Are you looking for the best strategy for a longer, healthier life? Aren’t we all? The best way to invest in your health and your future is to start with what you put into your body!
You can ensure that every meal goes towards your overall health by choosing the right foods. Now, this doesn’t have to be a challenge. With the variety of superfoods and nutrient-dense meals out there, your diet can be both extremely healthy and flavorful.
The basics: Foods to stock in the kitchen
There are many base foods to start with that benefit different parts of the body. For example, many plant-based foods are great for their filling carbohydrates, rich antioxidants, and abundant nutrients.
Spinach is a great start to stocking the kitchen with healthy food, because it is full of powerful antioxidants that help lower bad cholesterol and has vitamins that promote liver health and heart health. Beyond that, it’s not just the green leaves of plants that contain vital nutrients; oats from grains, berries, seeds and nuts are also great for various health benefits.
Oats are a source of good fiber, keeping you feeling full longer and flushing toxins out of your system. Berries have plenty of antioxidants that support immune system health, and can add great variety and flavor to your diet. Seeds and nuts also promote heart health and collagen production, keeping you looking and feeling great.
Soy is another health-booster, fighting bad cholesterol while providing needed protein. Soy is also a food that has little flavor, but takes on the flavor of what it is cooked in, making it easy to incorporate into many different meals.
Greener Foods for Low Cholesterol Levels
Getting back towards the greener foods, avocados are another health food to choose! These have good fats and work towards healthy cholesterol levels- for both HDL and LDL cholesterols. Keeping these cholesterol levels in check will protect the heart, which in turn protects the rest of the body.
The last few items on this list are beans, garlic and cacao. Cacao is a heart-helper, by regulating blood pressure and adding vital minerals to the diet. Garlic aids cholesterol levels and can reduce the risk of developing blood clots that can lead to heart attack or stroke. Lastly, beans have a great amount of nutrients and antioxidants, and can support healthy bones.
Each of these foods can be enjoyed by themselves or compiled together for healthy, delicious meals. To get the benefits of these foods, simply enjoy a standard serving size of each incorporated into your diet, and feel free to vary what you consume day-to-day, so that you always get something interesting on the table. With these basic foods in a daily diet, the health benefits are amazing, especially because obtaining vitamins and nutrients from foods rather than through supplements is the best option for your body to absorb and use efficiently.
While it might seem difficult at first to buy and use foods like this often, if you’re not used to it, it is well worth the investment into your health! It’s also easy to come up with exciting and flavorful dishes with these ingredients to boost nutritional value. By keeping these foods on hand in the kitchen, it’s easy to make sure every meal counts towards overall health.