How you feel is directly related to what you consume. Food and drink contribute directly to your body’s function or dysfunction. The vegan movement aims to reduce waste and increase sustainability with reliance on renewable, plant-based ingredients. However, there are also massive health benefits that make healthy food even healthier.
The Raw Truth
The more you cook something, the more nutrients you lose. Boiling and steaming are healthier options for preparing food, but keeping ingredients raw where possible preserves the goodness locked inside. Try to incorporate as many antioxidant-rich foods as you can – raw ingredients help keep your diet refined and concentrate on only the quality of the produce used. Additionally, you reap the health benefits of natural sugars and fats over reintroduced extra harmful substances like sucrose and sodium.
Getting Gluten Gone
Celiac disease is a severe and sometimes fatal reaction to gluten. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye. Some people also have an intolerance to gluten, similar to lactose. You may find you feel bloated and ill after eating certain foods like shop-bought cakes, pasta, and bread. It is possible you are allergic to gluten and should try cutting it out. People who ditch gluten report feeling more energetic, improved focus, and weight loss. However, it isn’t as easy as you think since gluten is found on almost every packaged or processed food item. Therefore, you need to learn to cook to control what’s in your diet.
Chewing the Low Fat
Excess fats from food are a leading cause of weight gain. High-fat foods like cakes, snacks, and processed meats will cause you to gain weight. Additionally, an excess of fats causes skin conditions, brain malfunction, and severe long-term conditions like heart disease and diabetes. Therefore, it is essential you cut the fat as much as possible from your diet. However, there are good fats you can safely consume, known as poly and monounsaturated fat. These fats are healthy, and you will find them in superfoods like salmon, nuts, and olive oil.
The March of the Frying Pans
You can prepare your food with the healthiest ingredients available. Still, how you cook also affects the overall health of a dish. For example, salmon is among the healthiest fish you can eat, yet frying a tender cut with lashings of butter defeats the point. A significant first step towards making your food as healthy as possible is throwing out your frying pan. Fried and grilled food add trans fats to your food, and the heat removes some of the nutrients. Next, you must learn alternative cooking techniques like poaching, boiling, and baking.
Scattered Sucrose and Sodium
Sugar and salt are found in all foods. However, some contain high amounts of each, contributing to an excess. Further, food manufacturers add more salt and sugar to most processed foods to make them more desirable and to mask poor quality. High salt and sugar in your diet will lead to serious long-term health issues like high blood pressure. Therefore, you must consume foods high in natural salts and sugars rather than artificial sugars. However, you should be aware that an excess of natural sugars like fructose in fruit can also cause health issues.
