Healthy diets consist of eating nutritious foods. You do not have to have a weight loss goal to start eating right. Healthy eating has been linked to a better health condition. The right foods can help to reduce the risk of diabetes, lower blood pressure, and even improve your cognitive health.
Sadly, some people have a difficult relationship with food. People who grew up with reduced access to fresh produce, too much exposure to fad diet crazes, and a diet heavy in processed foods may not have the right foundation for healthy eating. It would benefit everyone to visit a nutrition specialist to ensure that they develop a healthy relationship to food. Learning the proper way to approach food is incredibly healthy and liberating. A lot of the shame and guilt people feel about certain food choices can be alleviated and understood through learning about food. Knowing why you have cravings can help you to work toward eliminating them. Once you start eating nutritious meals, you will feel cleaner and healthier. This will greatly improve your desire to exercise and your ability to keep going for longer periods of time.
MyPlate Diet
This diet is endorsed by the USDA and is a great way to make intentional changes toward the way you feel about food. It focuses on the food groups and portioning out meals based on them. It can be customized according to your weight and health goals.
As this involves keeping all food groups in your daily consumption, it is a gradual way to transition toward a healthier way of eating. You will learn about healthy portion sizes and how to calculate your caloric intake.
Intuitive Eating
This diet focuses on helping you to get in tune with your body. Often, we eat because we are bored or emotional instead of hungry. This diet requires that you start to pay attention to the way you eat and what triggers you to eat. It helps you recognize when you are truly hungry and identify when you are full. This greatly helps to reduce overeating.
It does not require you to make too many drastic changes to the food groups you consume. It helps you eat better while avoiding the negative emotions associated with depriving yourself of food. This diet is best for helping you to understand your body and why you eat. Keep in mind that this is not a surefire way to lose weight fast or gain stamina.
Clean Eating
This is a diet that you can easily take up once you have mastered intuitive dieting. This diet requires that you slowly eliminate processed foods from your meals. These foods are associated with weight gain, health issues, and lethargy. In addition to eliminating sugar, you are also supposed to reduce your salt intake.
This diet will allow you to start seeing physical changes in yourself within a few weeks of following it. However, these changes will start from the time you start eating fully clean. This is a restrictive diet and can be costly as it requires the constant purchase of fresh produce.
Mayo Clinic Diet
This is a very respected institution, but the diet has received some criticism over the years. It requires you to eat a diet that is low in sugar and rich in nutrients for two weeks. However, at the end of this period, there are few rules and restrictions. This has led to some people returning to their previous ways of eating and undoing the benefits of the two weeks of clean eating.
If you are disciplined enough, then you would be able to continue eating a healthy diet after the initial two weeks. As the initial diet is not sustainable for the long term, it puts the onus on you to find another diet to follow that incorporates the same values of this method.
Super Carb Diet
This is a restrictive diet that decides the exact amounts of food you are allowed to eat at exact times of the day. It requires eliminating processed foods and is good for weight loss. However, it needs a highly disciplined approach. You are expected to eat fiber-rich carbohydrates and can have snacks but only in set amounts per food group.
Anti-Inflammatory Diet
Reducing inflammation can help some people to reduce weight gain, improve their health, and help get better control of chronic pain. This diet is not too restrictive, but it does require eliminating processed foods.
You can continue eating sugar but in reduced amounts. Hence, it is best to turn to natural sugars. Meat is allowed, but lean meat is preferred. Fish is also preferred over meat. Healthy oils and fats, such as fish and olive oil and different types of nuts, are encouraged instead of oils that are high in omega-6, such as sunflower or corn oil.
DASH Diet
The dietary approaches to stop hypertension (DASH) diet is designed to prevent high blood pressure. It is good for anyone seeking to change their approach to food.
DASH helps you to make healthier choices within the food groups. It is not very restrictive and can be easier to follow than most diets. People who struggle with eliminating or reducing carbs will enjoy this diet as you can still eat them. The difference is that you must replace refined grains with whole grains.
The hardest part of diets for many people is that it requires you to give up on certain meats, sugars, and processed foods. However, consistency is key. People need to make a conscious choice and make sacrifices to gain the improved health and well-being that these methods promise.
