 Focus on Vegetables and Fruits

Study after study has shown that the more whole fruits and vegetables you eat, the lower your risk for many chronic diseases, including cancer, obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease—including heart disease and stroke.

Fruits and vegetables constitute low-calorie foods. A report by WHO has stated that there is convincing evidence that eating fruits and vegetables decreases the risk for obesity. Compared to high-calorie foods such as processed foods that are high in sugar and fat, fruits and vegetables are less likely to contribute to obesity or overweight. Fruits and vegetables from the produce department of your grocery store are whole foods. Nothing has been done to alter them especially if you buy organic. And, because they contain higher amounts of dietary fiber and other nutrients, they are associated with a lower risk for diabetes and insulin resistance. For the same reasons, they also make people feel full with fewer calories, thus helping to prevent weight gain.

Additionally, research has shown that eating three to five servings of fruits and vegetables per day will decrease your risk of stroke, and eating more than five servings per day will decrease that risk even more. In an incremental fashion, the more fruits and vegetables you eat, the lower your risk. An excellent return on your investment.

Avoid Processed Meats

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a part of the World Health Organization (WHO), has come out definitively with a report on cancer-causing processed meats, stating that such meats definitely can cause colorectal cancer. They have also noted that red meat in general “probably” causes cancers such as colon, pancreatic, and prostate cancer.

Given that obesity is a risk factor for a number of different cancers, it is helpful to do all you can to decrease your risk.

Examples of processed meats to avoid: hot dogs, sausage, beef jerky, corned beef, ham, canned meat, and canned meat-based preparations and sauces.

Drink More Water

The many health benefits of drinking water are often overlooked. But don’t underestimate the importance of what may be the healthiest beverage of all.

Water has no calories. Zero. What it does has plenty of health benefits. Researchers have found that drinking a glass of water 30 minutes before you have a meal can make you feel fuller and thus more likely to eat less, thereby reducing calorie intake.

Staying hydrated throughout the day will make you more alert, help you think more clearly, and make you feel less fatigued.

All of that can lead to making better dietary choices as well. As an added bonus, drinking enough water throughout the day can help in the prevention of recurrent kidney stones.

5 Eat Less Salt

Obesity causes high blood pressure (also known by its medical term, “hypertension”), so it is helpful to know what you can do to manage your blood pressure—and that includes cutting back on dietary sodium intake.

With the advent of processed foods, the average American sodium intake skyrocketed. In fact, it has been estimated that the average sodium intake per person in the United States is 3,478 milligrams per day. This is at least 1,000 milligrams per day more than what many well-respected scientific and professional health organizations, such as the American Heart Association and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, recommend for maximum daily intake.

It might surprise most of us that healthy eating is a mystery to most of us. We think we eat healthily but in reality, we only eat healthy once in a while. Which foods are the saltiest? The answer might surprise you. While you may think that most of your salt intake comes from your home salt shaker, most Americans get most of their sodium from packaged, highly processed, and restaurant foods.

Here are some of the worst offenders:

Snack foods, such as chips, crackers, and pretzels
Canned foods, like canned beans and soups
Pickled foods
Cheese
Processed meats, like ham, bacon, corned beef, hot dogs, sausages, and luncheon/deli meats
Frozen dinners
Processed or packaged fish that has been pre-breaded, pre-fried, smoked, or canned in brine
Ketchup, mayonnaise, sauces, and salad dressings
Most restaurant and fast-food meals
By cutting back on the foods listed above and cooking at home whenever possible, you will automatically lower your average daily sodium intake if you avoid processed foods.

One more thing I want to mention is that we all consume too much sugar. Food manufacturers use sugar in everything and it's just as bad for us as salt. I have trouble digesting and as a result, I have heartburn every day. I believe that salt and sugar intake in the quantities we digest today has changed the balance of alkaline and acid in our stomach and actually is a cause of heartburn. 

You read about people who have given up sugar and after 3 months they say that they feel much better. I'm trying to do it but it's not easy. You also have to be on a whole food diet. and only season food with spices and herbs.

Because most of us cook the same way our mothers cooked, we don't really know how to cook like that, but those few who have made the change feel much healthier.

Look for my podcasts on anchor.fm, or the podcast app on your cell phone.

 Search “howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight”.

If you really want to lose your body fat then look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You’ll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books.

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $3.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans, or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page.