Base Your Nutritional Plan on Healthy Foods
Eating a diet based on a nutritional plan with healthy foods has many benefits. It can help you to lose weight and maintain your optimal weight as well. Moreover, it can reduce cholesterol levels and prevent certain health conditions.
We must learn to select healthy foods for our diets. Up next, we’ll show you the types of foods you should choose and the benefits they bring to your body.
Grains
In order to base your nutritional plan on healthy foods, you must choose menus that include whole grains as the first ingredient; such as bread or whole wheat flour. This is important because whole grains have a low fat content and a high percentage of fiber.
They also contain complex carbohydrates that help to achieve satiety, which prevents you from overeating. You must avoid foods that are classified as enriched or that contain other types of grain and flour. These foods won’t provide the same types of nutrients.
You should try not to eat sweets, such as donuts or buns, as these foods contain calories made up of more than 60 percent fat. You can add other sweets to your diet, such as angel cake or healthy foods that don’t add fat to your body.
Fruits and vegetables
Fruits and vegetables are naturally healthy food. They have very low percentages of fat and contain the necessary vitamins, minerals, and fiber for your daily life. Therefore, you must try not to add unnecessary fats to these foods.
This means that you should avoid butter, margarine, and mayonnaise. Instead of eating those types of foods, you can try replacing them with healthy oils, yogurt, or different aromatic herbs.
Proteins
A nutritional plan based on healthy foods should include low-fat lean meats.
To help you in the process of choosing what to buy, it’s good to know that pork lean cuts are called loin or leg, and lean beef cuts are called loin or round steak.
You must remove the external fat before cooking it and also remove any internal fat that you can separate before eating it. To season the meat, we highly recommend you use herbs, spices, or a marinade with low salt content.
The healthiest ways to cook this type of meat is by baking, grilling, or flattop grilling, as well as sauteeing it.
When it comes to fish, most seafood contains healthy polyunsaturated fats. Other fish, such as salmon or trout, are rich in omega-3 fatty acids. To prepare the fish, the best options are boiling, steaming, baking or roasting.
Dairy products
In the case of cheeses, look for labels indicating that they have a low-fat content or are partially skimmed. Goat’s cheese is an excellent option since it has a high calcium content and is low in fat.
Fats and oils
Adding too many high fat foods to your diet causes an excess of calories. This can lead to weight gain or obesity problems; it can also increase the risk of suffering from different heart diseases, diabetes, or some types of cancer.
If your diet has high amounts of saturated and trans fats, you will be more likely to have higher than normal cholesterol levels and suffer from coronary heart disease.
It’s also very important to stay hydrated. However, you shouldn’t drink sugary or carbonated beverages as they contain a large amount of calories. You must stop drinking fruit juices, soft drinks, or energy drinks. It’s crucial to replace all these drinks with water and other alternatives that have zero calories.
In conclusion, you’ve now seen all the types of foods that you must eat to follow a nutritional plan based on healthy foods. Don’t forget to follow our advice regarding grains, dairy products, fruits and vegetables, meats and oils, and fats. If you follow this advice, your body will thank you.