A Healthy, Balanced Diet Can Be Simple - Cut The Fat, Cut The Carbs!

Many popular diets are based on reducing fat, carbohydrates and calories. You know you should be eating a healthy diet but what does it consist of? Here's what nutritional science has to say about it:

Decrease JUNK fat consumption: Most people don’t have to get rid of all fats or have a diet with ultra low fat. Simply getting rid of excessive junk fat is a step that most of us could take to improve our health. Junk fat includes all processed fats, whether they are hydrogenated fats, polyunsaturated oils that have been heated or fats combined with junk carbs. It’s important to get rid of processed fats as they are the ones that cause flab on your body and clog your arteries.

Decrease JUNK carb consumption: Ultra low carb diets are not needed by most people. However, a large number of people who start low-fat diets keep their carb consumption too high by including lots of highly processed foods. They go from processed high-fat foods to processed low-fat foods. If you read the labels, you’ll see that most manufacturers replace fat with junk carbs in their low-fat products, which doesn’t resolve people’s weight problems. Junk carbs don’t have much fiber and include sugar, flour, fructose (and anything ending in “ose”), cornstarch and fruit juice. Your eyes didn’t play a trick on you. I said fruit juice is a junk carbohydrate. Opt for the fresh fruit instead. That way, you’ll get the fiber and won’t ingest too many calories.

Decrease JUNK calorie consumption: Ultra low calorie diets are not necessary for most people. An easier way to get rid of junk calorie foods is simply getting rid of processed fats and processed low-fiber carbs. Most of what’s left is lots of veggies, fruit and natural protein. The total number of calories you would ingest will drastically decrease too and your health would improve.

Eat a balanced diet that contains natural foods that our hunter-gatherer ancestors would have been able to eat. These natural foods include: a lot of whole vegetables, small to moderate portions of meats, fish, seafood and other protein foods, and small portions of fresh seasonal fruit. The vegetables are great for vitamin and fiber intake. Animals, fish and seafood should be grilled, stewed, or baked. This is the diet that our ancestors enjoyed and the diet that results in optimum health for most people.

Think twice before ordering a sugar and fat-laden fast food meal. Could you replace your fries with a salad? How about trading the soda for water? These small and simple steps can make a significant difference if you apply them consistently. At home, you can create healthy and balanced meals using recipes that contain whole and fresh foods that have been exposed to as little processing as possible. Include natural unprocessed foods in all your meals by adding healthy fresh (or frozen) vegetables as side dishes or salads. Stay away from all processed foods with high fat and/or low fiber.

A sample menu:
- grilled or steamed fish with steamed yellow beans and broccoli
- large mixed salad, with small amounts of olive oil and vinegar or lemon juice for salad dressing
- fresh fruit platter without added sugar or cream

A healthy, balanced diet can be and should be that simple!

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