Eating Right: The Basics
- Vishrutha Thulasiram
- Feb 28, 2023
- 3 min read
Ensuring that we are eating right isn’t as hard as these instagram posts make it seem. How do I know this? Well, after spending 5 years studying the subject of nutrition and creating many many meal plans. I like to think I have figured out a sort of short cut that anyone (I mean ANYONE) can use to figure out the right balance of foods that make up our daily diets.
But before we get into understanding how it works let’s take a look at what diets actually mean. The evolution of modern diet trends Do make sure that you read this before you begin working on tweaking your diet to make it the best it can be!
Okay! Now that that has been cleared that up. Let’s take a look at the basics of creating a good daily diet. The picture below represents a “Healthy Eating Plate” as described by the Harvard School of Public Health. What this infographic is trying to explain is essentially how each of our three meal plates should look like. To put it more simply – Each of our meals should have the following food groups; non-starchy vegetables, whole grains, healthy protein, water, healthy oils and whole fruit.
Let’s take a look at what including each of these food groups will look like in our actual everyday plates:
Fruit: This is probably the one of the rather simpler elements of healthy eating. All we need to rememberer is to include:
whole fruit and
mix it up once in a while.
With fruit especially it should be noted that the whole fruit is prefered over juices or smoothies. Since doing so can take away the very important fiber aspect, apart from the loss of some micronutrients as well.
Vegetables: The most important element and yet it’s often not present in most meals. Steam it, bake it, saute it, fry it, stew it or soup it; some fun ways of ensuring that you eat enough veggies is by eating the rainbow. Veggies not only add taste but also provide texture and color to the meals.
Protein: Another important aspect of meals that often gets skipped out. What I hear most people say is there are so few options for proteins. But that’s not true. From chicken and fish to paneer, dals, whole lentils, curd, milk, sprouts, tofu! The opportunities are endless really.
Grains: Choose whichever grain you have readily available. But make sure to switch it up and add variety. Make sure you use appropriate portions.
Fats/Oils: Yet another important aspect of meals. This refers to both fats – from ingredients used in recipes like coconuts, avocados, nuts and seeds, and also oils that are used for cooking. Again it is important choose the sources wisely.
Water: This is no rocket science but we NEED enough hydration as much as we need the right food. The ideal amount of water that we should drink each day is 35mL per kg (if you weigh 65kg then you should be drinking around 65×35 = 2.2L everyday). Bad at math? I got you. Ensuring that you get 2.5 to 3.5L each day, also works.
Exercise/Movement: Exercise not only helps with proper utilization of the food you eat but also helps
manage stress
strengthen muscles
better circulation of nutrients
reduced risk of lifestyle diseases;
This is just skimming the surface, physical activity does so much more for our body.
Follow @smileoverspilledmilk here and on instagram to get alerted when part 2 come out.
PS: As easy as it may seem, trying to find YOUR optimal balance requires time, patience (lots of it), trial and error and obviously professional guidance (can be your nutritionist, doctor or physician).
Until next time, #growwiththeflow🌈
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