Reducing your intake of foods that lack essential vitamins and minerals is one of the easiest ways to help ensure optimal health. Look out for packages bearing the Heart-Check mark, or consult Nutrition Facts labels, in order to make healthier decisions.
Nutritious foods contain vitamins, minerals, complex carbohydrates, lean proteins and healthy fats in an ideal balance. Furthermore, these items should also be low in calories.
Lean Meats & Proteins
Protein is an essential nutrient for supporting muscle development and maintenance while simultaneously making you feel full and satisfied. Protein contains amino acids, vitamins and minerals such as iron, zinc and B vitamins – these all play important roles in immune health, blood cell production and metabolic processes like processing carbohydrates into energy.
Lean meats and poultry are nutritional powerhouses, rich in protein, essential amino acids, vitamins, and minerals compared to their red counterpart. At the same time, they’re low in both calories and fat content compared with red meat.
Choose skinless chicken and turkey breasts, lean cuts of pork and beef, and fish as healthy protein options. Although pork tends to get bad press due to products like bacon and spare ribs, lean pork cuts such as tenderloin have less saturated fat than their more popular options.
Nuts & Seeds
Nuts and seeds contain protein, healthy fats and phytochemicals with health-promoting benefits – according to studies, eating just 15 g of nuts each day could significantly lower your risk for heart disease.
Though often lumped together, nuts and seeds differ significantly nutritionally. Seeds contain food stored inside mature fertilized ovules enclosed by protective seed coats while nuts are also seeds but contain hard shells for protection.
Regular consumption of nuts and seeds has been associated with lower risks of cardiovascular disease, cancers, diabetes and obesity. But because nuts and seeds contain many calories, it is wise to limit how often they are eaten due to the Nutrition Facts label being read carefully to understand how many individual nuts or seeds there are in a 1.5 ounce serving, along with any salt, sugar and saturated fat added into their production process. Opt for unprocessed varieties over processed ones as the latter could contain higher levels of added sugars, sodium or saturated fat content – nuts can make great additions into salads, soups curries or baked goods!
Fruits & Vegetables
Fruits and vegetables provide essential vitamins, minerals, and fiber, adding both taste and variety to meals.
Fruit and vegetable consumption has been associated with decreased risks for several chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes. You can increase your fruit and veggie consumption by including them more in meals or snacking on fresh, frozen or canned fruit and veggies.
Botanists typically rely on flowering plant seeds to classify something as either fruit or vegetable; chefs sometimes classify food based on its sweet or savory characteristics; for instance, tomato are technically considered fruits but many people consider them vegetables due to their distinct savory taste.
To increase your vegetable and fruit consumption, be sure to incorporate more salad greens, peppers, mushrooms, onions and leafy veggies such as lettuce into your diet. Also try including more fruits such as berries, melons and citrus into meals; The Air Force provides various resources such as Registered Dietitians and Nutrition Technicians who can assist in making healthier food choices.
Whole Grains
Evidence indicates that eating whole grains reduces your risk for chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke and colorectal cancer. Furthermore, they help you achieve weight maintenance and promote regularity.
Whole grains contain fiber to slow the absorption of carbohydrates and help keep blood sugar stable, as well as being an excellent source of protein, iron and B vitamins. Furthermore, phytochemicals found in whole grains have been linked with decreased rates of disease.
Look out for products labeled with the “whole grain” mark when shopping, and carefully read their ingredient lists as some are often a blend of refined and whole grains. For optimal health, select products made of 100% whole wheat or corn, quinoa or brown rice; avoid products with added sugar such as bread pasta and breakfast cereals made with whole grains alone; an international study from The Lancet discovered only 10% of populations worldwide consume enough whole grains to promote health benefits.
