Five tips to start eating healthy

The key to a balanced diet is to consume the right number of calories for your level of activity, striking a balance between the energy you consume and the energy you use. If you take in more food or liquid than your body needs, the extra energy will be stored as fat, causing you to gain weight. If you eat and drink too little, you will lose weight.

To ensure that you are eating a balanced diet and that your body is getting all the nutrients it needs, you should eat a variety of foods.

1- Add more fruits and veggies

You should consume at least five portions of different fruits and vegetables each day, according to recommendations. They can be frozen, fresh, dried, canned, or juiced.

A 150-ml glass of fruit juice, vegetable juice, or smoothie counts as 1 serving as well; however, you should only eat 1 glass of these sweet drinks per day to prevent tooth decay.

2 — Invest in more fibrous

Your diet should contain starchy carbohydrates for a bit more than one-third of your total calories. Cereals, potatoes, bread, rice, and pasta are a few of them.

Choose items like wholewheat pasta, brown rice, or potatoes that still have their skins on that include more fibre or whole grains. They have more fibre than white or refined starchy carbohydrates and might keep you satiated for longer.

With each main meal, try to incorporate at least one starchy food. Although some people believe that starchy meals make you fat, they actually contain fewer calories per gramme of carbohydrate than fat.

3 — Avoid too much saturated fat and sugar

Saturated fat

The risk of developing heart disease increases when you eat saturated fat in large quantities.

Many meals, including fatty meat cuts, sausages, butter, hard cheese, cream, cakes, biscuits, lard, and pies, are high in saturated fat.

Instead, choose foods high in unsaturated fats like avocados, oily seafood, and vegetable spreads. For a healthier option, use vegetable, olive, or low-fat spread in place of butter, lard, or ghee.

Sugar

Sugary meals and beverages are frequently high in energy and might cause weight gain if consumed too frequently. Consuming sugary meals and drinks on a regular basis raises your chances of obesity and tooth decay.

In addition, you should also reduce free sugar rather than milk and fruit-based sugar. Free sugars are all sugars that are either naturally occurring in honey, syrups, unsweetened fruit juices, and smoothies or added to foods or drinks. Large levels of free sugar are present in many packaged meals and beverages.

4 — Reduce the salt in your food

Consuming excessive amounts of salt can elevate blood pressure and increase your risk of heart disease and stroke. You can eat too much even if you don’t salt your food.

Approximately three-quarters of the salt you eat is already present when you buy goods like bread, soup, breakfast cereal, and sauces.

5 — Drink loads of water

To prevent dehydration, you must consume a lot of water. It is advised to consume at least 2 litres of water per day. In addition to this, you also get fluid from the food you eat.

All non-alcoholic beverages are acceptable, but the healthiest options include water, milk with less fat, and beverages with less sugar, including tea and coffee. Drinks with added sugar should be avoided because they are rich in calories. Additionally, they harm your teeth.

Additionally, keep in mind to hydrate more in hot weather and while exercising.

How can HomeMady help you?

Using the Homemady app, you can have a variety of home-cooked meals delivered to your door if you want to start eating healthier.

When homemade cuisine is created with natural, fresh ingredients, it is typically healthier. Numerous items made for fast food outlets contain unfavourable additives as well as excessive amounts of fat, sugar, and salt.