Everything you consume is used by your body. It’s your choice: fuel your brain and muscles with healthy foods, or make your body run on cookies and soda. Do you want to be healthier? Presumably you do, given that you’re reading this article. Luckily, there are several easy and delicious ways to fuel your body healthily. We explore three of them below.
1. Get a Head Start With Supplements
Even before you adjust the foods you eat, taking healthy supplements is a good way to jump-start your nutrition. Perhaps you aren’t eating enough of your green veggies, such as broccoli, kale, and spinach. If that’s the case, you can include super greens powder in your diet. There’s no need to worry about making that kale palatable when super greens come in flavors like banana, cherry, and peach.
Some supplements include prebiotics and probiotics to help boost nutrient absorption and assist with digestion. Others eliminate harmful toxins from the body by boosting alkalinity. And almost all of them deliver essential nutrients like vitamins B6, critical to immune and nervous system function, and B12, which is required for red blood cell production. There’s no need to tank up on B6 sources like beef liver and kidney beans when you can get this health-giving nutrient in a tastier, more convenient form.
Supplement usage is at an all-time high with 77% of Americans reporting that they use them. Why? Because they offer numerous health benefits. Calcium supplements can strengthen bones, for example, while supplements containing vitamins A or C improve your immune system. The use of super greens and other supplements can help you manage your weight and up your energy levels. So take that pill or stir that powder into your morning OJ to provide health-enhancing fuel for your body.
2. Up Your Fruit and Vegetable Intake
Since you have to eat anyway, why not chow down on foods that are good for your health and prevent diseases? Fruits and vegetables — whether leafy greens like spinach, chard, and collards or sweet treats like grapes and bananas — fit squarely in this category. They contain an array of vitamins and minerals that keep your body healthy, including some of the vitamins mentioned above. They also contain fiber, which aids the body’s digestive process. Additionally, fiber helps prevent overeating by making you feel fuller for longer.
Best of all, eating lots of fruits and veggies help protect you against diseases such as cancer, stroke, and heart disease. They can also keep conditions like hypertension and type 2 diabetes at bay. As most are naturally low in salt and fat, vegetables and fruits can enable you to maintain a healthy weight, decrease your blood pressure, and lower your cholesterol levels. There’s such a wide variety of fruits and veggies that you’re bound to find something you like.
To maximize their health benefits, though, you’ll want to be conscious of the optimal way to prepare them. In some cases, cooking can destroy nutrients in such vegetables as broccoli and salad greens, so it’s best to eat them raw whenever possible. Other vegetables, like beets and mushrooms, require cooking to release their full complement of nutrients. Whether you prefer a crunchy apple or a silky-smooth baked sweet potato, there are bound to be fruits and veggies that delight your palate while enhancing your health.
3. Embrace Whole Grains
Whole grains are a healthier choice than refined grains, which are found in most white breads, white rice, and baked goods. The bran from whole grains makes a good source of fiber. It provides nutrients such as vitamin A; B vitamins such as thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, and folate; vitamin E; iron; and magnesium. In refined grains, the germ and bran have been removed. This process takes out many nutrients and nearly all of the fiber.
Whole grains are a healthy way to fuel your body, offering many benefits. Their high fiber content lowers bad cholesterol while raising good cholesterol levels. High-fiber whole grains can lower insulin and blood pressure while creating a full feeling that aids in weight loss. Additionally, diets high in fiber are known to lower the risk of stroke, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. They can also reduce the risk of cancer of the large intestine and rectum.
Adding whole grains to your diet may seem difficult. Sure, you can trade out white bread for whole grain in your sandwiches, but are there other ways to incorporate them? On pasta night, make spaghetti using whole grain pasta. Add cooked brown rice or bran cereal as a filler in your ground beef or ground turkey meatballs. Serve a stir-fry over brown jasmine rice, or use rolled oats and whole wheat breadcrumbs as breading for a fish fry. However you work them in, whole grains will give your health a boost.
Fueling Your Body
Fueling your body with healthy options offers numerous benefits, including lowering the risk of diseases like cancer and diabetes. In addition, it can ward off health conditions like high blood pressure and obesity. Fortunately, in most cases, healthy options taste great and come with a wide selection of flavors.
Choosing to fuel your body in a healthy way is a decision that can be made year-round. Start today and immediately begin living a healthier life.
