The healthiest diet is all about eating real food. What you eat affects absolutely everything: your health, mood, and what diseases you might develop over time.

If you are looking to lose weight, it is more effective to prioritize your nutrition instead. It’s vital to get proper nutrients into your body. I’m sure you already know to not eat fried foods, drink soda or eat doughnuts all the time. Stop listening to what you’ve been told is “healthy” eating and do what feels good for your body.

A Few Tips For Staying Healthy:

1. Avoid Ultra Processed Foods.

If you don’t understand what’s on the label, try to avoid it if possible. Start looking at ingredient lists rather than the nutrition facts label. Who cares if something has less carbs if it also has a laundry list of junk in it as well? If you plan to buy something in a box or can, make sure you know what everything is. We do not know what those additives do in our body. We do know that other countries ban some of the things the U.S. does not. “Ultra processed food” includes foods with extra additives, colors, flavorings, but “processed” food can still include food that is okay, like canned vegetables or crackers. 

• Pay attention to ingredient lists

2. Avoid “Dieting”

Don’t make yourself anxious by counting calories, carbs, and fat and making yourself feel guilty if it doesn’t happen how you thought; just eat real food and eat when you’re hungry. Eat food that will fill you up and not food that will make you hungry two hours later. It is a process that takes time and listening to your body. Below is a representation of what is best when consumed. 

• Eat real food
• Don’t stress yourself out

  

3. Try to Eat More Vegetables

Vegetables are one of the more nutritious foods you can eat and definitely a part of a healthy diet. Most of us grow up disliking vegetables. Vegetables don’t have to be boring, it makes such a huge difference if they are flavored properly. If you only like certain vegetables, just start with that and maybe try a new one each month. If you really can’t stand vegetables, you aren’t alone. You can find tons of recipes online that show you how to hide them in your meals. For example, I’ve made pizza that uses cauliflower for the crust instead of flour. 

• Embrace the few vegetables you like
• Hide vegetables in tasty recipes

4. Eat Healthy Fats

For decades we have been told that fat and cholesterol are bad but that is not the case.  Of course we should make sure our fat comes from healthy sources. This will help with fullness from a meal. Find healthy fats such as pasture raised animal protein, avocados, nuts, olive oil, coconut oil, butter, eggs. Healthy fats allow our cell membranes to work properly and allow certain vitamins to get absorbed more easily. Cholesterol has vital roles in the body as well with our hormones and production of vitamin D.

• Good fat does not make you fat
• Include healthy fats

5. Learn To Cook

This is probably the most important of all. Cooking really encourages the use of real ingredients and allows you to realize the potential that all of these foods have. When you see a recipe out there that says “Add 1 can of this and 1 can of that” this is not necessarily cooking but a good start. You need to take the bare ingredients and put them together in order to eliminate all of the extra junk that we don’t want in our food. I know it’s easier and we all have to start somewhere but our goal is to get the point where we aren’t combining cans and boxes but actually creating something from basic ingredients. 

If you need help getting the hang of cooking, Blue Apron and similar delivery services will send you quality ingredients with recipes (at a cost!). If you can follow directions, you can cook. It really is that easy. Go to Pinterest or Google, look for something you like and you will find tons of recipes. After a while, when you are feeling more confident, you can get creative and experiment then you’ll be making up your own recipes. If you feel like you might not have time, you can throw ingredients in a crock pot all day while you are at work and it will be done when you get home. 

• Find recipes and start cooking
• Make it easier by using a slow cooker

6. Drink Water

I know you’ve heard it before but it is very important to drink enough water every day. Avoid drinking empty sugar drinks or ones filled with chemicals. We think Crystal Light packets are healthy, but have you really taken a look at what is in it? You may be surprised. Water is wonderful. Add some fruit if you’d like. I have purchased a Drinkmate to carbonate and add lemon juice and lime juice and it really works for me. Every system in your body needs water to function. Just a little dehydration and things don’t work as they should. This can show up in many ways like headaches and dry skin.

• Drink water instead of empty flavored drinks

Fresh Idea: The healthiest “diet” is to eat real food.

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