How should a healthy diet be?

How should a healthy diet be?

A healthy diet is one that provides us with all the nutrients that our body needs on a daily basis (carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals...) together with proper hydration.

It must be complete and balanced to keep our body within normal ranges, and in children to achieve adequate growth and development. It helps us, not only to achieve our physical goals or improve our habits but also to protect ourselves from malnutrition in all its forms and diseases such as diabetes.

There are certain strategies to avoid falling into bad habits and thus achieve a healthier diet:

*Record of daily habits

Making a list can be a very useful tool for us to be more aware of our daily habits. You can include various details such as the type of food, the amount of it, the schedule, the frequency, how we were feeling at that time, etc.

*Identification of bad or unhealthy habits

It is important to reflect on habits and identify those that are not healthy or do not contribute to an adequate and/or balanced diet. Some will be oriented to the amount that is eaten (excessively large single dishes or very frequent meals), others by the type of food rather than by the quantity (fried, pre-cooked, industrial pastries...), others not so much for the food but for the drink (sweetened, fermented drinks...). The causes can be diverse: lack of time, work, or emotions. Therefore, it is also important to identify the causes of these habits.

*Substitution for new healthy habits

Once those habits are identified, we will replace them with healthier ones. There are people who prefer to add modifications one at a time and others prefer all at once. That is personal, each one of us knows our body and we know which strategies are going to best adapt to us.

Here are some tips:

-Plan meals

-Take care of food cooking

-Adjust the amounts of food

-Eat more slowly

-Don't skip meals

-Do not snack between meals

*Repetition, reinforcement, and consistency