Two Simple Rules to Help You Take Care of Your Health No Matter What Diet You Choose
Health is our greatest asset, and each of us strives to keep it as long as possible. However, in today’s world, when we are constantly rushed and faced with a lot of stress, good nutrition often comes last. Many of us don’t think about what we eat and don’t pay proper attention to our diet.
In this article, we’re going to talk about two fundamental principles of nutrition that will be helpful to both healthy lifestyle advocates and those who don’t really care about what they eat. These principles will help you stay healthy and feel better no matter how you eat. If you want to know what these principles are and how to apply them, keep reading our article.
Follow the First Rule and Increase the Amount of Fiber in Your Diet
The first of the fundamental rules of healthy eating is to consume enough fiber. For every one thousand kilocalories eaten, you should get about 14 to 15 grams of fiber. For men, this figure is about 30 grams per day, and for women, 25 grams. It is important to note that these numbers can increase if your energy intake is higher than the average.
Fiber is a type of plant fiber that cannot be completely digested by our bodies. Thus, we do not get any calories from consuming fiber. But despite this, fiber serves two important functions in the body. First, fiber increases the volume of content in the intestine, which helps it to work properly and perform all functions.
In addition, fiber serves as food for the intestinal microflora, which through this process produces various beneficial chemicals. These substances have a beneficial effect on the brain, immune system, musculoskeletal system and cardiovascular system.
Because of this, eating enough fiber is important for maintaining health. Fiber is found in many foods such as vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, lentils and chickpeas. It can also be found in whole-grain foods such as oatmeal, buckwheat, and barley.
Following these dietary guidelines will help you maintain your health and well-being for years to come. If you are striving for a healthy lifestyle, adding fiber to your diet is an important step toward achieving your goal.
Eating More Antioxidants Is the Second Rule
The second important rule of healthy living is to eat enough antioxidants in your diet. Antioxidants are substances found in a number of foods that help block the formation of free radicals in the body. Free radicals are unstable molecules that are formed as a result of metabolic processes in the body, such as energy production in the mitochondria, and when the body is exposed to various factors, such as environmental pollution or stress. Over time, the amount of free radicals in the body increases, and they can be detrimental to our health.
These free radicals are formed in our body when we process food, when our body is exposed to the environment, such as ultraviolet radiation, air pollution, smoking and other bad habits. When free radicals are in the body in large amounts, they can cause serious damage to the cells in our body. Cells can be damaged, dna can be spoiled, cell structures and mitochondria can be destroyed.
This leads to various health consequences, such as chronic systemic inflammation, the onset of various diseases, including cardiovascular disease, and premature aging. Antioxidants help protect the body’s cells from these damages by reducing the amount of free radicals in the body. They can help repair damaged cells, slow down the aging process and reduce the risk of many diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease and others.
The human body can produce some antioxidants itself, but their amount is not always enough to fight free radicals completely. Therefore, it is important to consume foods that contain large amounts of antioxidants. Vegetables in red, blue, yellow, orange, green and purple are sources of antioxidants that should be included in the daily diet.
For example, red vegetables such as tomatoes and red peppers contain antioxidants called lycopene. Blue and purple vegetables such as eggplant and zucchini contain anthocyanins. Yellow and orange vegetables, such as carrots and pumpkin, contain carotenoids. Green vegetables such as spinach and broccoli contain the green pigment chlorophyll and other antioxidants.
It is recommended that you include different colors of vegetables in your daily diet to get the widest range of antioxidants and other nutrients. This can help reduce the risk of various diseases and improve overall health and well-being.
Dealing with the Basic Questions on These Rules
Many people wonder how to increase fiber and antioxidant intake in their diet? And of course, vegetables, cereals and legumes are a great source of these substances, although they take up quite a bit. For example, 100 grams of whole-grain oatmeal contains about 10 grams of fiber, which means that if we cook a porridge of 150 grams of dry oatmeal, we get a much higher volume of food.
In addition, oatmeal also contains antioxidants such as phytates and lectins. Fruits such as apricots and berries such as blackcurrants are another great source of fiber. They also contain many other nutrients such as vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that help strengthen the immune system and protect the body from free radicals.
The next question is whether it is possible to consume large amounts of greens and vegetables without suffering from a lack of calories and energy for physical work? In fact, these foods are low in calories and rich in nutrients, so consuming them should not be a problem. However, if you have strong calorie needs because of your lifestyle or work, you may want to compromise. You can add more calorie-dense foods such as nuts, seeds, avocados, and butter to your diet to get the calorie count you need. You can also increase portions of protein foods such as meat, fish, eggs, etc.
Questions from people who participate in sports also inevitably arise in connection with the dietary principles described. Because athletes often need significant amounts of calories to maintain their activity, following these principles can be a challenge. Natural foods such as vegetables, fruits and whole-grain cereals, although rich in vitamins and nutrients, will not provide an athlete with enough calories to sustain their physical activity.
It is important to understand that for professional athletes, health is not the only goal. They are willing to make compromises in order to achieve high performance in their discipline. However, for amateur athletes, it may be more important to stay healthy and enjoy their favorite sport than to strive for certain results that may negatively affect their bodies.
The question often arises about the possibility of taking antioxidants and fiber in the form of supplements. Indeed, this can be a way out, but it should be understood that foods containing fiber and antioxidants have many other beneficial substances that are in optimal combination with each other. Using supplements and fiber will not give the balance that is present in natural foods. Therefore, it is best to stick with what you can get from food. Ultimately, nature provides us with the best options to maintain our health.
Conclusion
In conclusion, taking care of our health is an important aspect of our lives, and the two basic rules of healthy eating, increasing fiber and antioxidants in the diet, can help us achieve this goal. Eating adequate amounts of fiber helps to improve intestinal function and benefits various systems of our body. Antioxidants, in turn, help to block the formation of free radicals in the body, which can lead to cell and organ damage. Therefore, by following these simple rules, we can greatly improve our health and well-being.