Haven’t you heard? The rumors are true. You don’t have to be a nutrition nut to eat healthily.

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That’s fantastic news, right? I bet you’ve always wanted to eat healthily but found the ways of the nutrition world confusing.

Fear not – these five clear and actionable tips will ramp up the nutrition profile of your diet to epic levels.

1. Do Not Eat Processed Grains

Processed grains go through a step called milling in which rollers remove the grain’s germ and bran. The germ is the grain’s embryo and bran is the grain’s hard outer layer. Both these parts are rich in nutrients.

Although milled grains are easy to chew and digest, they are nutritionally inferior to unprocessed grains. For instance, more than 50 percent of vitamin B and 90 percent of vitamin K are lost in the process of milling.

An increasing amount of research shows that choosing whole-grain products over processed grain products offers many health benefits.

Example: A Harvard study compared women who ate two to three servings of whole-grain products daily with women who hardly ate any whole-grain products. The study showed that the women who consumed whole-grain products regularly were 30 percent less likely to suffer from cardiovascular problems over a 10-year period than women who ate less than one serving per week.^[1]

Actionable Advice: Healthy food should have less than 10 grams of carbohydrates for every gram of fiber. This rule will help you find healthier substitutes for your current brands of food.

2. Do Not Get Your Proteins From Unhealthy Sources

Proteins are the building blocks of your body. Guidelines from the Institute of Medicine recommend that you eat 20g of protein for every eight pounds of body weight, up to an upper limit of 46g for women over the age of 19, and 56g for men over the same age.

The quality of your protein’s source is as important as the quantity. Protein sources with high amounts of saturated fat and salt are unhealthy. Generally, healthy protein sources include fish, poultry, lentils, and nuts. Red meat, such as beef and lamb, is an unhealthy source of protein.

Example: An investigation tracked the red meat consumption of 120,000 men and women over a period of 20 years. Studies revealed that the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease increased by 13 percent per additional three-ounce serving of unprocessed red meat.^[2]

Actionable Advice: Buy meat that meets your daily quota of proteins while minimizing saturated fat and sodium intake. Do not buy processed meat.

3. Do Not Stick To One Single Fruit Or Vegetable

No single fruit or vegetable can meet all your nutritional requirements. You must include a variety of fruit and vegetables of different colors and different textures on your plate: crunchy carrots with juicy tomatoes and leafy greens.

A diet rich in vegetables and fruit lowers blood pressure and reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke.

Example: Meta-analysis of cohort studies show that people who eat more than five servings of fruit and vegetables per day are 20 percent less likely to suffer from heart disease than people who eat less than three servings per day.^[3]

Actionable Advice: Eat only fruit and vegetables during one of your meals. When shopping, buy vegetables and fruit of different colors and textures. Ensure your plate has at least three different colors and two different textures.

4. Do Not Go On A Low-Fat Diet

When it comes to dietary fat, the keyword is not elimination. The key word is discrimination. You don’t have to cut out fat from your diet – you just need to pick good fats over bad fats.

Good fats are unsaturated fats. They may be poly-unsaturated or mono-unsaturated. You commonly find these types of fats in vegetable oils, nuts, seeds, and fish. These types of fats are usually liquid at room temperature. Unsaturated fats provide benefits such as decreased risk of heart disease, increased energy, better vitamin absorption, and steadier cell structure.^[4]

Bad fats are trans fats. Even when consumed in small quantities, trans fats are harmful. These days, most food has eliminated trans fats, but stay alert anyway.


Saturated fats are not as harmful as trans fats, but they are not as beneficial as unsaturated fats. Common sources of saturated fat are red meat, butter, cheese, and ice cream. Saturated fat is usually solid at room temperature. You can consume these in limited quantities.

Research shows that consuming unsaturated fats is healthier than consuming refined carbohydrates. Therefore, when you cut down on red meat, butter, and cheese, do not replace them with refined carbohydrates.

Example: When food producers decrease the fat content, they often substitute it with carbohydrates from starches. The body digests these starches rapidly, causing blood sugar level and insulin to fluctuate. This leads to weight gain and disease.^[5]

Actionable Advice: Include more liquid fats in your cooking and less solid fats. If you cut down on red meat, cheese, and butter, then replace them with nuts, seeds, and fish.

5. Do Not Take Mega-Supplements Or Super-Supplements

A utopian diet is one that addresses all your nutritional requirements and is super-tasty too. However, most people’s diets are not even close to complete. That’s why it is a good idea to take a multivitamin tablet daily.

Primarily, you must eat a healthy diet. After that, a multivitamin tablet closes some of the nutrition gaps. Be wary of side-effects from an overdose; always read and follow the recommended dosage.

The market has plenty of super-supplements or mega-supplements that promise incredible health benefits. However, too much of a good thing is bad.

Example: Overdose of vitamin B causes nerve toxicity, liver toxicity, nausea, and jaundice. A severe overdose of vitamin A can even cause death.^[6]

Actionable Advice: Take a multivitamin tablet each day and stick to the dosage. Do not take anything that is super-strong or super-fortified. Read about vitamin overdose so that you can catch symptoms early.

Conclusion

Eating a healthy diet is a lifestyle change made in small increments and not huge leaps. Try integrating one of these actionable tips into your life each week. Within a month-and-a-half, you will be well on your way to eating nutritiously.

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