HEALTHY EATING TIPS

Main Points

1) Drink plenty of water and unsweetened teas. Those should be your leading drinks; try to drink them before meals. Coffee only from time to time because of excess caffeine. Skip decaffeinated coffee. Avoid this ritual, "I got up, now I need my morning coffee."

2) Stop buying sugar altogether. Limit all consumed sugar as much as possible. Sugar cannot be eliminated from foods; pay attention to hidden sources.

3) Reduce salt consumption. Ready-to-eat foods already contain enough salt, and there is no need to increase blood pressure artificially.

4) Always add fresh vegetables and fruits to all meals. Change vegetables very often.  If fresh vegetables are not available, consider frozen vegetables. Canned vegetables are fine, too, and they last longer. However, watch for extra salt and preservatives.

5) Add some raw or lightly cooked mushrooms to your diet.

6) A single boiled egg, maybe two, once a week. An extra cholesterol may become a problem.

7) Healthy nuts, once or twice a week.

8) Fish is always good. Boiled fish is much better than fried fish. Add canned sardines, herring, anchovies, and wild salmon. A high content of Omega-3 fatty acids is beneficial.

9) Any wild seafood, in general, is acceptable. Better skip farmed seafood because of antibiotics.

10) Cooked chicken, turkey, beef, or pork, perhaps once every two weeks, in small amounts.

11) Eat plenty of cooked beans and peas. Soak the beans for several hours to eliminate excess sugar, which can lead to bloating and gas. Canned beans are pre-cooked and ready to eat, though they often contain preservatives. Frozen beans might be a preferable option.

12) Fermented vegetables quite often; sauerkraut, pickles, beets, kimchi, and tofu, twice a week; contain beneficial gut bacteria. Some pickles come with lots of vinegar; skip those because the beneficial bacteria is almost gone.

13) Olive oil twice a week. This is a significant source of good fat. Extra virgin olive oil is easy to buy. However, pay attention to excess calories. Avoid fake olive oil.

14) A glass of regular or low-fat milk once a week. If you cannot drink milk due to lactose intolerance, skip it.

15) Cultured milk contains less sugar and could be a better choice.

16) Plain kefir and yogurt without added fruits and extra sugar. Once or twice a week.

17) Cottage cheese, from time to time. Hard cheeses only sporadically.

18) Once weekly, oats with cold milk or cooked oats with milk. Avoid quick oats.

19) Whole grain bread or sourdough, once a week.

20) A small piece of dark chocolate with 90% cacao once a week. Avoid chocolate with emulsifiers.

21) Often add some herbs to your food.

Better to avoid

1) Avoid any foods you are allergic to. After a while, see if the allergies are still there. Some may disappear, your microbiome may improve, and some problems may be lessened.

2) Avoid all soft drinks, fruit juices, vegetable juices, sports drinks, and energy drinks. Some contain too much sugar, little or no fiber, and unnecessary extra vitamins. Excess carbon dioxide is also optional.

3) Nothing containing high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Your lean liver will thank you.

4) Do not try drinks with artificial sweeteners. If those with natural sweeteners are acceptable, you may want to experiment.

5) No deep-fried foods, even though they taste so good.

6) Avoid dried fruits because of their high sugar content. Stick with raw fruits, and skip canned fruits.

7) No fast food at all. This is very important, remember!

8) Avoid all breakfast cereals.

9) Avoid most restaurant food—the food at "healthy" restaurants no more often than once a month.

10) Avoid candies, cookies, cakes, or ice cream. They contain too much sugar, fructose, preservatives, color dyes, emulsifiers, and food-like substitutes.

11) Avoid all highly processed foods. Concentrate on simple foods that are close to nature. Either raw or lightly cooked if raw is too unpleasant to eat.

12) Avoid farmed fish and seafood because of likely antibiotic presence.

13) Check the labels for trans fats. Reject those products.

14) Also, check the labels for saturated fats. Eat a little.

15) Skip salad dressings and mayonnaise.

16) No supplements or vitamins, which only tend to produce expensive urine. Avoid probiotics either because the results are questionable.

17) Stay away from alcohol. OK, a maximum of a glass of wine per month.

18) Don't smoke cigarettes.

19) No drugs, opioids, pot, fentanyl, glue, gasoline fumes, etc.

Additional items

1) You won't get tired of those foods. Pick something different when you want to eat; avoid repeatedly sticking with the same food.

2) Check the label; avoid it if the product contains more than 4-6 grams of sugar per serving.

3) Vegetables and fruits contain prebiotics that improve the gut microbiome, improving health. A slow weight loss is likely without any unwanted side effects.

4) Try to eat the food as soon as you buy it. Keep it around or store it in the fridge for a short time. This means shopping quite often, but it is worth it. That way, food does not spoil, and there are no leftovers.

5) "How could this be bad for me if it tastes so good?" Don't get fooled by this. Very often, foods that taste good are pretty bad for your health! The taste has been chemically altered to fool your gut satiety sensors.

6) You will not feel hungry between meals because you eat whole foods. There will be no sugar spikes or crashes, and you will not feel hyper.

7) Some antibiotics may be in the meat, which is almost unavoidable. Eat only a little bit.

8) Those ideas are unsuitable for vegetarians or vegans because they include meat in small quantities. Removing meat, dairy, and eggs may not be enough, as the calories could be too low, and some vitamins and essential amino acids may need to be included.

9) You should know that gluten is in the mentioned foods. It appears that gluten has been blacklisted, although it affects negatively only a tiny group of people.

10) Read labels on products. If the label contains ingredients your grandmother would not recognize, it is better to set aside that item.

11) Skipping a meal is OK; you will not die, but don't skip too often.

12) Don't eat or drink before going to bed. A little break before sleep is always beneficial.

13) Checking your body weight very often is optional. You will feel better once your weight starts to go down, and you will know it.

Body hygiene tips

1) Remember to brush your teeth before breakfast to remove bacteria accumulated during sleep. You don't want extra bacteria to colonize your stomach, intestines, or brain, and the consequences of not brushing may be dire.

2) After eating, brush your teeth without toothpaste or wash your mouth with warm or cold water.

3) Always use a soft bristle brush. Skip electrical brushes.

4) Brush your teeth before going to bed. You can also chew on celery, parsley, cilantro, or other green leaves. It never hurts.

5) Avoid using antibacterial products, such as soap, toothpaste, mouthwash, shampoo, body wash, and deodorant. These tend to kill harmful and good bacteria, and the bad bacteria mutate and become more resistant to them over time, thus continuing a vicious cycle.

6) Regular showers, this is obvious.

Word on exercise

1) Daily walking for about an hour, two to three hours on weekends.

2) More exercise will not hurt you but may not be practical because of your work schedule.

3) If you exercise more, take a day off to relax.

Sleep

1) Plenty of good sleep. This is mandatory. You cannot ever fool sleep!

2) Lower room temperature to about 65°F/18°C.

3) Remove all noise sources, such as TVs, radios, cell phones, computers, games, and music. However, you may be stuck with noisy neighbors.

4) Sleep in near darkness, perhaps with a small nightlight so that you can find your way to the bathroom if necessary.

5) Try to sleep during the same hours; do not change your sleep pattern.

What to change?

1) The foods mentioned contain plenty of fiber, which may sometimes cause diarrhea. If this happens, reduce fruit and vegetable consumption. The right amount has to be adjusted individually; everyone is different. You need to experiment a bit.

Tell me how you are doing

1) Leave a comment if you try those ideas for a while.

2) Let me know if you want to add something that was omitted.

3) Are those ideas too restrictive?

#diet #health #HealthyEating