Most of us know that we should improve our eating habits to be healthier and more nutritious. It’s common knowledge that the benefits of eating healthy outweigh the benefits of eating foods with loads of sugar, fats, and added salt. While the latter might be enticing with its sweet treats and greasy foods, a prolonged unhealthy diet can decrease your overall mental and physical health.
Making the switch to eating healthier can be difficult and seem overwhelming, but it’s well worth it. Food can give us vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that we need to be healthier, and we can get all that without giving up on delicious flavors. We’ve outlined five ways that eating healthy will improve your health.
1. Improved Heart Health
A healthy eating lifestyle can promote a healthier heart for multiple reasons. Diet impacts blood pressure and blood cholesterol, and by eating less saturated fats and sugars, you will have an easier time managing your levels.
High blood pressure can lead to serious issues like heart attack, stroke, or heart failure. Foods like fatty meats, full-fat dairy products, and sugary drinks may cause your blood pressure and blood sugar levels to rise, and if your diet mainly consists of these kinds of foods, you could be putting yourself at risk for developing a heart condition.
Foods that help to improve heart health are:
- Vegetables, fruits, and whole grains (brown rice, oatmeal)
- Nuts, seeds, legumes, beans
- Fat-free or low-fat dairy (or no dairy at all!)
- Low-fat or lean poultry and fish
Sticking to lean meats and cutting out extra fats is helpful for heart health, but a plant-based diet is one of the easiest ways to eat healthier. Along with lifestyle changes like increasing physical activity, a healthy diet will help you to retain energy, allowing you to function better for longer. If you have a family history of heart disease, healthy eating might be your best option for securing a healthier future.
2. Better Gut Health
If your gut is out of whack, the rest of your body could feel the same. And surprise, surprise—what you eat impacts your gut health!
Good bacteria live inside of your gut and play various roles in digestion and metabolism. The good bacteria also fight back against harmful bacteria and viruses, so having a surplus of them is helpful for your overall health. Good bacteria need fiber to fuel themselves, so eating plenty of whole grains, complex carbohydrates, vegetables like broccoli, and fruits is helpful to supply your body with prebiotics and probiotics.
A diet high in saturated fats and sugars can cause inflammation in the gut, so steering clear of overloading your body with these foods will help you avoid any future discomfort.
3. Weight Management
Maintaining a moderate weight through a healthy diet can be helpful in improving your health. Being overweight and eating a not-so-healthy diet are risk factors in diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and bone density loss, but it’s never too late to start eating better!
Healthy foods like fruits, vegetables, and legumes are much lower in calories than processed foods and may lower your risk for obesity. You can monitor your daily calorie intake a little bit better when you are eating whole foods more frequently. When you’re steering clear of lots of sugars, trans fats, or salt in whole foods, it makes it easier to keep a healthy diet.
Processed foods do not actually satisfy your hunger as well as whole foods, but foods with tons of dietary fiber and healthy fats do. These whole foods include fruits, veggies, legumes, nuts, seeds, and whole grains. Dietary fiber helps manage weight because it keeps you feeling sustained for longer periods of time and will fill you up faster.
4. Improved Mood and Energy
Some research has been done to see the impact of diet on your overall mood and mental health. It was found that consuming foods that are higher in their glycemic load might trigger depression, anxiety, and fatigue.
Foods with a higher glycemic load include refined carbs, white bread, sugary drinks like soda with high-fructose corn syrup, and sweets. People who follow a healthier diet, eating mainly whole foods like quinoa, kale, fruits, and vegetables, will intake much lower glycemic levels, better sleep quality, and better mood.
Sources of lean protein like salmon or lentils, foods like avocados that are high in omega-3 fatty acids, and produce packed with antioxidants are all great options.
These foods will also provide you with longer-lasting energy, which is helpful in improving your mood. You can get more things done in a day when you are eating healthy foods that are fueling you rather than slowing you down.
5. Eating With Thistle
If you want to feel secure knowing that what you are eating is healthy, you can sign-up with Thistle and get plant-based breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. Our goal at Thistle is to provide healthy and nutritious meals that are plant-based, delicious, and convenient. We want everyone to get a taste of how delicious plant-based meals can be and just how easy it is to combine healthy ingredients to get a variety of meals.
We rotate our menus every week so that we can offer a variety of different meals and can use many ingredients that are available to us locally. You can view our menus for the upcoming two weeks to see just how we use good food to create delicious meals.
Eating healthy doesn’t have to be so intimidating—it comes down to a commitment to bettering your health and setting your future self up for success. The time to start eating healthy is now, and you can do so with Thistle.
Sources:
Benefits of Healthy Eating | Nutrition | DNPAO | CDC
Inflammatory Links Between High Fat Diets and Diseases | NCBI
Most of us know that we should improve our eating habits to be healthier and more nutritious. It’s common knowledge that the benefits of eating healthy outweigh the benefits of eating foods with loads of sugar, fats, and added salt. While the latter might be enticing with its sweet treats and greasy foods, a prolonged unhealthy diet can decrease your overall mental and physical health.
Making the switch to eating healthier can be difficult and seem overwhelming, but it’s well worth it. Food can give us vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that we need to be healthier, and we can get all that without giving up on delicious flavors. We’ve outlined five ways that eating healthy will improve your health.
1. Improved Heart Health
A healthy eating lifestyle can promote a healthier heart for multiple reasons. Diet impacts blood pressure and blood cholesterol, and by eating less saturated fats and sugars, you will have an easier time managing your levels.
High blood pressure can lead to serious issues like heart attack, stroke, or heart failure. Foods like fatty meats, full-fat dairy products, and sugary drinks may cause your blood pressure and blood sugar levels to rise, and if your diet mainly consists of these kinds of foods, you could be putting yourself at risk for developing a heart condition.
Foods that help to improve heart health are:
- Vegetables, fruits, and whole grains (brown rice, oatmeal)
- Nuts, seeds, legumes, beans
- Fat-free or low-fat dairy (or no dairy at all!)
- Low-fat or lean poultry and fish
Sticking to lean meats and cutting out extra fats is helpful for heart health, but a plant-based diet is one of the easiest ways to eat healthier. Along with lifestyle changes like increasing physical activity, a healthy diet will help you to retain energy, allowing you to function better for longer. If you have a family history of heart disease, healthy eating might be your best option for securing a healthier future.
2. Better Gut Health
If your gut is out of whack, the rest of your body could feel the same. And surprise, surprise—what you eat impacts your gut health!
Good bacteria live inside of your gut and play various roles in digestion and metabolism. The good bacteria also fight back against harmful bacteria and viruses, so having a surplus of them is helpful for your overall health. Good bacteria need fiber to fuel themselves, so eating plenty of whole grains, complex carbohydrates, vegetables like broccoli, and fruits is helpful to supply your body with prebiotics and probiotics.
A diet high in saturated fats and sugars can cause inflammation in the gut, so steering clear of overloading your body with these foods will help you avoid any future discomfort.
3. Weight Management
Maintaining a moderate weight through a healthy diet can be helpful in improving your health. Being overweight and eating a not-so-healthy diet are risk factors in diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and bone density loss, but it’s never too late to start eating better!
Healthy foods like fruits, vegetables, and legumes are much lower in calories than processed foods and may lower your risk for obesity. You can monitor your daily calorie intake a little bit better when you are eating whole foods more frequently. When you’re steering clear of lots of sugars, trans fats, or salt in whole foods, it makes it easier to keep a healthy diet.
Processed foods do not actually satisfy your hunger as well as whole foods, but foods with tons of dietary fiber and healthy fats do. These whole foods include fruits, veggies, legumes, nuts, seeds, and whole grains. Dietary fiber helps manage weight because it keeps you feeling sustained for longer periods of time and will fill you up faster.
4. Improved Mood and Energy
Some research has been done to see the impact of diet on your overall mood and mental health. It was found that consuming foods that are higher in their glycemic load might trigger depression, anxiety, and fatigue.
Foods with a higher glycemic load include refined carbs, white bread, sugary drinks like soda with high-fructose corn syrup, and sweets. People who follow a healthier diet, eating mainly whole foods like quinoa, kale, fruits, and vegetables, will intake much lower glycemic levels, better sleep quality, and better mood.
Sources of lean protein like salmon or lentils, foods like avocados that are high in omega-3 fatty acids, and produce packed with antioxidants are all great options.
These foods will also provide you with longer-lasting energy, which is helpful in improving your mood. You can get more things done in a day when you are eating healthy foods that are fueling you rather than slowing you down.
5. Eating With Thistle
If you want to feel secure knowing that what you are eating is healthy, you can sign-up with Thistle and get plant-based breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. Our goal at Thistle is to provide healthy and nutritious meals that are plant-based, delicious, and convenient. We want everyone to get a taste of how delicious plant-based meals can be and just how easy it is to combine healthy ingredients to get a variety of meals.
We rotate our menus every week so that we can offer a variety of different meals and can use many ingredients that are available to us locally. You can view our menus for the upcoming two weeks to see just how we use good food to create delicious meals.
Eating healthy doesn’t have to be so intimidating—it comes down to a commitment to bettering your health and setting your future self up for success. The time to start eating healthy is now, and you can do so with Thistle.
Sources:
Benefits of Healthy Eating | Nutrition | DNPAO | CDC
Inflammatory Links Between High Fat Diets and Diseases | NCBI
