Nutrient-rich foods are so important for optimal health. If you want to keep your body in tip-top shape, it’s wise to become intentional about the foods you consume. Just as you’d make sure to put the right fuel in your vehicle over the years, your body needs optimal fuel to run well. To make this happen, it’s best to immediately begin incorporating these foods into your daily diet.
Green, Leafy Vegetables
Green, leafy vegetables include kale, spinach, collard greens and rainbow chard. These foods are excellent for warding off cancer as they contain lots of antioxidants. They contain properties that encourage anti-aging and fat burning.
It’s best to eat a couple servings of these foods every day. For breakfast, green smoothies have grown in popularity. Add some water, a few handfuls of spinach and kale to a blender. Add in fruits like bananas, mangos and berries for a more flavor-filled experience. Blend the ingredients all together and you’d never know you were drinking vegetables. For lunch and dinner, steam some rainbow chard or baby bok choy and season with a tiny bit of salt and pepper.
Seeds
Seeds act as an excellent source of dietary fiber. Most people need an average of 40 grams of dietary fiber a day and struggle to get that. One spoonful of chia seeds makes up a total of 5 grams of fiber. A few spoonfuls at one meal will easily make up half of your fiber intake for the day. The important tip to remember with seeds is that some of them require the grinding process. If you don’t grind up flax seeds, they’ll pass through the digestive system and go through the other end without breaking down. If the seeds don’t break down, the body misses out on the nutrients.
In some cases, putting the seeds through a food processor will make them a lot easier for the body to digest. Chia seeds and flax seeds are probably some of the most popular seeds on the market. Many people love to place them in smoothies to encourage proper digestion. Sunflower seeds are delicious when roasted or mixed into a salad. Add a few spoonfuls of chia seeds into a mason jar along with oats, almond milk, honey and fresh fruit. Sit it in the fridge overnight and enjoy overnight oats in the morning. Grind up a few spoonfuls of flax seeds and add them to a salad or as a topping to a smoothie bowl.
Nuts
Nuts are delicious to snack on and are easy to infuse into any dish. Most nuts are great and healthy sources of fat for the body. Instead of adding tons of dairy-based milks and creams to your recipes, replace them with nut milks. This one step will skyrocket the nutritional aspect of your foods. To infuse them into your gourmet dishes, use a high-powered blender to break them down along with water. The blender results will be a creamy nut milk you can add to Alfredo dishes, casseroles and more.
Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes are one of the most nutrient-rich foods of all. It contains a lot of different vitamins such as beta-carotene, B6, C and more. It’s also very filling. You can prepare in a variety of ways. If you don’t want to stand in the kitchen for a while, simply wash the sweet potato and wrap it in wax paper. Follow the wax paper with aluminum foil and set it in the crockpot to cook slowly on low for six hours. The result will be a delicious sweet potato. Add a little bit of cinnamon and honey to enjoy. Sweet potato fries are a popular favorite. Bake the fries to maintain as much nutritional value as possible.
It doesn’t have to be difficult to eat well-balanced and healthy meals. Swap out junk food for healthier options. Your taste buds will adjust and change after a while. Pretty soon, you’ll crave chia seed puddings over ice cream! If you find you’re still having troubles getting the nutrition you need, consider checking out a Xyngular review or looking into other companies that sell dietary supplements. These can be another great tool to fuel your life.