Eat Well To Be Well

A healthy diet is the foundation of a healthy life

Photo by Arek Adeoye on Unsplash

Eat Well to Be Well

I’m not a dietician or a medical expert. The knowledge I have about diet, I gained for my own needs. Becoming a vegetarian over 30 years ago meant I had to learn about the basics of nutrition to ensure that giving up meat didn’t negatively affect my health. I gave up eating meat for a variety of reasons, but mainly because of the cruelty involved in its production.

Factory farming treats sentient beings as objects, giving them no quality of life. Meat, though, provides many nutrients. One is first-class protein, which our bodies need to support our muscles and avoid frailty. Most plants don’t contain all the amino acids necessary to create a first-class protein.

Combining ingredients from various plants containing some amino acids can create the first-class protein we need. For instance, combining grains and legumes gives you all nine amino acids; this is why beans on toast is such a good, nourishing basic meal - the grain is in the bread and beans are a legume. Sourdough toast with low sugar and salt baked beans is a nutritious and speedily prepared meal. It’s one of my favourites.

Much scientific research has gone into what makes a healthy diet. Repeatedly, the result is what has come to be known as the Mediterranean diet. This is based on the foods eaten around the sunny Mediterranean coast and is primarily plant-based with minimal processing and includes extra virgin olive oil, beans, legumes, whole grains, nuts, berries (raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, etc), seeds, eggs and some dairy, green salads, fish and a small amount of meat. A regular healthy diet should not include sugar, red meat, saturated fats, or heavily processed foods, but they may be consumed occasionally if necessary.

Beans, especially, contribute to healthy ageing; black beans, kidney beans, butter beans, chickpeas (garbanzo beans, or chickpeas, are strictly speaking legumes, as are lentils), etc can all be made into appetising stews and salads to provide fibre and protein. Salmon is an excellent source of protein and omega-3 three fatty acids; it’s recommended that we eat fish twice a week.

After twenty years of being a non-meat eater, I began to eat fish. I was taking fish oil pills for omega 3, so not taking the next step seemed illogical. I did so with much examination of my conscience and only eat it if it’s in disguise. However, I’m hearing about the build-up of heavy metals in seafood so it may not be as healthy as once thought. Maybe it’s time to seek out a plant-based source of omega-3. That will settle my conscience, too. Though - what are we doing to our planet that sea life is being infected like this?

Nuts are also an excellent source of protein but are high in fat and should be eaten in small quantities: I have a few on my daily porridge, along with blueberries - and raspberries when they’re in season. Pure almond or peanut butter (no added sugar or palm oil) is another source of protein and is delicious on sourdough toast for breakfast.

Good gut health is linked to fewer health problems and a lower risk of allergies and autoimmune conditions. We need a diversity of microbes in our gut to have a healthy digestive system; if we don’t, everything else is out of kilter and the resulting inflammation leads to illness and disease. Again, the Mediterranean diet comes up trumps as it contains a variety of foods, which add to the diversity of microbes it creates in our digestive system. Besides plant-based food, exercise, sleep and stress management are important to maintaining a healthy gut. 

Eating more fibre and steering clear of ultra- processed foods are recommendations to keep your gut in peak health. Also, avoid antibiotics that kill microbes. If you can’t avoid antibiotics, the best course of action to protect your gut is to eat foods that increase microbes. These foods include yogurt, not flavored and as natural as possible - I have a spoonful of authentic Greek yogurt on my daily porridge, so I’m hoping this is doing my gut health good.

Others are fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi, miso, kombucha and pickles. I believe there is still uncertainty about whether fermented foods do benefit the gut, but in countries where people typically consume them, lower rates of gut health issues and bowel disease are to be found.

Choose whole grains in foods over white alternatives because they do not have the roughage removed. Porridge oats make a healthy breakfast, but the least processed ones, steel-cut and rolled oats, are even healthier. I find it easier to source rolled oats (remember to check labels as many oats are flaked, which are the most processed). I have these nearly every morning.

Portion size matters in a healthy meal. Obesity is becoming a problem because of the availability of overly processed foods and takeaways, which save time and effort when you’re busy. Still, they’re not as healthy as regular meals. Simple foods with no additives are best, and controlling how much you eat is important. Confucius had the right idea with his teaching to eat until you are eighty percent full. Smaller plate sizes help, too.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash

An Apple a Day…..

An item of fruit I have eaten every day for as long as I can remember is an apple. One apple contains fifty-two calories and is rich in fibre, antioxidants, carbs and sugars (fructose, sucrose and glucose). Despite the high carbs and sugar, it is low on the Glycemic Index so does not cause a sugar spike. I always eat mine after my main meal.

I was interested in learning that an apple contains quercetin, a flavonoid in many plant foods that may have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects. Scientists studying longevity recommend quercetin as a supplement. The old saying that eating an apple a day keeps the doctor away may have something in it, as I’m rarely ill. Of course, all of my healthy diet will have much to do with my good health. I do love apples, though; Royal Gala is the variety I now enjoy most, as they are not too acidic. 

So much is now known about food and what is healthy for longevity that making the right choices for our diet is easy. Having the willpower to ignore all the delicious, sweet things on offer may not be so easy. However, knowing that constantly succumbing to the craving for rich fare could lead to chronic health problems, such as diabetes, should be our trigger to only occasionally allow ourselves the luxury of the odd cake or ice cream.

It is possible to train our taste buds, as I know. I learned to like blueberries and dark chocolate, for instance, knowing they are good for me, though I didn’t like them originally.

• Do you eat a plant-based diet or can’t you give up bacon (that’s the one meat most carnivores can’t seem to give up)?

• What foods have you reluctantly given up because they’re not healthy for you, but you enjoy them?

• Have you acquired a taste for a healthy food that you didn’t originally like?

• Do you like apples as much as I do by eating one daily?

I’d love to know in the comments. Don’t forget to tap the heart icon if you enjoyed this post. I very much appreciate your feedback.