Start by Eating Properly
What you eat is the key to a healthy lifestyle
This is a broad literature review. This review's primary purpose is to show the most recent discoveries regarding nutrition for a healthy lifestyle and weight loss. The article does not focus on needs for specific diseases nor diets. Always ask your doctor for advice.
Food quality and not food quantity is the key to weight loss. Diet is a heavy and inefficient term. Psychologically speaking, your mind tends to ignore and avoid anything that feels unpleasing and as a sacrifice. You should eat in an ecological manner, meaning you should create an eating system capable of being carried throughout life.
Think balance. A proper meal should include good sources of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, and vegetables. The basis of our everyday meals should be in nature and minimally processed aliments, with processed food being added now and then to facilitate life (if processed food is something you want - some people even avoid it altogether).
Think of the path food takes from nature to your table. The shortest it is, the best that aliment is for you. The food you see at the supermarket in the shape you see in nature must be your go-to for healthy eating. Think of fruits, vegetables, eggs, and meat. They come directly from animals and plants to you. These are natural foods. In other words, real food.
When it comes to Minimally processed and ultra-processed food, to make it more straightforward, we created a small guide below:
Minimally processed food
They may have gone through crushing, filtering, boiling, pasteurization, refrigeration. Minimally processed food still has an obvious path from nature to your table. They can come in packages or canned for convenience. However, you can visualize it in nature. Examples of minimally processed food are lentils, mushrooms, chestnuts and walnuts, grains, humus butter (not all butter is minimally processed - be careful).
Processed food
Food that the industry has fabricated with the addition of salt, sugar, or fats. They are usually very convenient and make your life easier in the kitchen.
Processed food includes cheeses, canned corn, peas, and bread.
Let’s use bread as an example. You do not see bread in nature, but you can figure out the path it took from nature to your table. Another example is cheese. You do not see it in nature, but you know where it comes from. The path from nature to your table is somewhat clear.
Processed food should not be the foundation of your plate but could be used smartly to create healthy meals when combined with unprocessed and minimally processed food. If processed food is something you want in your life, make sure to check the ingredients used by the industry before you buy them. Choose wisely. We will explain more about it later in this article.
Ultra-processed food
It is not real food. Ultra-processed food should not be eaten often and should never be the foundation of your plate. We even advise you to create a system where you will eventually get rid of it once and for all. The more you avoid it, the better (especially if you need to lose weight, fight a chronic health condition, or want to have a healthy lifestyle).
Keep in mind that eating real food is not a matter of weight loss only but building a healthy habit for life.
You can hardly think of the path an ultra-processed food took from nature to your table. Preservatives, acidulants, sweeteners, artificial colors and flavors, emulsifiers (among other things) are added in ultra-processed food.
Ultra-processed food is far away from what they were in nature.
How can you find out the difference between processed or ultra-processed food at the supermarket?
See the following examples:
Corn cob - unprocessed food
Canned corn - Processed food
Corn flour * - Processed food
Corn chips - Ultra-processed food
Almond flour, wheat flour, rice flour. Any flour is processed food.
Gluten is an inflammatory protein (for anyone). Avoid wheat flour. The gluten DNA from 2000 years ago has already changed about 10 times. The gluten we have today harms our intestines, causing a leaky gut - which can be associated with inflammation and even auto-immune diseases.
Rice flour is very caloric. It's not a good idea for those who wish to lose weight. It is also low in nutritional aspects.
Choose Coconut, chickpea flour, and/or Almond flour for better nutritional aspects and weight loss.
It is vital to read the ingredients of anything you buy. As a rule of thumb, if the elements you see in the canned corn are things you would use in the kitchen, it is not an ultra-processed food. However, if you start reading many weird unknown names, you are in front of ultra-processed food.
When it comes to processed food, opt for those with natural nutrients /ingredients inside.
Still, check if it does not contain a lot of salt or sugar. The salt added by the industry may not always be beneficial. Speaking of salt, avoid refined salt. Himalayan salt and unrefined salts are rich in different minerals (refined salt has a high sodium content - and is the main villain for those with high blood pressure).
Likewise, avoid food with sugar as the first ingredient (or those with sugar at all ). You may be surprised to find out how the food industry adds sugar to anything.
In most countries, the first ingredients you read are those with the biggest concentration inside the can (the bottle, package, whatever). Therefore, the list goes from the elements that have the most concentration to the least.
Some common names for sugar you can read on the labels are dextrose, malt extract, fructose, galactose, glucose, lactose, malt dextrin, maltose, honey, sucrose, glucose syrup, malt syrup, corn syrup. You do not need them.
These are just a few names. Some foods contain starch. Starch has sugar in high concentration as a final product (after digested).
Starch is present in many flours like wheat flour, oats, cassava, and corn flour. Use it in moderation or avoid it if you want to.
In summary:
IN NATURE AND MINIMALLY PROCESSED FOOD SHOULD BE YOUR PLATE FOUNDATION.
PROCESSED FOOD CAN BE ADDED IN A SMART WAY, AND
ULTRA-PROCESSED FOOD SHOULD BE AVOIDED.
What Should You Have on Your Plate
A proper meal will not lack any of these ingredients:
Carbohydrates
Many people are afraid of them, but you need carbohydrates to function properly.
Avoid ultra-processed carbohydrates and focus on sources with more vitamins and a low glycemic load.
For example, eating sweet potatoes or lentils is better than white rice and rice flour.
The white rice is not necessarily the bad guy you should never look at. However, your body gains more if you focus on food with more nutrients and a low glycemic load. Besides, and once again, think of the way it took from nature to your table. The closest, the better.
What are the Glycemic Index and the Glycemic Load?
The glycemic index is the impact carbohydrates will have on your blood sugar - increasing your insulin levels. The lowest the impact is, the better.
The glycemic load will give you a more precise idea of this impact. The glycemic load is the product of the amount of carbohydrates available and the Glycemic Index of the food.
For example, watermelon has a high glycemic index. However, the amount of carbohydrates available in this fruit is minimal, which gives it a low glycemic load. A low glycemic load is important to keep your insulin steady.
Potatoes, cereals, oats and corn, cassava, and carrots, among others, are natural sources of carbohydrates, and they all have different glycemic loads. You will choose what carbohydrates to eat according to your goals (losing or gaining weight, gaining muscular mass, etc).
The best sources of carbohydrates also include fruits, legumes, and vegetables (although they also have proteins, minerals, and water).
Remember, our body produces sugar from carbohydrates. Therefore, if you are overweight or have diabetes, vegetables and legumes should be your go-to for a healthy balance of carbohydrates.
Proteins
Proteins usually come from animal sources, although they can also be found in small quantities in vegetables. Proteins are crucial for our health. Besides, they help the gain of body mass.
Think meat. They are our primary and most direct source of proteins.
If you are a vegetarian, you can still get proteins from some vegetables and grains, but you must be careful to get the daily protein consumption you need. Vegetables and grains are not direct sources of protein like meat. You will need to mix groups of grains and vegetables. Do your research and make sure you are getting all the proteins you need daily.
Fats
Focus on fats coming from chestnuts, avocado, and coconut. Olive oil is also a great option. However, add it raw. Avoid frying or heating it in high temperatures. If you need to use oil for frying, it is better to use coconut oil once it is more stable when heated (and has great health benefits). The best way to use olive oil is just as it is. Add it to your food once it is ready. Olive oil and butter can be used for cooking only if you do not cook at a very high temperature. Lard is also a good option here.
RUN from hydrogenated oils! Examples include soybean, canola, and sunflower oil. These are ultra-processed oils and have been associated with chronic health conditions and even cancer. Use lard, butter, olive oil, avocado oil, and coconut oil instead.
Vegetables
They have a lot of vitamins and are low in calories. Ideally, vegetables should consist of the majority of your plate.
Vegetables are full of nutrients. Some examples include lettuce, cucumber, radish, carrot, cabbage, broccoli, and celery.
Time to Eat
As a general rule, let’s divide your plate into four parts.
1/4 of the plate goes for the carbohydrates
1/4 of the plate for proteins
1/2 (half) of it goes all for different types of vegetables.
Do your best to keep your insulin steady and happy.
When we eat correctly, one nutrient can help the absorption of others. Creating a habit of eating properly does not mean sacrifice. It means balance, health choices, and moderation.
You Are What You Eat
Food has a much more significant impact on your health and body weight than exercise does. We wrote an entire article explaining this here.
The best you can do to lose weight is to eat real food. Here are some tips from Science if you need to lose weight:
Work on your mindset. Keeping a healthy mindset is the first step you should take. Be mindful of what you tell yourself about yourself. Do not let your mind wander with negative and discouraging words. Words can influence your emotions and have a great beneficial impact on your weight loss journey. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true. We have an entire article about it for you to check out here.
Focus on unprocessed and minimally processed food. For example, instead of relying on white bread or rice for carbohydrates, you can choose to get them from whole-some products, like veggies. Find out those with the lowest glycemic load and choose smart.
Eat when you are hungry, only.
Read the ingredients of every package before buying them. Avoid ultra-processed food and those you see sugar as the main ingredient. Once more, the first ingredients you read on the package are usually those with the biggest concentration inside it.
Use natural thermogenic foods like ginger, but do it carefully and avoid some of them at night. Thermogenic food can increase your body temperature and metabolism, accelerating calorie burn. Some examples include ginger, cinnamon, red pepper, coffee, and cold water.
Drink water. It is proven that water can help you on the run to weight loss. If you want to read more about water intake, its benefits, and what type of water you should be drinking, we have an entire article about it for you here.
Eat raw fruits. Avoid the juice. The juice of fruits usually has an excess of fruit and sugar. It is also low in fibers. Anything in excess becomes toxic! It is better to eat one orange than to squeeze 12 oranges inside the glass. If you enjoy drinking fruit juice, make sure you keep the fibers and a good balance of water and fruit. Do not add sugar. Besides, some fruits contain a lot of fructose (sugar). Choose wisely (especially if you have diabetes or want to lose weight). For example, oranges have more fructose compared to avocados and limes.
Chia, linseed, sesame seeds, and aliments rich in good fat, like avocado, are your friends. They bring satiety. You will want to eat less.
Vary your meals. Do not focus on a strict eating plan for a long time.
Focus on fruits and vegetables from the season you are in.
Sleep well.
You do not need to eat every 3 hours. Each time you eat, you have a new pick of insulin. As already mentioned, we must keep it steady. Besides, our body will start burning fat reserves after about 12 hours of fasting. Give yourself some time between meals (especially at night).
Eating Real Food is Better Than Counting Calories
Do not harm your relationship with food by counting calories. Create a system that works for you, and eat healthily. Likewise, remember that moderation is key. Balance is essential.
Be mindful of your body and focus on real food. Just paying attention to what you eat can already start making wonders. That is the first step. Change gradually.
Enjoy the taste, texture, and smell of your food. By doing so, you will be nourishing your body and your soul.
Follow principles, not rules. If you focus on the principles that keep you healthy, losing weight will be just one of the few benefits coming from it.
Be healthy. Be happy. Peel more, unwrap less.
This is our gift for you.
Why we wrote this article
Because You have the power to make scientific and conscious decisions to improve your life and the life of those you love.
Would you like to learn more?
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19424217/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17268422/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19424216/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19641346/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11427779/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23637685/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23447495/
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