Throughout decades, cultures worldwide have adopted diets, cuisines, and eating styles to promote particular health benefits. As losing weight, boosting brain function, increasing energy, and even improving sleep and memory recall illustrate, diets and eating can affect the body’s health and performance in various ways.
Not all of these healthful practices have to be a strict and soul-sucking diet, though! Plenty of delicious dishes from cuisines worldwide can promote significant health benefits and even apply to other eating habits to enable healthful practices no matter what you eat. The best way to start is to understand how your food intake influences your body.
Macronutrients
Macronutrients are the foods the human body needs in large quantities to survive, function, and thrive. These are typically separated into the general categories of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats.
- Carbohydrates
- Proteins
- Fats
Carbohydrates, or “carbs,” are sugars the body can process for energy or store later. Standard carbs include simple sugars such as glucose, sucrose, fructose, and other natural and artificial sugars.
There are also more complex carbohydrates, such as starches and fibers, in foods like potatoes, corn, apricots, and other fruits and vegetables. These more complex carbohydrates require increased energy for the body to process and can promote longer-term energy than simple sugars.
Eating excess carbs (processed sugars) can be unhealthy, but some carbohydrates are necessary for a healthy diet and proper bodily function. Natural sweeteners are an excellent choice, as the body has an easier time processing them than processed sugars. They contain fewer additives and preservatives, ensuring the body gets clean-running energy.
Proteins are another vital macronutrient commonly found in meats like beef and salmon and throughout the human body. Proteins are responsible for many of the enzymes in the body that enable the synthesis of critical nutritional compounds and chemicals. Proteins are made up of simple and essential building pieces called amino acids. These amino acids are crucial to building body structures, maintaining the body’s systems, and repairing injuries.
However, The human body cannot produce all the amino acids it needs. Nine of the 20+ amino acids can be produced internally, but the others must be consumed through food, making proteins an essential part of a daily diet.
Fats are often made into a dietary boogeyman due to their high caloric density, complex chemical structure, and potential for weight gain. However, dietary fat is an essential macronutrient that no diet should be without. Primarily used for long-term energy storage, bodily protection, and brain health, fats are a calorie-rich macronutrient providing the body with long-lasting energy.
Fats are commonly found in oils and meats, such as olive oil, butter, eggs, and fish. They are also referred to as “fatty acids.” They are essential for proper nutrition, as fats enable the body to absorb fat-soluble vitamins, create hormones, and heal the brain from injury.
It’s all about more than just the calories — there are plenty of healthy foods with high-calorie counts, too! When reading nutrition labels and planning a diet, ensure a healthy and curated spread of all the different macronutrients you need to make your body function healthfully.
Health Benefits from Natural Extracts
Since early history, humans have used medicinal herbs, plants, and foods to help treat disease symptoms and promote particular, tailored health effects. These were commonly done through teas and tinctures, extracting the flavors and healing chemicals through liquid processes. This practice has not gone away, although it is typically used commercially as flavorings for foods and drinks!
These extracts can be chosen and employed to promote specific health effects. Ingredients like ginger and turmeric are well known for their anti-inflammatory effects. In contrast, lavender and pine can promote calmness and relaxation. There are many more uncommon food extracts. However, they have health benefits as well! The health benefits of vanilla, for example, are manifold.
Vanilla contains a chemical compound called vanillin that acts as an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, helping to reduce inflammation and promote blood health. Additionally, the scent of vanilla can also reduce anxiety, improve mood, and promote relaxation. Whether ingested or not, there are many health benefits the foods you eat every day provide that you may never notice!
Eat Mindfully
Healthy eating is an important and beneficial habit to pick up, and there are many ways to incorporate healthful eating into one’s diet! Understanding macronutrients and carefully choosing ingredients are an excellent start, and eating mindfully can help to maintain a strong trajectory!
Listening to your body — eating when you’re hungry and stopping eating when you’re full — Can lead to many more health benefits, allowing the full potential of the excellent food being consumed to be unlocked! When planning your next meal, remember — It’s not always about what’s being eaten, but why it’s being eaten.