Guest Post: The Best Foods for a Healthy Life

It may sound trite, it may be clichéd, but it is the truth – we are what we eat. It’s the nutrients (or junk) from our food that decides on our body composition and provides us with good health (or brings disease upon us). So it makes sense to eat the best foods, not in terms of taste, but with a view towards boosting our health and keeping us free from illness and disease. So what kind of food is good for you?

·      Fresh: The fresher the ingredients, the more the nutrients in your food. So choose fruits and vegetables that are in season and which haven’t been refrigerated for days together. Avoid canned veggies and fruits when you can buy fresh alternatives, even though you may have to spend more time cleaning and cutting them. Don’t be tempted by processed items because they’re refined so much that they’ve lost most of their basic nutritional value. When you choose freshness over convenience, you’re giving your health a big advantage.

·      Freshly prepared: It’s not just enough to buy fresh ingredients, you also have to make an effort to prepare and serve fresh food. Most of us are used to cooking in large batches and freezing what we don’t use immediately because we’re pressed for time. However, cook fresh food as much as you can because the nutritive value of food decreases the longer you freeze it.

·      Low in fat and calories: Not all fats are bad for you – some of them like omega 3 fatty acids help boost your brainpower and are good sources of antioxidants that prevent cancer and other diseases. However, it’s best you restrict your intake of fatty foods and those that are high in calories because you tend to put on weight when you don’t control what you eat. Besides being undesirable for aesthetic reasons, obesity is associated with a variety of illnesses and diseases which lower the quality of your life.

·      Low on additives: And finally, avoid foods high in additives like salt and sugar and preservatives like MSG because they’re not good for health. Sugar makes you put on weight, salt causes hypertension, and preservatives are bad for your brain health.

Since food is an everyday affair, it could be hard to resist temptation altogether and stick only to healthy foods, especially when you’re bombarded with a variety of delights to tease your taste buds. The key to enjoying good health even as you enjoy food is moderation – when you’re able to rein in your cravings and stop with just a taste or a few bites of food that is tasty but high in calories and low on nutrition, you don’t compromise on your health or the quality of your diet. 

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This guest post is contributed by Paul Hench, he writes on the topic of mph degrees. He welcomes your comments at his email id: paul.23hench@gmail.com.