The basic principles of healthy nutrition

"You are what you eat," as the saying goes. This means that nutrition is primarily a matter of lifestyle. We want to help you understand this lifestyle better. We'll discuss the fundamentals of healthy eating, teach you basic principles, and give you specific nutritional tips. Finally, we'll provide valuable advice on how to control mindful eating. These guidelines will help you change your life.

Have you ever considered that a hamburger is pure artificiality, from its color and smell to its taste? The opposite is a healthy, whole-food diet in the sense of a sustainable lifestyle. Eating healthily means knowing what you're eating and how it's prepared. It means consuming natural ingredients and foods that nourish your body like medicine. It's not just about losing weight or staying slim, but also about eating a vital, healthy, and sustainable diet well into old age.

Healthy eating is all in your head.

Self-flagellation and deprivation at all costs have nothing to do with healthy eating. A healthy life is one of enjoyment. And enjoyment is something only a healthy mind can experience. Those who eat healthily are mentally sharper, physically more efficient, and more hedonistic than monastic. Changing your lifestyle to a healthy diet is an active process. You might even need to set written goals and have a partner to monitor your progress. Healthy eating begins with the realization that the freshness of the ingredients is crucial. Whether someone focuses more on carbohydrates or meat, as long as the ingredients are natural, everything is fine. Healthy eating is closely linked to mental health. Mental health also means enjoying meals together. Sitting down, getting comfortable, and cooking for friends and acquaintances. This will help you develop a taste for it, and your ambition will transform you into a master chef of sustainable cooking. Mentally strengthened in this way, you'll approach food preparation differently than before.

The basic principles of healthy nutrition

The first thing that changes is your shopping behavior. Like a hunter-gatherer, you seek out the fresh produce sections in the supermarket. That means the fruit and vegetable aisle, the meat counter with fresh meat, the bakery section with whole-grain breads, and the tables with nuts and dried fruit. As you browse the shelves, watch out for the hidden temptations in the form of appealing packaging and enticing slogans. Banish everything artificial. Real vegetables instead of expensive supplements with vegetable substitutes. As soon as you hold a food package with ingredient lists that require a degree in chemistry to decipher, put it back on the shelf. Natural ethnic foods from Asian countries are a different story; you might need a Hindi dictionary to understand them.
What matters is freshness and balance, not extreme diets. A healthy meal is a combination of high-quality carbohydrates, proteins, and healthy fats, enriched with valuable vitamins, nutrients, and fiber. Fiber, in particular, promotes digestion and helps the body better digest nutritious foods.
Eating a balanced diet means paying attention to the amount of food you consume. It means not overeating at each meal and being mindful of the number of meals you eat per day. These tips will noticeably improve your eating habits.

Specific nutrition tips

Drinking plenty of water is a rule that some people find tiresome, especially when the mere mention of it makes them crave the tastelessness of plain water. But there's a solution. Add flavor to your drinks by brewing tea, such as green or herbal tea. Add a splash of fruit juice to your water. For athletes like you, amino acids or electrolytes are also beneficial. They make water more palatable, so you'll easily reach your 3 liters a day. Your body and muscles will thank you. Avoid artificial sugar as much as possible. Foods containing artificial, refined sugar are detrimental to a successful transition to a healthy lifestyle. They lead to cravings that cause you to fall back into old habits. Once you've managed to give up these artificial sugars, you'll recognize a chocolate bar for what it is: a disgustingly sweet concoction made from unhealthy fats and unidentifiable ingredients. Learn to use alternatives to white flour. Whole grains are a true storehouse of vitality, packed with carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and essential nutrients. Or explore alternatives to wheat flour: flours made from almonds, coconut, rice, or oats. Vary your diet and experience the different nutritional profiles of these alternative flours. Try baking with these flours, enriched and sweetened with dried fruit. Buy meat from a butcher you trust or visit a farm shop. You'll feel and taste the difference in meat quality.

Eat mindfully instead of counting calories

As you can see, healthy eating has nothing to do with simply counting calories. Those are relics from the 70s and 80s. Sure, paying attention to portion size is important, but the nutritional content of your meals is even more crucial. Slimming down is one thing. But with a healthy and mindful diet, you'll achieve that automatically and gain the prospect of staying fit, vital, and healthy well into old age. We wish you every success!