When you have a healthy diet, you are likely to feel better, have healthier body weight, and overall be in better health! However, the question still remains-- what are you supposed to do to achieve a healthy diet? Here are a few things you can do to improve your diet.
Add Protein
Whether you are trying to lose weight or gain muscle, adding more protein to your diet is a great way to improve your diet and your health. The easiest way to add more protein to your diet is to eat more meat. Generally speaking, eating poultry and fish is healthier than eating high amounts of red meat.
Even if you are a vegetarian or a vegan, you can still add more protein to your diet without adding meat to your diet. Nuts and beans are high in protein. Some vegetables, like peas, spinach, asparagus, and broccoli are also high in protein.
If you don't have the time or money to add different foods to your diet, or if you want to avoid adding too many extra calories to your diet, taking protein supplements can add more protein to your diet without changing your diet much as a whole.
Reduce Lectins
Another way to improve your diet and your health is to reduce lectins you take in. Lectin is a type of plant protein. In the last section, the protein was seen as a shining star of any good diet. However, not all protein is the same. Namely, there are lectins in plants but not in meat.
There are a couple of ways to reduce lectins in your diet without completely cutting out foods that contain lectins. One great way to kill lectins is to pressure cook foods containing lectins. In the case of beans, soak them before cooking them to reduce their lectin content.
If you do not want to change your diet, but still want to reduce the negative effects that lectins have on your body, then you can instead take supplements. Some supplements work to kill lectins in the body.
Incorporate Whole Grains
When dieting, many people try to cut carbohydrates out of their diet. However, that sort of dieting is not highly sustainable, which makes it likely to fail in the long run.
Like proteins, not all carbohydrates are created equally. Some carbs, like those in simple sugars, are worse for you than complex carbohydrates found in whole grains. So, instead of completely cutting out carbohydrates, it is easier and healthier to make the switch to whole grains.
Some easy switches to make include trading white bread for wheat bread and normal pasta for whole-grain pasta.
Include Antioxidants
Another great type of food to add to your diet are those that contain antioxidants. Antioxidants are great for helping the body fight off colds and other ailments. There are a variety of foods that are high in antioxidants. Because of this, there is sure to be something antioxidant-rich that anyone would love.
Some foods that are high in antioxidants include blueberries, spinach, dark chocolate, beets, kale, plums, artichokes, red wine, and pecans.
Take Vitamins and Minerals
Lastly, taking vitamins and minerals into your diet is one of the best things you can do to make sure you are as healthy as possible. Taking a daily vitamin is one of the easiest ways to do this. However, it's not wise to take supplements willy-nilly. Instead, ask your doctor about what kinds of vitamins and minerals are best for you.
If you do not want to take supplements, simply eating foods that are rich in vitamins and minerals can help. As a safe bet, try to keep your diet colorful. Include a variety of fruits and vegetables to get the whole rainbow in. For white foods, dairy products and eggs are the way to do. As for dark-colored foods, try to add beans and nuts to your diet.
Try some of these suggestions to improve your diet in a healthy way. Whether you are one to take supplements or simply eat a wider variety of foods, if you follow these tips, you are sure to have a healthier diet-- and probably a healthier body to go with it!