Eating Well: Everything You Need To Know

Eating well can be a difficult task if you don’t follow basic healthy eating guidelines. Industry and advertising often lead us to increase our consumption of processed foods. This hinders the quality of our food, which must be based mainly on fresh and little adulterated products.

One of the main evils of current food is the use of sugar and additives in preparations. These products improve the palatability and preservation of foods at the expense of their nutritional quality. Next, find out what you should consider to eat well.

Eating well: the key is to maintain a varied diet

This is the fundamental pillar of healthy eating. A varied diet guarantees the correct supply of almost all the nutrients we need for the development of our functions.

Although it is a pretty obvious rule, nowadays there is a wide spread of numerous restrictive diets that limit the consumption of certain foods. These diets often lack scientific evidence and are based on popular beliefs that certain foods are capable of causing inflammation.

However, restriction of food groups is generally not positive, except in the case of an allergy or intolerance identified by a physician, and never by another health professional.

Restriction usually entails an associated deficiency of one or more nutrients. For this reason, many of the restrictive diets are often associated with supplementation of certain micronutrients to compensate for deficiencies.

However, eating well does not mean restricting, but combining. The key to a correct diet is to consume many different foods, but each in its proper measure.

The only restriction is the toxins.

Despite the widespread idea that drinking a glass of wine a day is a healthy habit, the truth is that alcohol and drugs are the only substances that we should restrict in the diet, as stated in a publication by the BMJ ( British Medical Journal – from the United Kingdom) . They are toxic substances and, in this case, it is always better to avoid this type of element.

A glass of wine does not improve the cardiovascular system nor does it have a remarkable antioxidant capacity. The antioxidant power of tannins is much greater when consuming the grapes and preventing their fermentation.  On the other hand, there are other substances that prevent DNA oxidation much more efficiently, such as blueberry.

Alcohol consumption is difficult to eliminate due to the social component it entails, but it is important to be aware of its risks and keep in mind that this is an important disadvantage when we talk about health, even if it is a controlled consumption.

Fresh food is better than processed

Another disadvantage of current food is the consumption of ultra-processed foods and fast food. These foods are usually characterized by the high presence of sugars and additives whose influence on health in the medium term is not known for sure.

Therefore, it is important to prioritize fresh foods when we want to eat well. Choosing simple preparations and avoiding fried foods and pasta further improves the quality of our diet, preventing the formation of harmful substances such as acrylamide.

Vitamins and antioxidants in their proper measure

A trend in the American diet is to consume vitamin supplements indiscriminately. The consequence of this decision could be an increased likelihood of long-term cardiovascular disease.

Currently, evidence recommends not taking vitamin supplements if there are no obvious deficiencies, especially with regard to B vitamins. The same is true for antioxidants. The consumption of these nutrients is necessary, but in the diet itself. It is not necessary to include the intake of supplements.

So we’re back to the idea that the key to a healthy diet is variety. Eating well is not synonymous with supplementation.

To eat well, we must prioritize the consumption of fish over meat

In recent years, according to a study published in  Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology , it has been suggested that meat consumption may have an influence on the development of certain types of cancer. Although this fact has not been demonstrated with the best evidence, it is clear that reducing consumption of these foods in favor of fish is a healthy habit.

First, because fish has a noticeably lower calorie content and therefore we reduce the chances of falling on a high-calorie diet and becoming overweight.

On the other hand, because they tend to have a greater amount of mono and polyunsaturated fatty acids that are beneficial for the functioning of the cardiovascular system.

The importance of fiber and flora

The most recent researches attribute a greater role to the intestinal flora in the correct functioning of the organism. Thus, eating well includes in its definition an adequate consumption of fiber and probiotics that allow the correct health of the microbiota.

Keeping colonic bacteria healthy and functional will improve nutrient absorption, the formation of short-chain fatty acids (anti-inflammatory), and reduce the chances of digestive tract cancer.

As if that wasn’t enough, it was shown that the quality of the intestinal flora influences the processes of depression and sports performance.

Eating well influences health

As you have seen, food has a decisive influence on health. Changing certain habits can help reduce the incidence of certain complex diseases, both in the medium and long term. It is never too late to implement strategies to improve the quality of our food.