Eating well is essential, for good health whether it is mental or physical. There must be multiple reasons why you would consider eating well. There are a lot of misconceptions as to why people prefer healthy eating. These misconceptions arise from having partial information or wrong information.

Let us admit it: we do not crave healthy food. We crave junk food. We see all this fantastic junk food around us. Be it pizza, burger, and, most importantly, SUGAR, loads and loads of sugar. You must be shocked to hear that one of the unhealthiest foods that you can put in your body is sugar. Sugar is the biggest enemy that you have to fight because it is highly addictive, and once you start having it, you just cannot stop yourself from having more of it. It works as a slow poison, and your body becomes subject to change without notice.

It does not happen overnight. You have to make it a habit and work on it. It is not as hard as it may seem. I mean nowadays you have a wide range of delicious recipes too. So take this matter seriously and think before you cancel your subscription to eating well magazine for its healthy recipes.

What Does Eating Well Mean?

Before jumping on to the benefits of healthy eating, let us debunk some of the myths that one may have about what it means to be eating well.

Eating good does not mean that you have to cut down on all the junk food and only eat salads for the rest of your life. It does not mean that you have to restrict yourself from having your favorite meals. You can be healthy eating and still enjoy having your favorite meals without any guilt.

Healthy eating means being mindful of what you put in your body. It means that you are taking good care of yourself and keeping self-love in priority. Healthy eating means that you are eating everything in balance. You are not completely giving up on your favorite food but customizing it in such a way that it becomes a healthier alternative.

How to Get Started?

Before anything else, let us know how to get started on it. The majority of people want to start a healthy lifestyle, but they have no idea where to begin it with. There are a few basic steps that one can follow to get started:

• Stop Procrastinating:

  One of the major issues that people face is that they keep procrastinating and thinking that they will start eating well from the following day. The “tomorrow” only gets delayed and never comes. To begin healthy eating, you must make sure that you stop procrastinating and start working on it.

• Be Consistent:

  Consistency is the one thing that many people lack. If you want to eat well, you must be consistent with it. Do not do it for a few days and then forget about it.

• Make it a Habit:

  Follow the 21-day rule. It is said that it takes 21 days to form a habit. So, be consistent for 21 days straight and create a habit.

• Make Small Changes:

  Do not directly stop eating junk food or sugar. Take it slow because the slower you are, the more consistent you will be. If you suddenly change your lifestyle, your body will not react the right way. Small changes in your lifestyle can take you a long time.

• Do Not be Hard on Yourself:

  Do not let go of your cravings. If,

  you crave a pizza after eating healthy for a long time, then have that pizza and get back on track. Do not feel guilty about craving for your favourite food. Eating well and living a healthy lifestyle should be a choice, not

  punishment.

What are the Benefits of Eating Well?

There are more benefits way more advantages of eating well in comparison to the disadvantages. Few amazing benefits of eating well include:

1. Improved Memory

Healthy nuts are known to improve memory. Walnuts are one of the most important foods to help improve your brainpower and increase the memory of your mind. Walnuts are known to be great for your heart, but a lesser-known fact is that walnuts help in fighting memory loss¹. Eating a few walnuts every day may help you combat memory loss.

Berries are also known to help improve your memory. Many types of berries like blueberries, raspberries strawberries, and blackberries are beneficial for brain health because of the number of antioxidants² that it contains. You can enjoy berries guilt-free as a dessert or a snack.

2.  Maintaining Body Weight

Many people who indulge themselves in healthy eating are those who are weight-watchers. Weight-watchers are usually those people who care a lot about how much they weigh.

Whether you want to lose weight, gain weight, or just maintain the weight you already have, healthy eating helps a lot. It is said that in keeping track of your weight, 80% of the contribution is that of diet, and 20% is that of exercise. So, keeping track of what you eat will take you a long way, and you are more bound to be healthy.

Eating the right amount of calories is also very important. You cannot just think of quantifying the number of calories you consume. It would be best if you were careful because each individual’s body functions differently. Factors like age, current weight, current calorie consumption³, and history also plays a major role in your healthy lifestyle⁴.

If you are looking to lose weight, then you must be on a caloric deficit, which means that you must consume fewer calories than you usually would. It does not mean you are supposed to drastically reduce your calorie consumption. It would be best if you started making small changes in your lifestyle. You should incorporate more protein and a lesser amount of fats and carbohydrates in your daily food consumption.

If you are looking to gain weight, then you can do the opposite of what has been mentioned above. You are supposed to consume more calories than you normally do. You may have more amount of protein paired with more amount of healthy fats and carbohydrates.

To maintain the body weight that you already have, you can continue consuming the same amount of calories that you normally do. With the incorporation of the right amount of protein, fats, and carbohydrates, you can easily maintain your weight.

You could maintain, lose, or gain weight by eating well and opting for a healthy lifestyle.

3. Keeps Diabetes in Check

If you are someone who has diabetes, then healthy eating is the best way to control your diabetes. A lot of people across the world have Type-2 diabetes⁵, and it becomes tough to live with it.

It becomes so crucial that eating well is not just an option but a necessity. In such a case, you must avoid sugary foods at any cost. Do not eat sweet food because it can affect your health in more ways than you could imagine.

You must incorporate a lot of greens in your everyday food and a good source of protein. Healthy eating helps a lot to keep diabetes under control and in check.

4. Controls Acne

Having a healthy lifestyle helps in controlling acne. When you consume good food, it shows in your body. Often, the main reason for acne is a poor and unhealthy diet.

To control acne, you must hydrate your body frequently by drinking water. You can also consume green tea because it contains tons of antioxidants that keep you and your skin healthy. Sugar can be a major reason for your acne. Cut down on sugar and dairy products so you can get healthy skin from within.

5. You Become More Energetic

You must have noticed that whenever you consume heavy food, you become extremely lazy, and you develop an unwillingness to do any other task. That is because your body does not support it when you have too much food, and it takes a lot for your mind and body to process it.

It is said that when you are eating well, you tend to be 20% more energetic and productive in what you do. Your tendency to keep your focus on one thing becomes higher as you are putting the right food inside your body. The better food you have, the more glucose flows through your blood and eventually provides energy to your brain.

Keep your glucose level at par. Do not consume too much or too little glucose as it can lead to you losing your focus. The right amount of glucose in your blood can do wonders.

6. Helps Get Better Sleep

Something that you should completely avoid before going to sleep is munching on unhealthy snacks. When you eat desserts late at night or munch on food that claim to be healthy but are not. The worst thing you can do to your body is to eat unhealthy food right before you go to sleep.

It is recommended to have your dinner at least 3 hours before going to sleep. In that way, your body has time to do move, and you will not directly sleep with all the food in your stomach. Make sure you are having something light at night for dinner and not something that is very heavy. Eating light food and at the right time can help your body to digest the food faster and in a better way.

You can also try out intermittent fasting wherein you typically fast for 16 hours and eat for 8 hours. Intermittent fasting can help keep your body healthy, and you are more bound to consume the right amount of calories in this process. You can make it as healthy as you can, but remember, the primary intention of this type of fast is to keep your body healthy and not for you to starve.

In this way, you can eat good food and get better sleep. When you are healthy eating, it can help in reducing stress too. Healthy foods are high in antioxidants and have the right amount of nutrients. This helps in keeping your body calm and reducing stress. One of the ways of reducing stress is by consuming foods that have high nutritional value.

7. Better Immune System

Vitamin C rich food like oranges, kiwi fruit, mango, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, green/red bell peppers, Indian gooseberry, and many more such type of foods can help to increase immunity and also automatically renews the cells in your body.

A better immune system can help your body to fight multiple diseases and infection. Your body becomes defensive of anything harmful that enters your body. That is why it is highly essential to keep your immune system healthy. A couple of little changes in your lifestyle and incorporating food that can build and strengthen your immune system can help your body in the long run.

8. You Feel Better Than Before

healthy eating can benefit you a lot in feeling better about yourself. When you eat good food, you become more confident because your body looks better than ever. It is essential to make it a lifestyle rather than keeping it short term.

Short term benefits can be achieved by going on strict diets, but that makes your body even more unhealthy. You must be consistent and love what you eat. When you eat better food, you become happier and more productive to do everything. You feel good internally as well as externally.

You may receive compliments from people around you on how you look better and how your skin is also doing wonders. Your clothes start to fit better, and you start loving yourself more than before.

Cutting down on junk and sugary foods can genuinely do wonders for your body. It cures most of the physical and mental problems related to health, and you end up being a better version of yourself.

These were the benefits of eating well. It makes you a better person and also reduces the risk of most of the diseases. Adopt a healthy lifestyle by eating well and try to work out so that it becomes cherry on top. You may fail a couple of times initially, but you got to keep trying to see the results for yourself.

So use your credit card and its customer services wisely by going for more healthy food group shopping options like vitamins and minerals, unsaturated fat-containing food and avoid junk food as much as you can. Eat healthy stay healthy!

1. Jahn, Holger. “Memory loss in Alzheimer’s disease.” Dialogues in clinical neuroscience 15.4 (2013): 445-454. ↩︎
2. Mattill, H. A. “Antioxidants.” Annual review of biochemistry 16.1 (1947): 177-192. ↩︎
3. Hock, Stefan J., and Rajesh Bagchi. “The impact of crowding on calorie consumption.” Journal of Consumer Research 44.5 (2018): 1123-1140. ↩︎
4. Korp, Peter. “Problems of the healthy lifestyle discourse.” Sociology compass 4.9 (2010): 800-810. ↩︎
5. DeFronzo, Ralph A., et al. “Type 2 diabetes mellitus.” Nature reviews Disease primers 1.1 (2015): 1-22. ↩︎

Last Updated on August 2, 2024 by Sathi