Benefits of healthy eating and things to consider

When we talk about healthy eating or eating a healthy diet, we often think of physical appearance and weight, but proper nutrition goes far beyond that.

Although more and more people are becoming aware of the repercussions, for better or worse, of what we ingest, many details still escape us.

To help you better understand the scope of proper and complete nutrition, this time we want to talk about the benefits of healthy eating.

Benefits of healthy eating

A healthy diet, able to provide your body with everything it needs, brings you many positive things. What’s more, a poor diet can significantly reduce your overall health and well-being.

This is why it is important to take care of what we eat and the habits we acquire in the way we eat from childhood.

Some of the benefits of healthy eating that are worth mentioning are:

• It provides us with the energy we need.
• Promotes the proper functioning of the digestive system.
• It helps us to cope with particularly demanding situations in a healthy way, such as pregnancy and breastfeeding.
• Promotes bone strengthening.
• Stimulates the immune system.
• Strengthens muscles.
• Promotes and maintains healthy skin, teeth and eyes.
• It helps to achieve and maintain a healthy weight.
• It reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases, as well as other pathologies such as diabetes and different types of cancer.
• It helps us to live longer and better.

How to enjoy the benefits of a healthy diet?

To enjoy all the benefits mentioned above we have to make sure that we meet a few objectives.

On the one hand, our diet should be varied. This means that, in theory, we should eat foods from all the food groups: meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, etc.

On the other hand, we need to make sure that the way we eat is balanced. In other words, we must eat the different foods in the right amounts and in a proportionate way.

To ensure both variety and balance in our intakes, we can use, for example, the Healthy Eating Plate or Harvard Plate.

This useful resource consists of a simple diagram that, in a very visual way, helps us to create dishes with appropriate portions of the different foods we should eat at each meal.

It is more intuitive and easier to understand than the classic nutritional pyramids.

In addition to the above, to get the most out of the benefits of healthy eating, we also need to distribute our intakes appropriately.

In other words, we must ensure that our body has the energy and nutrients it needs throughout the day.

To do this, it is essential not to skip meals and to stick to the timetable. Also avoid the practice of eating an apple or a chocolate bar at lunchtime and a feast in the evening just before going to bed.

Ideally, eat at least four meals a day, distributing calorie intake roughly as follows:

• Breakfast: 20-25%;
• Food: 30-35%;
• Snacks: 15 – 20%;
• Dinner: 20 – 25%.

Things to consider about healthy eating

We should not confuse not eating “junk”, fast food and ultra-processed food with a healthy diet.

While the above is highly desirable and should be avoided, healthy eating involves many other things.

One of the most important is to be able to provide our body with what it needs at all times.

It is not the same for a woman going through the menopause as it is for a young person who engages in demanding daily exercise.

There are differences not only between the major stages of life (childhood, youth, adulthood, maturity and old age), but also between specific situations and periods of life. For example:

• In preparation for a marathon in a timely manner.
• In times of high demand and stress at work.
• When we are convalescing after an illness or operation.
• During pregnancy, postpartum and breastfeeding.

In addition, we must always pay attention to any particularities that may interfere with a varied and balanced diet.

In this way we can assess whether we need to supplement our diet, to what extent and with which nutrients.

For example, if we need to boost collagen and provide our body with extra vitamin C and/or vitamin B7, we could supplement our diet with Hydrolysed Collagen Peptides.

Thanks to the collagen it provides, this supplement helps to nourish and regenerate tissues, especially those that form part of joints, bone and skin. In addition, as it also contains vitamin C, it promotes endogenous collagen formation and a higher density of this essential component of our body.

For vegans, it is also possible to follow a healthy diet and enjoy the benefits of collagen with Living Silica Plant-Based.

If, on the other hand, we over-consume fish and other foods with a high content of heavy metals such as aluminium in our diet, then it is in our interest to incorporate a supplement to counteract this imbalance in our diet.

An example of this is Siliplant G7, whose main ingredient is organic silica, which, as a heavy metal chelator, helps to eliminate and detoxify heavy metals.

In either case, the particularities that interfere with our proper nutrition may be by choice or by compulsion due to, for example, situations such as:

• Food preferences that may lead to deficiencies (rejection of certain foods, tastes, smells or textures) or excesses (special appetite for certain foods).
• Special diets such as vegan, strict vegetarian or raw vegan.
• Restrictive diets for health or pathological reasons, with foods or food groups that we cannot consume or that the doctor restricts us greatly due to some pathology or health condition. This occurs, for example, in the case of allergies and intolerances, high cholesterol, high uric acid, etc.
• Restrictive diets for weight loss.
• Existence of an impairment, either due to a recoverable, chronic pathology or an idiopathic situation.

Conclusion

Ultimately, given the benefits of healthy eating, it is well worth making an effort to eat well.

Our body and general well-being will thank us for it in the short, medium and long term; and it will be the best investment to fully enjoy all stages of our lives.