How to start eating healthier and tastier food today (9 simple tips)

“To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art.”

- La Rochefoucauld

What I want to do in this post is to give you advice on how to eat healthier and tastier food at the same time. In other words I don’t want to force you to trade your delicious and favorite dishes in order to get some long-term health benefits. Why not to have both? Moreover, if it’s not delicious why the hell would it be healthy? Our body should know by itself what is good for it, but this inner feeling was distorted by the unhealthy habits and advertising of various junk food.

Secondly, I promise not to bullshit you about vegetarianism, veganism, separate eating, cheese eating or blood groups diets. The following recommendations are based on science and personal experience, not outdated delusions or personal choices.

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Basically the following rules are the summary of the personal experience and various scientific researches into the healthy eating, incl. sport diets. So let’s keep it short and to the point, let’s start:

First of all, the main principle is: make the smart choice.

So, how to eat healthy without struggling, fighting and limiting yourself (which would anyway end one day, because it’s unhealthy way to live itself)?

Practical and simple tips:

1. Proteins:It’s better to get them from products with less animal fat. So, replace meat with fish (salmon is the best one considering omega-3 benefits, low mercury, herring, sardine, trout are also good). The second best option is chicken filet & breast (they are low in fat and very healthy). If there is absolutely no way you can live without meat, than try too eat veal (which is also low in fat and high in protein) or at least beef, not pork. Milk is also a good source for protein, but look for a low-fat option.
2. Carbohydrates: eat carbohydrates with low glycaemic index. It means that talking about your garnish you should replace white bread or baked potato / french fries with brown wild rice or at least with whole grain bread. Will talk about vegetables later, but it’s a great idea to use them as your side-dish.
3. Fats: the idea here is to eat monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats instead of saturated and trans fats. Eat a lot of nuts (the healthiest are walnuts, almonds, cashews), use vegetable oil, not the dairy butter or margarine in case you fry your food and use olive oil (it’s really healthy) as a filling for salad. Actually, this is it for fat. Talking about all the other products you should always look for the option with the minimum of fats. Read this article if you’re looking for more details.
4. Carbohydrates and vitamins: eat more fruits (kiwis, bananas, apricots are on top, pears, apples, oranges are also very good), berries (blueberries, cherries, strawberries, bilberries, blackberries, cranberries are the best), vegetables (broccoli, spinach, cauliflower are the best, tomatoes, red pepper are also very good).
5. Eat more frequently, but less (6 times a day is perfect, but imho is almost impossible to maintain taking into account modern life tempo; 3 times is good, 2 times a day isn’t as good and 1 time a day is a disaster). Tip for frequent eating: take fruits and yoghurts with you. This way you’ll be able to have a healthy bite without need to buy the junk food.
   
6. Time from time (or always) replace coffee with green tea (it’s very popular between japanese people who live longest) and Yerba Mate (Traditional Argentinian drink with a lot of health benefits as well);
7. Include dairy products in your diet (if you’re lactose tolerant), milk contains a lot of proteins and perfect for milk-shake cocktails (with fruits, berries and nuts), yogurts can also help you improve your digestion. But remember to look for the lowest in fat options for both milk and yogurt.
   
8. From now on you’re free from all the junk food you were taught to love. This includes snacks (all of them), sweets (all of them), potato cheaps, cakes and cookies. Believe me, you don’t need them and can feel great without them. Usually these products are fool of high glycemic level carbohydrates and saturated and trans fats which is really not good for you at all.
9. Replace coke (or whatever favorite brand of drink you have) with juice (pomegranate, grape, blueberry, cranberry, plum are the best ones) or the simple water, lots of water. Believe me, if you free yourself from all the commercial ad crap you’ve been fed it’s not less delicious or cool at all.
10. BONUS TIP. Make it fun! As always, the main idea is to enjoy your change in lifestyle and not limit yourself. Take one day a week off and allow yourself eat whatever you want and how you want.
    The idea is not to forbid yourself to eat anything else. Don’t be a fanatic, enjoy it. I personally can let myself to grab a hot dog on my way home in order to save time, eat pork when I don’t have any other options or even order a pizza from time to time when I feel like it.
    But the basic rules are still the same. If you have a choice (with the equal time/money investment), go for the healthier option which is usually tastier!

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