Eating whole food has many, many healthy benefits including lowering your chances of suffering from heart disease, diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure and obesity. If you want to become or stay healthy, you need to take a look at what you are putting in your mouth.
People who eat healthy, mostly unprocessed foods including fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and small amounts of lean animal protein become healthier and slimmer. They many times find that they can eat as much as they want without the risk of weight gain. But, why?
Because natural fruits, vegetables and whole grains are high in complex carbohydrates and fiber, they are absorbed slowly and satisfy your feelings of hunger. They also do not contain white sugars and simple carbohydrates that make your blood sugar spike and drip at alarming rates. This causes confusion in your body and your mind, thus food cravings begin. Processed foods (which have little to no nutritional value) don’t leave you feeling satisfyingly full, so you eat more of them.
Learning to eat well and exercise is the only solution to becoming healthy, staying healthy and obtaining and maintaining long-term ideal weight. While striving to eat a healthy diet, one must consider variety. All food groups should be a part of your meal.
Aim for the following portions with each main meal - ½ plate vegetables, ¼ plate meat, ¼ plate plant based food (rice, pasta, bread) and a side serving of fruit. Portion sizes must also be taken into consideration. A good judge of portion size is the palm of your hand.
