7 Rules of Healthy Eating You Must Follow

Rules of Healthy Eating: The best scientific guidance available today on food selection for boosting health, preventing disease, and maintaining or reducing weight may be found in these recommendations. These are fundamental principles that most healthy people should follow. For specific advice, if you have a chronic illness or other unique nutritional requirements, speak with a qualified dietitian.

7 guidelines for healthy eating

If you are conscious about your health, eating right is just not an option. In fact, if you eat right, you will be healthier and will live longer as well.

Here are 7 simple rules of healthy eating to follow if you too want to eat right.

1. Eat food that is not cooked too much
2. Stop counting calories
3. Use smaller plates
4. Increase portions of fruits and veggies
5. Take your time for each meal
6. Finish your meal before you begin to feel full
7. Be smart when it comes to including fat

Eat food that is not cooked too much

Eating foods that are close to their natural state is very important. This does not mean that you should eat your foods raw, just that overcooking is not right. While you can eat your salads and fruits raw, you should aim at cooking your vegetables and meats only that much so that you do not destroy their vital nutrients. Overcooking foods can destroy nutrients and make them redundant. Organic foods are much better than any other kind of food and whole foods are better than processed or refined foods.

Stop counting calories

It is important to stay fit and healthy, but if you keep counting calories in everything you eat, you will inadvertently end up excluding a lot of good foods from your diet. Try your best to include all kinds of foods in your diet so that you always eat healthily. If you really want to cut down on some foods, cut down on refined, fried or salty foods which have a lot of empty calories.

Use smaller plates

A lot of people end up overeating simply because their plates are too large. Downsizing your dinnerware can really help you exercise greater control over your portion sizes. Smaller portions mean that you stop yourself from overeating, which is one of the unhealthiest eating habits you could ever develop. Nutrition research from Cornell University has found that downsizing your plate by just two inches can lead you to eat almost 22% fewer calories than before.

Increase portions of fruits and veggies

Most of the nutrients your body needs are concentrated in your fruits and vegetables. These are loaded with nutrients that are excellent for boosting immunity and maintaining the healthy functioning of your body. With every meal, eat a large portion of veggies and fruits as well. You could increase the number of vegetables and pulses in your meal and decrease the number of chapatis and bread.

Take your time for each meal

We all are busy in our lives and have a lot of responsibilities to juggle. More often than not, you will find yourself skipping meals or just scarfing them down because you are on the run. If you are trapping food and just gulping it, a lot of times you are just eating finger foods or fast foods which can be eaten on the go. Therefore, avoid doing that at all costs. Plan your time well so that you have time for every meal. Seat yourself down and eat your meals leisurely. This way, you would chew your food well and it would get digested more easily. You are also more likely to eat good and healthy foods when you seat yourself down and eat leisurely.

Finish your meal before you begin to feel full

Our stomachs often do not know when they are full. Try and stop eating when you feel completely full. If you eat till you feel full, chances are, you would overeat, consume extra calories and feel bloated or uncomfortable at the end of your meal. Experts agree that you should call it quits when you are about 80% full. This may not be very easy to accomplish and it will take you a little time before you are able to anticipate the point where you should just cease to eat, but in time and with practice, you will be able to get a handle on how much to eat and when to stop.

Be smart when it comes to including fat

Fats are part of a healthy, balanced diet. This means that they should be included in your meals too. There are a lot of different kinds of fats – some are good for you and some are just terrible. Saturated fats and trans fats, for instance, are not good for your body at all so avoid them. Add Omega 3 fatty acids and other essential fatty acids to your diet. The best thing is to single out the sources of these fats and then include them in your meals and meal plans.

Also Read: Healthy Eating: 8 Tips To Stay Healthy While Eating Outside