Nutrition is a science that you master it all your life. But how about making it simple in a way that changes your life in the right direction, and all the other steps just flow in? Sounds good I bet. Based on my 10 years of experience in nutrition, I will give you 7 keys to a healthy diet.
These are foundational steps, which applied to our daily basis, it changes our body and health condition in a natural way, that feels good and doesn’t create 
mental pressure. Apply one step, maybe you will see a difference. Apply two of these, you will feel good. After more than 4 your body will start to change into a better shape. Apply all of them, and you will see results before your eyes.
I call them fundamental because these rules are a must no matter how your actual body condition is, how much you workout, what type of physique you got or any other kind of diversity. I don’t believe in strict diets, like we all eat the same things, at the same hours and in the same quantities and we will be healthy. Each individual has different needs when it comes to the nutrients required to fuel their body. Nevertheless, these steps are universal. So let’s get it started.
1. Drink lots of water.
I don’t say liquids because we need water. Fresh and clean water (maybe with a slice of lemon) to properly detox our body, flush the bad stuff out, keep the blood pumping easily, think clear, accelerate our metabolism and other amazing benefits.
Juices and energy drinks don’t replace water. They are filled with sugar, acids, and other bad things, that simply take away the purity of the water. Is like you are trying to wash with Coca-Cola. Not only that you won’t be cleaner, but you will be extra dirty.
If you need to understand more about the importance of it, read this article about hydration.
Bonus: Checkout this amazing article of a woman who saw incredible results after drinking 3 liters of water daily for one month. – Drinking 3 liters of water a day
2. Eliminate liquid calories.
Besides that juices and energy drinks are not clean, they also come with lots of calories. Sure, I agree with the morning coffee and green tea served with a sweet taste. But other than this, it’s just a burden on our bodies that affects everything.
The main troublemaker in here (that is also the reason we have so many cases of diabetes in the world) is our inability to process liquid calories. These sugary drinks get quickly absorbed into our system, cause hyperglycemia as if we ate 2 kg of fruits and when the stomach creates more acid because normally high blood sugar comes from a big quantity of food, it’s nothing there to digest. Therefore, you get more hungry, and the things get worse. Basically, is a rollercoaster of insulin spikes and your stomach trying to digest something that was absorbed even before it was detected.
This is so important, that even if you make your own natural juice at home, only using fruits, the effect it’s the same but only with more vitamins in it. Fructose acts the same way as sugar, and because we don’t get fibers and other solid nutrients that are naturally found in fruits, our bodies get into the same rollercoaster.
Not to mention alcohol, that is just bad news all over the place. Do yourself a favor and eliminate anything liquid that isn’t worth it consuming.
3. Nothing fried is good.
Is not just about the fats that are used for frying, but it’s mostly about the toxins that get released during that incredible hot temperature cooking. It’s the huge amount of heat that gives the particular crispy taste, that decompose our food into toxic substances.
It’s not healthy no matter what kind of oils do you use or what do you fry in. Boiling, steaming, baking and roasting are the best approaches. Use your oven with confidence that anything cooked there is very nutritional.
Olive oil or other healthy alternatives can be used in salads, or even add in the water for our soup. Our body needs healthy fats (especially vegetable ones), just make sure you don’t fry it. Add it in the boiling water near the final cooking time and you’re providing taste and fats in a nutritional way. I use one spoon of olive oil even at my rice recipe, it gives a good taste and a smooth texture.
4. Learn to cook.
Discovering the fire was what helped our race evolve because we were able to cook our meals and get more nutrients from it. We can’t properly digest solid food, especially meat, that’s why cooking is essential for us. This way we can eat our food in a more digestive friendly way.
There’s nothing more healthy than the meal you prepare yourself. Anything that is precooked, comes from fast food or has strange ingredients it’s bad news. I never saw a healthy fit person that doesn’t know how to cook, and that’s no coincidence.
You don’t have to be a master chef. Omelet made with egg whites and cheese, baked chicken breast with vegetables, tuna and salad, a simple green beans recipe, anyone can do these. Your body will thank you. Anything that contains preservative, colorants, sweeteners or other strange things should be thrown away.
5. One fruit a day.
Keeps the doctor away. I know, it’s for apples this saying. But any fruit will work. Whatever you like: bananas, pineapple, strawberries, blueberries, oranges, watermelon etc. Fruits are an important source of vitamins, fibers, and some even antioxidants. This is the most simple but powerful healthy habit that anyone can implement.
6. Use your imagination, health is fun.
Spice that salad up, invent a strange omelet with the things you love to eat, drink your coffee with cinnamon or make a fruit salad with random fruits. Healthy shouldn’t be boring because it won’t have the best effect.
In fact, if you eat something with a slight bit of unpleasure, it doesn’t matter how healthy that product is, your body will say: “Ok, so no. I’m flushing this thing out.” Keep it fun, keep it enjoyable, keep it delicious, that’s what health is about. Bright colors, different seasoning and the fun delivery of food is the key to a healthy life. When you salivate only when you watch that plate, that’s when you know you did it right.
7. Reward yourself the seventh day.
You worked hard, you had the discipline to respect your meals, you hydrated properly, you ate the good stuff, now it’s time for a little treat. After six days of diet, you can get 1 day when you can eat anything you crave for. That chocolate fudge, pancakes or vanilla ice cream that is yummy for your tummy, you can get it now.
Besides that fact that will boost up your moral because you reward yourself for dieting, you also replenish any missing nutrients and make yourself feel good.
If you want to read more about this, check out my article about dieting with a cheat day.
I hope you guys like this info and it’s helping you get the body you want and deserve. Try to apply these fundamentals one at a time, if you are a beginner, or just upgrade your existing ones.
I would love to hear your opinion, feedback or results from applying those. Leave your comment below. I wish you a happy healthy life! ☺
Actually, I’d like to add a warning to #1. I took that recommendation to heart until the day I made it to 21 cups of water… then had a bunch of people tell me that was too much water. I hadn’t known until that point that there was also a limit to how much water a person should drink in a day, even if that person is a superior athlete (which I’m not).
Oh yeah; as to #5, not a bad recommendation but not as the last snack of the day… because it’ll make you really, really hungry and… well, let’s just say if you’re counting calories you might as well forget about it for that day. lol
Hi there, thanks for your opinion.
First of all, 21 cups WOW, that’s huge. Way too much than the recommended 2 litres or as that girl 3 litres per day. I don’t care how small your cups are, that’s still too much :)) I agree with you. There is a certain limit that shouldn’t be passed. But still, over drinking water effects pales in comparison with under drinking it. We are more dehydrated now than ever, with all the alcohol and caffeine that have diuretic effects (makes us lose water). Not to mention sodas.
Regarding what you said about fruits: I will say something that I didn’t wrote about yet ( but I will soon) – I don’t say that fruits replace meals. In fact, the first thing I’ve learned from a bodybuilder when I started to take care of my body was that the healthiest way of eating is from 3 in 3 hours. That means that should have 3 meals and 2 snacks proportioned during the day. The reason for this is that our body can’t process too much food at a time. And the other reason is that you can get rid of the hunger feeling this way. You see, hunger is the number one reason people gain weight. It doesn’t matter how big the quantity you eat is or not, if you eat rarely you are going to deposit fat. That’s because when we are hungry the survival mode kicks in. That for our body means : ” I don’t know when I’m going to get food again, so let’s deposit everything now”. We have the same DNA as when we needed to hunt to survive. Our body doesn’t know that we have groceries stores nowadays. The only way to lose weight naturally without putting back, is to get rid of the hunger feeling and properly serve the body with the nutrients it needs.
Bottom line: I don’t recommend and I don’t encourage strict diets. Anything that starves you is a NO! In fact, I recommend proportioned meals as often as possible. When I said 3 meals and 2 snacks, that means fruits will go into snacks category. And when I said one, that’s doesn’t mean you can’t eat more. Your meals should be fitted to weight, age, physical activity and the ideal body shape. But again, I don’t recommend to starve yourself during the night. Your body needs energy during sleep also. There’s cleaning and choruses needed to be done in there.
I personally have snack between my meals. Anywhoooo, this is kind of long reply, but I hope I clarified it at least a bit. I recommend you subscribe to my blog, so when I will write in detail about dieting and meal times you will get notified.
Cheers 🙂