Healthy eating and balanced diet life

I hope everyone is doing well and staying healthy! As we are practicing our social distancing, I have rediscovered an old love of puzzles and it’s been nice to cook through some of my old cookbooks. I’m sure you guys must be doing the same. Remember, especially during these times, it is OK to substitute items you don’t have on hand, and if in the process you create something fabulous, please share it!

So, the most important thing you all must remember is healthy eating and an organised balanced diet, specially, during these days when you really need to boost up your immune systems. You don’t need to worry about counting calories. If you eat from the list of nutrients dense foods, you can eat as much as you want, as often as you want. Nutrient dense foods have a high ratio of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, anti-oxidants, etc relative to the total calorie count of the food. For instance, spinach, the first “super food”, has a lot of nutrients and very few calories. Recently a question came up about “How can you eat a balanced diet of all the nutrient dense foods you want and lose body fat at the same time?” Yes, eating too much of any food can lead to fat storage, but it’s harder to overeat protein or nutrient dense foods in general than the processed carbs and fat found in calorie dense foods.

As a female of child-bearing age, our menstrual cycles can be a quick measure of our overall health. The relative ease and regularity of your menstrual cycle is an amazing piece of information that gives you insight about your overall health. Your diet is a great way to optimize each phase of your cycle. Your body is undergoing a controlled inflammatory response to shed your uterine lining, so nourishing yourself with nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory foods will help to support you at this time. Due to blood loss, iron-containing foods are the most important. During your luteal phase, focus on liver-loving foods like cruciferous vegetables, antioxidant-rich berries, and proteins. To help stave off cramps, headaches, and difficulty sleeping, you should definitely include magnesium-rich foods while continuing to support your detox pathways.

Cravings! These are just conditions where the body lies to the brain and tells you it’s time to eat when it isn’t. We all have them and they can be overwhelming and sabotaging for our diets. STOP food cravings in their tracks and make healthier choices to satisfy your nutrient needs. A couple of ways I use to stop my cravings, (if I’m not having a specific craving, neither am I really hungry) are by drinking some water or brushing my teeth. To be honest it’s an amazing way to keep myself away from mindless eating. Nothing really tastes good after you brush your teeth and water makes you feel too full to eat anything further.

Try not to wander for snacks on road when you can get it in your home. If there’s anything more that you would like to know about how to maintain a balanced diet, please leave a comment below and let me know! Thank you for listening and supporting me, sending you all the love. Stay safe and healthy!