Healthy eating is all about making positive choices, focusing on food which provides necessary nutrients to maintain good health, prevent deficiency diseases and chronic diet-related disorders.
Here are few tips to keep in mind while making diet choices.
Eat your veggies
- Include 2 servings of sprouts and vegetable salads daily.
- Include greens thrice a week.
- Avoid Potato, Sweet potato, yam, Tapioca, Beetroot, Jack fruit seeds.
- Include salads (raw vegetables) before each meal.
- Avoid rice, Thick dal/ pulses and fruits in dinner.
Eat fruits every day
- Include at least 3 serving of fresh fruits in your daily diet.
- Have a bowl of fresh-cut fruits in empty stomach (in between meals).
- Always prefer whole fruits over fruit juices.
Drink up Milk
- Low fat or skimmed milk is preferred than whole milk.
- Avoid Whole milk and milk products like butter, ghee, cheese and paneer.
Lean is better
- Prefer white meat over red meat as it has more saturated fat than lean meats.
- Avoid Red meat, Organ meat, Egg yolk, Sausages, Fried fish, Fried Chicken, Chicken with skin.
- Boiled/ Steamed Chicken or Fish are preferred over fried.
Cut the salt
- Reduce daily intake of salt
- Eat no more than 6gms of salt per day (1-2 teaspoons/day)
- Pink Himalayan salt, rock salt are a good variety of salts which can be included in our diets
Toss the sugar
- Reduce daily intake of added & processed sugar.
- Prefer natural sources of sugar over added or processed sugar.
Stay Hydrated
- Water intake should be at least 3L/day.
- Drink a glass of water before each meal.
- On rising have a glass of lukewarm water with few drops of lime (optional).
- Avoid aerated drinks & sodas. If you drink alcoholic beverages, do so in moderation.
Eliminate Junk Food
- Restrict or eliminate all sugar-added processed and junk foods that are high in calories and contains few or no nutrients.
- Avoid Bakery products, Refined or Processed food, Sweets, deep-fried and junk foods.
- Low fat or no fat is preferred.
Meals on time
- Maintain regular meal timings.
- Do not skip meals and do not give long meal gaps.
- Have small and frequent meals.
- Have an early and light dinner.
Dr. Anjum Fatima | Clinical Dietician | Narayana Multispeciality Hospital Mysore