HEALTHY EATING – BASIC PRINCIPLES
What does healthy eating involve?
It might seem that nothing could be simpler than eating healthily. Nevertheless, it turns out that this is not only an extremely challenging task but also a topic that causes considerable confusion. Nowadays, people don’t know what to eat to help themselves when they’re ill or to take care of prevention. There are thousands of different videos and articles on the internet about this topic, and each says something different. Wherever we look, healthy eating recommendations differ significantly. No wonder people have completely lost their bearings. The number of dietitians is growing like mushrooms after the rain, and their competencies usually leave much to be desired. All this is due to a terrible education program that treats the human body like a machine that only needs specific fuel to function well. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Our body is much more complicated. It takes quite a genius to grasp all of this. So, what’s the reality? What should we eat to stay healthy for many years? What should we eat to get rid of serious illnesses, and is it even possible for food to cure anyone…?
The biggest mistakes in "healthy eating"
For years, I have specialized in helping sick people. You could say I’ve cut my teeth on this subject, although there’s certainly still more to learn, as this topic is an endless road. Every day, I observe how „specialists” in dietetics are muddling people’s minds by convincing them that a properly „balanced diet” is enough for everything to be fine or that it’s enough to create a calorie deficit to lose weight. Strangely enough, some people on a deficit still gain weight, and balanced meals don’t prevent the body from developing cancer. Something seems off with these theories…
Ketogenic diet – people have gone crazy about it
In recent years, the keto diet has become a real hit. More and more people are using it because it supposedly brings excellent results. Many online creators have appeared who promote this way of eating and praise it to the skies: „Not only will you lose weight, but you’ll also get rid of diabetes.”
The facts are that there’s a good chance you’ll lose weight and that the symptoms of type 2 diabetes or insulin resistance will temporarily disappear. Does that mean you’re healthy? Not at all. If you stopped consuming sugar, it’s hard for your blood sugar levels to be elevated. That doesn’t mean you’re already healthy. Because it’s enough that after some time you decide you no longer want to eat this way and start consuming carbohydrates again, and diabetes will quickly return. It’s even possible that the problem will become bigger than it was before. All because the ketogenic diet puts the body into an unnatural state in which cells have to feed on ketone bodies instead of carbohydrates. The body still does what it can to convert fat and protein into sugar because that’s how it was designed. The cells of our body naturally feed on glucose. Forcibly depriving them of it is simply unwise—a rather poor idea. Any healing effects attributed to this diet are nothing more than putting the body into an emergency state in which it stops intensive self-regeneration. On the other hand, the symptoms experienced in most diseases are nothing more than the immune system’s fight for our health. We definitely don’t want to turn off this process, yet that’s exactly what happens during the keto diet. You may temporarily (in a sense) improve your health on this diet because you stop consuming junk food (e.g., fast food). In this respect, your diet improves, but in the long run, it starts to burden organs because it’s simply hard to digest.
Balanced meals
Most dietitians will tell you that healthy eating is primarily about balanced meals. What does that mean?
It means that in one meal, you should include as many macro and micronutrients as possible: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber, etc. In other words, ALL IN—the definition of a healthy plate. Then your body will receive everything it needs. It might seem like a logical theory if not for one fact: no animal in the world (nor humans) during their entire evolution have eaten this way. Today’s times allow us to gather all products on a plate to combine them into a meal, but previously this was simply impossible. Our digestive system is not adapted to digesting a large amount of diverse products at once. When you eat such a dish (and think that this is what a healthy diet looks like), you start a process that ends with incomplete digestion of individual ingredients. Because of this decision, proteins begin to rot in your intestines, fats become rancid, and sugars ferment. This will bring nothing good. Additionally, you burden your circulatory system and organs because it’s through such meals that insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes appear. Such a diet usually contains a lot of whole-grain bread and other cereal products, as well as legumes. Dairy products, meat, vegetables, and fruits are also included. Usually, most of these products are mixed together in one meal—all to provide the necessary amount of nutrients. However, my experience clearly indicates that such a diet is not the best idea. It’s not the worst either—if only because it doesn’t include „junk food.” However, this doesn’t mean that in such a way of eating, we won’t find products that cause health problems. And mixed together—they are like a Molotov cocktail.
Basic principles of healthy eating
Knowledge about how to eat to be healthy is extremely rare. This is due to the fact that most of what is taught in universities or dietetic courses won’t help you recover. To achieve an optimal state of health, you need to completely rebuild your lifestyle. It’s worth limiting or eliminating animal products from your menu—meat, dairy, and eggs. For many people, this sentence may seem controversial. However, I have no emotional stance on it. It’s simply that these products worsen your health. Of course, you can pretend that it’s otherwise, but statistics clearly show—99% of people in our country (and not only) are more or less sick. It’s worth considering that a 100% plant-based diet also doesn’t guarantee health success, as it can also contain products harmful to our health. It all depends on what you actually eat. Fries cooked in oil, pizza, burgers, chips, sweets, etc., can also be vegan and have nothing to do with health. Your daily diet should include as many fruits and vegetables as possible—thanks to them, you’ll provide the necessary ingredients to your body. A diet rich in various plants significantly reduces the risk of developing serious, civilization-related diseases; therefore, your healthy eating should be based on plants in their full form.
Whole grain products – to eat or not to eat
There is a belief that whole grain equals healthy. That is, if you eat white bread or rice, it’s not good, but if you choose wholemeal bread or whole-grain rice, it’s a different story. The truth is that it doesn’t matter as much as we’re led to believe. Of course, the more processed the product is, the worse it is, so white bread rolls that look like paper are not the best idea. However, cereal products, even whole grain ones, are not needed to improve health, and most of them will even be harmful because they contain gluten, which feeds dangerous pathogens causing chronic diseases.
Salt intake
I don’t want to elaborate too much here, as I’ll certainly write a separate article on this topic, but in a few words, I can say that it’s not a good idea to consume large amounts of salt. It doesn’t matter whether it’s regular salt or Himalayan, sea, Kłodawa, or any other. In 97%, it’s the same salt, and the amount of additional mineral ingredients in these better salts is negligible and doesn’t affect health. Salt itself causes strong dehydration of the body and can damage tissues. Therefore, the less you salt, the better. Of course, nonetheless, choose good quality salt because the cheapest ones may be contaminated with additional toxins. Salt can also contribute to the development of some cardiovascular diseases.
Obesity
The problem with overweight almost always results from an overburdened liver. As a result of many years of clogging the body with junk food and a diet rich in unhealthy fatty acids, our organs have stopped working properly. This means that metabolism is significantly slowed down. „Slowed metabolism” is not the proper term to describe this problem, but it is most commonly used, so I used it to avoid complicating the topic further. You should provide your body with what it needs and in the amount it needs. If you eat too much, and the quality of that food significantly deviates from the ideal, you destroy your organs, which over time become dysfunctional. Obesity is the result of many years of neglect.
Food pyramid
Many people believe that proper nutrition is associated with the food pyramid. The facts are, however, that just like the knowledge conveyed by the education system, this pyramid has little to do with healthy meals. It’s worth mentioning that there are several versions of the healthy eating pyramid, and depending on which one you come across, fruits and vegetables will either be in first place or cereal products. This is constantly changing. Scientists themselves no longer know what is good and what is not. The most surprising thing is that at its top there is junk food (sweets, snacks, fast foods, etc.). I wonder what they’re doing there… They shouldn’t be in this pyramid at all because any amount, even small, is harmful to health. In summary, the food pyramid doesn’t signify anything at all. It’s not worth considering it at all.
Proper nutritional menu
First of all, you should ensure the right amount of food, calculated roughly according to body weight and physical activity. The problem is not only that people overeat but also that they eat too little. Additionally, it’s important not to eat dinner too late because it will significantly burden the digestive system. The most important principles of healthy eating are a large amount of fruits and vegetables in any form and limiting the amount of fat, protein, and salt in the diet. It is a mistaken belief that proper nutrition has anything to do with a diet rich in protein. This is one of the biggest dietary myths in the world. In fact, this misinformation contributes to many health problems because, due to this mistaken belief, people eat a lot of protein, which over time causes many issues. I recommend consuming products in order from easily digestible to more difficult to digest. That is, from morning to noon (and even in the afternoon), we eat meals based on fruits, and only then do we start cooking and consuming more difficult-to-digest dishes. This is one of the most important elements of a healthy diet, so that food groups do not interfere with each other’s digestion.
Healthy carbohydrates
Remember not to be afraid of sugars naturally contained in fruits. They have nothing to do with the campaign against white sugar or other sweeteners. It is our most natural food, so you can eat them with a clear conscience as much as you want, as they are an excellent source of vitamins and minerals, but not only that.
5 principles of healthy eating
- Avoid large amounts of fat and protein in your diet.
- Consume large quantities of fruits and vegetables (they are also a source of protein and healthy fatty acids).
- Limit salt to a minimum.
- Eat adequately: not too little and not too much.
- Limit animal products to a minimum.
These habits will allow you to start eating healthily. Your health will improve, and you will stop living in fear for your future.