Top 10 Healthy Eating Habits To Nourish Your Mind, Body and Soul

"You are what you eat." We have all heard this phrase at least once in our lives. While this may sound cliche to some people, the food we eat daily significantly impacts our physical and mental health. Eating a balanced diet full of nutrients, including vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and protein has been scientifically proven to have tremendous health benefits.

It keeps our bodies protected from various health conditions and chronic illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity by providing it with the nourishment it needs for immunity. And switching to a balanced diet and a healthy eating regime doesn't have to be immediate or overwhelming.

Using these simple healthy eating tips and dietary and lifestyle modifications mentioned in this article, you can easily achieve your desired health goals, while still consuming the foods that you love, and feel great as a result.

Top 10 Tips for Healthy Eating

To eat healthily really isn’t that complicated. Simply stay away from processed foods, include wholesome, natural food choices, and only indulge yourself in your favourite sweets, treats and sins when the privilege for such ‘pleasantries’ has been earned.

Here are the top 10 healthy eating tips for nourishing the mind, body, and soul:

1. Eat a Balanced Breakfast

Breakfast provides the necessary fuel for your body and fulfils a huge chunk of your daily dietary requirements. Eating a balanced breakfast maintains your blood sugar level, boosts brain productivity, and improves overall health. Research shows that skipping breakfast and depriving yourself of good nutrition increases the chances of Type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases significantly.

A healthy eating routine has obviously got to start with a nutritious diet. Keep in mind, a balanced morning meal should include protein, healthy fats, whole grains, milk, and some fruit. Here are some suggestions to kick start your morning and fuel yourself for the days adventure:

1. Greek yoghurt with blueberries and banana
2. Whole grain toast with eggs and avocado
3. Muesli or chia seed pudding with fruits

Your breakfast depends heavily on your individual needs. And while there is significant evidence that morning fasting has profound health benefits, particularly in the improvement of disease biomarkers and the improvement of metabolic health and weight loss, for most people skipping breakfast can have negative consequences because of the fact that most of modern society, although in a high calorific surplus, is undernourished, and current diet and lifestyles are inadequate and fail to provide the body with what it needs for optimal metabolic regulation and survival.

However, a good rule of thumb is to have a decent breakfast within 30 minutes to an hour of waking up, and paying close attention to overall intake, and occasionally implementing periods of fasting into your routine can certainly play in your favour if you’re looking to lose weight, and benefit from the enhanced metabolic effects of fasting. For more information speak with your healthcare provider, a dietician, or your general practitioner for advice on healthy eating and intermittent fasting.

2. Choose Whole Grains

Whole grains are packed with fibre and are essential to balanced and healthy eating, and unlike refined grains, they have not been stripped of their beneficiary elements, e.g., bran, endosperm, and germ. These components are rich in minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants, making them nutrient-rich and excellent for improving digestion and colon motility.

Oats, barley, quinoa, brown rice, corn, and whole-grain bread are some of the most amazing whole-grain foods you can easily incorporate into your daily diet without compromising taste. When it comes to carbohydrates, the browner the better. Replacing those refined options with these whole grain alternatives has been linked to lower risk of heart disease, type-2 diabetes, cancer, and even the prevention of asthma.

3. Add More Green Vegetables to Your Diet

If you’re looking to adopt a healthy eating routine, then leafy green vegetables are integral and you’re going to want to consume them on a daily basis. They’re packed with vitamins, minerals, and fibres and offer such profound health benefits that they’re not to be overlooked if you’re prioritising health.

Some examples of green vegetables are spinach, kale, romaine lettuce, swiss chard, mustard greens, and bok choy, full of essential nutrients like vitamin A, C, K, and folate, also known as vitamin B.

Adding a variety of these vegetables to your diet can reduce the risk of obesity, high blood pressure, and mental decline. The great thing about them is that they have a low calorific value but are nutrient-dense, packed with vitamins that aid both digestion and reduce inflammation, making them a staple part of a healthy diet, which is a critical component of a healthy lifestyle. As mother always says, eat your greens!

People usually prefer taste over nutrition and overlook the undeniable benefits from consuming leafy greens. Still, you can easily add them to your daily meals through soups, salads, sandwiches, or sautéed with herbs and a little spice. They can even be blended up into a smoothie with other vegetables and fruits for a quick fix of all your nutrient requirements.

4. Stay Hydrated

While there is so much focus on getting the right nutrients from the right foods at the right time, staying hydrated is the single best thing that you can do for your body. Staying hydrated supports physical performance, prevents headaches, maintains body temperature, and enables the body to function properly across all physiological metrics.

Adding a few glasses of water to our daily life can boost brain performance and have a positive impact on mental processing and cognition. Our body needs water to digest food, metabolise nutrients, and regulate bowel movements, and an insufficient amount of fluid circulating the body can have drastic health implications.

Another overlooked advantage of adequate hydration is the lowered risk of anxiety and depression, along with a significant improvement in emotional health and well-being. There may not be a perfect figure, as water requirements will depend on several factors including age, activity levels, and general health, but it is recommended that you aim to drink between 6-8 glasses of water daily.

Using a dedicated hydration bottle with timings and measurement recommendations can ensure you get the water you need, exactly when you need it.

5. Cut Down on Processed & Fast Food

In these fast-paced times, it may seem convenient to cut down on cooking and opt for fast-foods food options like burgers, fries, cakes, savouries, or canned edibles, plus they generally taste better too, right? However, these tempting delights are harming your brain and body.

Chemically processed foods contain refined carbohydrates, sugar, and trans fats. This makes them a leading contributing factor to obesity and illness. Most fast and processed food is loaded with carbohydrates with almost zero fibre. Regularly consuming fast and processed food can lead to digestion problems and disturbed blood sugar levels.

It may not be achievable to cut down or cut out all the processed foods at once. However, a good way to begin eliminating those unhealthy options is to check the nutritional values of the food you purchase, such as fat, sugar, and sodium content, and go for the minimally processed foods which contain less of these harmful substances and more of what the body naturally craves, like wholesome carbs, fibre, proteins and essential fats.

6. Eat in Smaller Portions

One of the most popular and practical ways to start eating healthier is to first cut down food intake and use smaller portion sizes. Controlling portions doesn't mean we have to starve ourselves. It's just retraining the brain to see a smaller-than-normal portion as being enough to satisfy the stomach, which is usually never as big as the appetite of the eyes. This method of controlled eating improves digestion and weight control, and keeps the blood sugar in optimal range, ensuring you don’t consume more than you need and end up feeling bloated and lethargic as a consequence.

The Ohio State University's Wexner Medical Center suggests some great ways to start healthy eating through smaller portions:

1. Fill fifty percent of your plate with salad and vegetables and the remaining half with proteins and other foods. Following the 40-50% carbohydrate, 30% protein, and 20-30% fat rule.
2. Prefer cooking your meals at home rather than eating out. It keeps both portions and calories in check, and you’ll likely save a quid or two.
3. Eat the proteins before you eat the carbs. This can help with satiation and reduce carbs and overall calorie intake.

7. Plan Healthy Midday Snacks

Feeling hungry and craving a snack between meals is okay. Just don't let a pack of crisps, those disgusting chocolate chip cookies by Terry’s, you know the ones that are crispy and crunchy on the outside and heavingly gooey on the inside? Anyway, don’t let these, or any other unhealthy snack break your promise of eating healthy.

If you are trying to lose weight but can't miss out on the nibbling of your favourite snacks and treats, here are some delicious low-calorie midday snack ideas for you that contain essential nutrients, they’re low in calories, and they taste good, just not as good as those Terry’s cookies.

1. One apple (sliced) with half a teaspoon of peanut butter = 86 Kcal
2. A small handful of blueberries (40 mg) with plain low-fat yoghurt (125 gm) = 96 Kcal
3. Dried apricots (3) with almonds (8) = 106 Kcal
4. One boiled egg with a medium chopped tomato (80 gm) and a handful of spinach leaves = 107 Kcal.

8. Increase Your Protein Intake

If you’re aiming for healthy eating, then you’re going to want to snuggle up and make protein your new best friend. The health effects of carbohydrates or fats may be controversial, but the necessity for protein is indisputable.

A protein-rich diet helps you build muscle, forms the building blocks of tissues and organs, strengthens your hair, skin, and bones, and, most importantly, keeps your hunger in check. It takes more time to digest, decreasing your appetite and hunger, and helps to maintain healthy blood pressure levels. You can get some healthy protein through these delicious foods:

1. Eggs
2. Milk
3. Meat
4. Fish
5. Cheese
6. Nuts
7. Yoghurt

9. Try a New Healthy Recipe Every Week

Deciding what to cook for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day may seem frustrating, and that's why many people prefer to stick with weekly plans or cook the same bunch of recipes repeatedly, which is fine if you’re ok with the same old foods week in week out, but it can become tedious and boring. It’s recommended to diversify your eating habits and include a variety of food options from the main food groups in order to fulfil dietary requirements and keep food choices interesting.

Trying a new recipe with healthy and nutritious ingredients makes you mindful of your eating habits, it gives you the opportunity to explore avenues of nutrition that would normally be steered clear of, but above all it offers great nutritious dishes that taste great, they’re simple to prepare, and they’re loaded with all the essential vitamins and minerals the body needs to nourish the brain, body, and soul.

Here are some quick and easy meal ideas that you can enjoy with your family without compromising on taste:

1. Air-fried fish with avocado salad
2. Tacos with cauliflower and cheese
3. Stir-fried tofu with vegetables
4. Vegetables and fruit smoothies
5. Low-carb beef noodles with broccoli

10. Cut the Colas & Sugary Beverages

It should be common knowledge now that staying hydrated is one of the most important things you can do to support your overall health, but choosing the right drinks is key. While water should be the go-to for hydration there is a world of healthy beverages available that offer the hydratory effects of water, but also provide valuable nutrients, such as green tea, black coffee, homemade smoothies and protein shakes. 

Try to avoid sugar-free sodas and energy drinks as they have little nutritional value and have been linked to the development of type 2 diabetes and heart disease, as well as leaving you hungry and dissatisfied after their consumption. And while some effort has been undertaken by the government to reduce sugar levels in conventional drinks, it’s important to be mindful of these sugars, and their sweeter alternatives, as they have significant impact on health and well-being and contribute to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and a range of other health implications and comorbidities.

Overall, while a chilled can of cola may seem irresistible, mindful and healthy eating demands you to cut sodas and switch to healthy options, while preserving such sweets and treats for times when these alternative choices can be enjoyed, but done so in moderation and as part of a healthy living lifestyle.

Planning, Preparation & Consistency

Healthy eating and sustaining a balanced and nutrient-rich diet may seem daunting initially, but adopting this lifestyle and following a healthy eating schedule is possible, and it’s not as difficult as you may think. But some lifestyle changes have to be made. Eating fresh, fibrous, and nutrient-dense foods will boost your immunity, strengthen your bones and muscles, and have a significant impact on your overall physical, mental, and emotional health and well-being.

To get the most out of your new healthy eating regime, try incorporating walking, exercise, and other physical activities such as yoga, pilates, and weight training into your daily life. You don't always need nutritionist-recommended diet plans and charts to achieve your health goals and over time you’ll learn of your body's nutritional requirements, and you can gradually keep modifying your dietary and lifestyle habits in order to meet individual demands and preferences.

Stay cautious about what you eat, check the labels of the products that you purchase, avoid highly processed foods, and focus on eating fresh, homemade meals, natural food choices. Remember, the general rule is if it’s packaged and off the shelf, it’s been through a system of processing and it’s harmful.

If you’re looking for more tips and tricks on healthy eating and sustainable nutrition, and you’re looking for tailored activity and exercise plans to accompany your new healthy living journey, visit the Shopifit Store.