The most important foods on your shopping list for healthy cooking
As we have covered in many of our articles, healthy cooking is very important for your health. If you want to start living healthier, you need to take your diet seriously. To help you get started with a healthy routine, here are some healthy foods you should include in your diet.
Kiwi
This fruit is a great addition to food because of its high vitamin C content, which is even higher than that of oranges. It also contains more potassium compared to bananas. You can eat kiwi, for example, by slicing it thinly and adding it to a fruit salad or drizzling it with honey and eating it as a healthy dessert. You can also sprinkle the sliced kiwi with coconut flakes. Delicious and healthy!
Oatmeal
If so far you don’t include oatmeal in your smoothies, don’t eat it for breakfast or as a snack, it’s high time. Why? Oatmeal helps regulate your cholesterol levels, which can prevent various heart diseases. Moreover, oatmeal keeps you full for a long time. This is due to its high content of soluble fiber. Therefore, try to include oatmeal in your daily diet.
Avocado
Avocados are not only delicious, but they also contain 20% of your daily fiber needs (at ½ cup). Plus, avocados are rich in monounsaturated fats, also known as good fats. This type of fat helps prevent heart disease and promote heart health in general.
Greek yogurt
If you’re not lactose intolerant, Greek yogurt is a great choice for your diet. It’s a particularly thick yogurt that’s rich in bacteria that promote healthy digestion and boost your immune system. Also, compared to regular yogurt, Greek yogurt contains much more protein per serving.
Sweet potatoes
Sweet potatoes are not only delicious, but also rich in antioxidants and soluble fiber. Antioxidants help protect your body’s cells from the potential damage of free radicals. Fiber contributes to the health of your intestines and digestion.
In addition, sweet potatoes, just like other root vegetables, are rich in beta-carotene. This promotes healthy vision and supports your body’s immune system.
Kale
Kale contains beneficial substances that help bind bile acids in the intestines. Another benefit is that kale can help lower your cholesterol. This means you can greatly reduce the risk of heart disease.
Since kale is a dark leafy vegetable, it also contains a lot of vitamin K, which is important for blood clotting. Just one cup of kale contains almost 7 times the RDA value of vitamin K.
Almonds
These delicious nuts contain a lot of vital nutrients. Vitamins and minerals you can get from almonds include vitamin E, magnesium, protein, fats, and soluble fiber. This means that almonds can help lower blood sugar levels, which is a big help for diabetics. If you’re struggling to lose weight, almonds can help reduce cravings so you feel fuller longer.
Spinach
While most of us grow up hating spinach, this vegetable is extremely healthy for us and our bodies. It is rich in vitamins A, C and K, manganese, iron and magnesium. While low in carbohydrates, spinach is high in fiber. This fiber can help prevent constipation and improve digestion. Because spinach is full of minerals and vitamins, it has similar effects on your eyesight as carrots. These vitamins also have a positive effect on blood clotting, skin health and the immune system. The iron in spinach is also very beneficial as it helps in the formation of hemoglobin.
Cooking tips: Sauté spinach with onion and garlic paste and then add lemon juice and sesame seeds. Serve it as a side dish with fish or other proteins.
Black beans
Black beans are related to peas, peanuts and lentils, as they are all categorized as legumes. Although it may seem that black beans are too simple a dish to serve only as a side dish, this is not entirely the case.
There are many reasons why this nutritious ingredient should always be on your shopping list. Two of the most important health benefits black beans offer are helping to lower blood pressure and strengthen bone structure. While calcium, magnesium, copper and zinc found in black beans help strengthen your bones, potassium, calcium and magnesium can help you lower your blood pressure naturally.
Cooking tips: Season cooked black beans and puree with a hand blender and serve as a side dish.
Lemon
Lemons are probably one of the healthiest fruits that offer many benefits to your body. Because it is so rich in vitamin C, lemon juice helps prevent heart disease and strokes. The citric acid found in lemon juice increases the amount of urine your body produces and the pH balance of your urine, which can be useful for two things – preventing kidney stones and weight loss. Also, since our bodies have trouble absorbing iron from plant sources, lemon can be very helpful since it contains both citric acid and vitamin C, which successfully help with iron absorption.
Cooking tips: Most experts advise drinking a few cups of warm water with sliced lemons daily.
Beet
Beet is very important because it offers help in lowering pressure and strengthening stamina. It also provides a great source of potassium and helps in weight loss. One thing that is brilliant about beetroot is that you can use it in both savory and sweet dishes. Many people use them in juices, cookies, salads or soups.
Broccoli
Not everyone likes broccoli, and that’s okay. Most people find that it has a neutral or bland taste. But while the taste itself may not be that great, there are certainly many reasons why you shouldn’t avoid this vegetable.
First of all, broccoli is low in carbohydrates but offers a variety of vitamins, minerals and other antioxidants. When it comes to benefits, there is some similarity to black beans, as the vitamin K in broccoli also strengthens bones and lowers blood pressure. The vitamin C found in broccoli helps improve metabolism and balance blood sugar levels, while omega-3 acids prevent inflammation.
Garlic
This ingredient is often avoided in its raw form because of its unpleasant odor. But whether you eat it raw, roasted or baked, garlic offers many useful health benefits. Garlic can successfully ward off and prevent colds, and it plays a big role in balancing cholesterol levels. It can also lower high blood pressure and is very nutritious despite its low calorie content.
Eggs
The first great fact about eggs is that eggs contain protein as well as minerals and vitamins. Since eggs contain small portions of many nutrients important to your body, they have many helpful benefits. Even though they have high cholesterol content, they don’t necessarily have a negative effect on it. But they do increase the level of lipoproteins that are useful for your body. One of the most important benefits is also that eggs increase choline levels – this substance builds membranes in cells.
Chia seeds
Even though these black seeds look small, don’t let them fool you – they are very nutritious and offer a great variety of minerals. They are full of antioxidants that help with detoxification. Since they absorb water well, they expand in the stomach, which can reduce appetite. This leads to a good contribution in weight loss, which is why they are often used in diets.
Conclusion
These are just some of the healthy ingredients you should include in your diet. These ingredients will not only improve your health, but they can also help you lose weight.