About useful and harmful products (foods)

We all want to be healthy and in a good mood. We all want to get pleasure and benefit from food. But very often delicious foods and dishes are not healthy at all. How to understand all the intricacies and learn how to eat tasty and healthy, we will figure it out in this article.

What are healthy and unhealthy foods

Healthy foods are natural foods that contain vitamins, minerals, fiber, proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. They do not contain a lot of sugar or salt, there are no flavor enhancers, preservatives, thickeners, colorants and stabilizers.

Useful Foods include:

  • Vegetables and greens
  • Fruits and berries
  • Dairy produce
  • Nuts and honey
  • Cereals and legumes
  • Fish and lean meat

Fresh vegetables, herbs, fruits and berries can be eaten in unlimited quantities. However, it is necessary to consult a doctor for those who have problems with the gastrointestinal tract and stomach diseases.

It is better to choose dairy products without sugar and low in fat – this way they will be less caloric. But it is not recommended to buy completely fat-free ones, because the animal fat in them is replaced by vegetable fat, and not always of good quality. It is better to give preference to dairy products with 1,5-5% fat content.

Despite the fact that nuts and honey are healthy, nutritionists recommend using them in small quantities due to their high calorie content. 100 grams of nuts contains, on average, 500-600 kcal.

It is also not recommended to overuse cereals and legumes. Nutritionists advise eating them no more than 1-2 times a day.

As for the use of fish and lean meat – a small piece per day is enough for us, and the most important way of processing is – give preference to boiling, stewing and grilling.

Harmful Foods include:

  • Fast food or fried food
  • Sausages
  • Bakery and Pastry
  • Chips and croutons
  • Sauces, mayonnaise and ketchup
  • Canned food
  • Fast food products
  • Sugar and salt
  • Carbonated drinks and juices
  • Alcohol

Fast food or fried foods tend to be high in fat and additives through oil and deep fried. A serving is usually 15-30% of your daily calorie intake. Therefore, it is not recommended to eat fast food more than once a month.

Sausage products are of high and low quality. In supermarkets, at a low price, they usually sell products containing low-grade meat, with a large addition of thickeners, flavor enhancers, fat, and dyes.

Bakery and confectionery products tend to contain high amounts of sugar, dyes and additives. White bread – the softer and whiter – the more harmful. White wheat flour of the highest grade is purified of everything useful that is in wheat, respectively, such flour + yeast + sugar = a calorie bomb.

Chocolate bars are usually high in sugar and preservatives. If you crave chocolate, eat 1-2 bars of dark chocolate with a cocoa content greater than 70%.

Chips and crackers do not contain any benefits at all, except for their high calorie content. You can pamper yourself with them, but no more than 1-2 times a month.

Mayonnaise, ketchup and other sauces – contain flavor enhancers, preservatives, high amounts of fat and flavor substitutes. You can add them to the diet just a little, but it is better to exclude them.

Canned food is not always bad, sometimes they help out a lot and allow us to cook quickly and varied. But, thanks to canning, they often lose some of their beneficial properties, and also contain a lot of salt. Therefore, it is better to give preference to fresh or frozen foods.

Instant products (soups, mashed potatoes, cereals, frozen products) contain a lot of chemicals, salt and can actually cause great harm to health if consumed excessively. They are low in vitamins and trace elements, but a lot of “empty calories”.

Salt, like sugar, is a white poison. Excessive salt intake promotes fluid retention in the body, lowers blood pressure. Try not to indulge yourself in overly salty foods. Sugar is empty and fast carbs.

Sugary carbonated drinks contain a lot of sugar, chemical additives and gases.

Alcohol is harmful in large quantities, it also contains a lot of empty carbohydrates, poisons the body and retains water. Nutritionists allow dry red or white wine, no more than 100 ml. per day. But on a diet, it is better to refrain from any alcoholic beverages.

How to replace harmful foods in the diet?

If unhealthy foods are present in your diet every day and in large quantities, it will be very difficult to refuse them at once. To avoid stress and breakdowns, many nutritionists recommend gradually replacing unhealthy foods with healthy ones. For example, for a start, you can diversify your diet with fresh fruits and berries – wash and put apples, pears and kiwi in a plate in a prominent place or on your desktop. And when you want to have a bite, you will see a plate with beautiful and mouth-watering fruits. And you will remember that you wish yourself health, and you will not so much want to snack on unhealthy chips.

Start small and don’t take away all the unnecessary things at once. Replace gradually, for example instead of fast food – make a homemade hamburger yourself. You can take a whole grain bun, grease it with yogurt, put a circle of tomato, a leaf of lettuce, boiled or baked chicken and a slice of cheese on top so that you don’t eat a lot of bread. Use natural spices instead of salt, it is delicious. Instead of sausage, cook chicken, turkey or other lean meats – they can be baked in the oven, slow cooker. French fries can be cooked in the oven, without oil at all – it’s very tasty, believe me.

Top 10 Unhealthy Foods You Probably Eat Every Day

How to motivate yourself to switch to proper nutrition

But how to persuade yourself to make the right snack if there is a pack of such delicious cookies nearby. There is such a way – imagine How long harmful is contained in a pack of cookies (sugar, fats). And imagine how these harmful additives add extra pounds to you. Feel how they harm your nervous system, and instead of getting energy and strength from food, you get harmful substances.

Just don’t buy junk food, and that’s it. Make a meal plan for the week and a grocery list, shop according to the list. Then corny you will not have harmful products – and you will switch to proper nutrition. Well, if hunger overtook you outside the home – give preference to the right snack, read the composition on the label and think about whether it is worth eating.

Hang pictures that you associate with health. Watch and read more information about proper nutrition – and gradually rebuild in the right way.

Pros of proper nutrition

If we give our body useful substances, not flavored with sugar and additives, then it very quickly begins to say “thank you” to us. We feel a surge of strength and cheerfulness, we get up easily and with a smile in the morning.

With proper nutrition, there is less chance of developing diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, etc. Productivity, activity, mood increase, appearance improves, and even excess weight goes away. Youth and health are preserved longer.

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What causes the use of harmful products?

Improper nutrition is known to be the hidden cause of most human diseases. Eating fatty foods leads to weight gain. The abundance of food containing a large number of substitutes and dyes gradually poisons the body, but it is also addictive. We would like to draw your attention to the fact that by eating junk food, the so-called “alert system” about the incoming poison stops working in the body. Yes, yes, the effect of many substances added to products by modern manufacturers is comparable to the effect of poisons. Your body receives poisons in small doses, gets used to them and no longer sends alarm signals, expressed by skin rashes, or nausea, or dizziness.
The feeling of fullness diminishes over time. The reason for this is boiled food. It has a special effect on the gastrointestinal tract, dulling the feeling of satiety. Rough plant foods stimulate the digestive system. Therefore, make up your daily diet in such a way that it includes as many raw vegetables and fruits as possible.
Not only the quality of the food you eat is important, but also the quantity. Improper diet also has a harmful effect on the functioning of the body – being at work all day, a resident of a modern city eats normally only once a day in the evening, and even before bedtime. Thus, a person seeks to satisfy a strong hunger. The feeling of fullness comes only half an hour after the start of the meal. It often turns out that by this time a person has already eaten too much, much more than the body needs.
Improper nutrition is a direct road to obesity, to heart disease, to diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. Before you eat something from the above list, think twice. Harmful products shorten a person’s life, poison the body. Think about your future and the future of your children.

Most Healthy Products

Nutritionists around the world are still arguing about which foods are good for health, and which foods are better to refrain from eating. This dispute is hundreds of years long, but regarding the benefits of certain products, all doctors and nutritionists unanimously agree.
About useful and harmful products (foods)
Apples. In all respects, useful and wonderful fruits. Firstly, the acids contained in apples help fight putrefactive bacteria, so apples are very good for the stomach. They are also useful for the cardiovascular system. Secondly, the composition of apples includes a substance (quercetin), which slows down the growth of cancer cells. Nutritionists also recommend eating one or two apples for an afternoon snack to replenish the necessary trace elements. A variety of varieties can satisfy even the most demanding taste.
Onion. Onions are not just a useful product, but also a panacea for all diseases. Every day we add onions to almost all dishes on our table, but we don’t even think about what a storehouse of vitamins, minerals and trace elements both root onions and their green shoots contain. Onions have a beneficial effect on the functioning of the liver, thyroid gland, and cardiovascular system. It improves immunity and treats colds.
Onion juice treats a runny nose, if you put grated onions on your heels at night, then in the morning you will forget about a cold. Such a healing effect is achieved due to the special substances present in the onion – phytoncides. These substances delay the reproduction of pathogens and are able to completely destroy them. It is worth noting that the onion practically does not lose its medicinal properties even during heat treatment. Therefore, you have many options to provide your body with useful substances all year round and, moreover, at a very low cost.
Garlic. Just like onions, garlic is rich in nutrients and is just as strong in the fight against colds. In addition, garlic normalizes the flora of your stomach, killing harmful microorganisms. This product is also useful in that it lowers cholesterol in the blood. Of course, raw garlic is much healthier, but after heat treatment, garlic loses its unpleasant odor. On days when you can avoid close contact with people, eat a couple of cloves of fresh garlic, this will have a beneficial effect on your body.
Carrot. There are a lot of vitamins in carrots: A (carotene), which is also called the beauty vitamin, B1, B2, B3, B6, C, E, K, P, PP, minerals (potassium, calcium, sodium, magnesium, iron, copper, iodine , phosphorus, cobalt, etc.), it also contains enzymes, fructose, glucose, lecithin, amino acids, proteins and starch. It is recommended to eat with diseases of the heart, liver, gallbladder, kidneys, high acidity of the stomach, salt metabolism disorders and various inflammatory processes. Carrots also prevent the development of cancer, improve blood formation and are very useful for vision.
Nuts. The listing of all the useful substances contained in nuts will take up the entire space of this article. Nuts are rich in both vitamins and minerals. They increase potency in men and libido in women – a kind of natural Viagra. Nuts are also good for the heart, for vision, and reduce the risk of diabetes by 25-30 percent. Nuts can serve as an additional ingredient in the dish, giving it a piquancy, as well as an independent snack that allows you to “freeze the worm”.
Fish. If you constantly – at least three times a week – include fish instead of meat in the menu, you can significantly reduce the risk of developing and exacerbating heart diseases (atherosclerosis, coronary disease, and others), as well as blood cholesterol levels. At the same time, in terms of its nutritional and culinary qualities, fish is not inferior to meat (it contains many substances useful for the human body – from 13 to 23% of proteins, as well as fats, extractive and mineral substances), and even surpasses it in terms of ease of digestion of proteins.
Milk. Milk, as well as dairy products are very useful for the body. Milk contains much-needed calcium, which strengthens bones. Pregnant women are advised to drink a glass of milk a day to maintain calcium levels. Fermented milk products, or rather the bacteria they contain, normalize the work of the gastrointestinal tract.
Green tea. Drinking green tea every day is not just a tribute to fashion, it is very good for health. Green tea reduces the risk of strokes, improves the immune system. Of course, we are not talking about tea bags. To drink a truly healthy and valuable drink for health, buy only loose tea and preferably produced in countries where the use of chemical additives is prohibited.
Honey. Honey is extremely useful: it increases the body’s resistance to many infections and has bactericidal properties. It is recommended to take it in the treatment of diseases of the liver, gastrointestinal tract, respiratory organs, etc. This wonderful natural product contains many vitamins (C, K, E, P, group B), enzymes, organic acids and proteins, and among trace elements – the whole periodic table: potassium, calcium, manganese, chromium, sodium, nickel, silicon, magnesium, iron, copper, silver and others.
Bananas. A unique fruit that also boasts unique properties. Bananas relieve stress and replenish lost strength. They contain a huge amount of vitamin A, C, in addition, bananas contain a quarter of the required daily dose of vitamin B6. Bananas normalize bowel function and miraculously replace laxatives. The iron content in bananas increases the level of hemoglobin in the blood. On top of that, the beneficial properties of this product also lie in the normalization of the activity of the cardiovascular system, providing the brain with oxygen, and neutralizing the increased acidity of the stomach. But do not forget that the energy cost of a banana is 90 kilocalories per 100 grams, so those who are worried about their waist do not need to get carried away with bananas.
Olives. Both black and green olives have a lot of useful nutrients, vitamins and trace elements for the body. So, for example, olives are especially generous in vitamin E, as well as in iron. Olives can be eaten as an independent dish (black olives sprinkled with lemon juice and sprinkled with coarse red pepper are especially good for breakfast, for example), and in dishes (a few olives will spice up the pickle, add a subtle taste to the salad). It is also useful to eat olive oil. Try to make all salads based on it. In addition to the useful properties of olives, as food, they also have aesthetic abilities – they can decorate any dishes very beautifully.
In addition to olives, avocados are also rich in vitamin E. It also contains a lot of potassium, which is necessary to prevent hypertension.
It is not enough to know what foods are useful and why they are useful, it is also important to take into account the characteristics of your body and regulate nutrition, taking into account these very features. Proper and balanced nutrition can work wonders. Health!

Be in tune with yourself and start thinking right about food today.

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