For me, eating healthy doesn't mean monitoring my calorie and fat intake to a T (mind you I'm 5'3" and 115 lbs, so weight is not really a concern of mine). I do, however, care a lot about the nutritional value of the food I eat. Two years ago I was diagnosed with IBS, irritable bowl syndrome. Not the most pleasant thing to talk about, I realize, but it is the reason why I started paying attention to what I eat. I noticed that when I primarily ate highly processed, high fat and high sodium foods, my stomach got horribly upset. Sometimes I would end up in the bathroom within 10 minutes of finishing a meal. My body stopped digesting foods fully and I lost 15 lbs that summer. It was disgusting, I was too thin and no matter how much I ate, it stayed the same. My doctor recommend taking a fiber supplement to help regulate my digestion but he didn't talk to me much about my diet. I did some research of my own and found that a healthy diet is the best way to regulate IBS.
I started small by reading nutrition labels to find high fiber foods. I did more research and learned the importance of protein and low sodium and then I moved to avoiding processed food all together (for those of you who don't know, processed food is basically anything that comes in the box, foil bag and the majority of the food found in the center of the supermarket). Now that I live on my own and do all my own grocery shopping, I focus on making my own meals from scratch and shopping the edges of the supermarket. My problems with IBS have been all but eliminated and I feel better than I've ever felt. I regained a love for fruits and vegetables, lean meats and cooking with olive oil and I've actually reached a point where all I taste is salt in most processed foods.
I'm not a doctor, a nutritionist or an expert of any kind on nutrition, but I do read and care a lot about my health. If you're interested in trying my lifestyle, I'm hear to get you started. If you're used to eating processed meals regularly it's a bit of an adjustment, but I recommend starting small. Pick one meal a week to make from scratch or pick one thing to look for in the brands of processed foods you buy: low sodium (below 20% per serving is usually a good start, below 10% is even better) or high fiber (above 3 grams per serving is usually a good start) and high protein (the more the better but above 3 grams is decent).
I'll post recipes, brands I like and produce I recommend regularly among my other posts. In the meantime, here is an article I read about 29 of the healthiest foods. Starting to buy the items on this list is a really good way to start eating healthy and I personally love everything on this list. Enjoy! :)
The 29 Healthiest Foods on the Planet
