Why It’s Important to Eat Nutrient Dense Foods
We all know the struggle of trying to find food we like that is also healthy, often sacrificing our favourite snacks for something that we don’t really enjoy eating. It’s important that we follow a balanced diet and still treat ourselves every now and again, but how do you know that you’re making the right choices when it comes to meal times?
Including fruit and vegetables are the obvious choices but there’s so much more to it than that. It can be easy to get caught up in fad diets and depriving yourselves of certain food groups that have been deemed unhealthy, but in reality this isn’t a sustainable way to live.
This is where the concept of nutrient dense foods could be helpful. This refers to the proportion of nutrients in the food you’re eating, and opting for foods that have more nutrients for less calories. In other words, you’re getting the most out of your food every time!
Eating Nutrient Dense Foods
The most important thing to remember when trying to eat well is that you should be giving your body what it needs, alongside a little bit of what you want too! Healthy eating shouldn’t have to be boring, it just takes a little bit of know-how.
The nutrient density of your food can have an impact on how good it is for you. Many of us choose to calorie count which can be incredibly restrictive. Instead, it may be a better idea to focus on eating more nutritious food and looking at the nutritional value of the food you buy! So, what foods are counted as being nutrient dense?
How To Include Nutrient Dense Food In Your Diet
There is an extensive list of food that has high nutritional value and can be classed as good for you, regardless of how many calories it has. A lot of vegetables are incredibly nutrient dense, such as dark leafy greens like spinach and kale. Likewise, carrots, sweet potatoes and red peppers are high in nutrients.
To make sure you are eating a nutrient rich diet, you should be looking for food that contains vitamins, minerals, lean protein, complex carbohydrates and healthy fats. Protein is particularly important to help you build and maintain muscle. Meat, poultry and seafood are great sources of protein, as well as B vitamins, iron and zinc. However, you should be buying quality meat that is guaranteed to have a high nutritional value.
Grass-fed meat and meat that has been reared naturally is much better for you than factory farmed meat, so it’s important that you not only consider what you’re eating, but where it’s come from too. Providing clean, healthy protein for your diet, grass-fed meat has higher levels of Omega3s, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that factory farmed meat.
Salmon is another example of nutrient dense food that you can easily incorporate into your diet. Including the right vitamins to help your body function as it should, you should look for wild salmon, not farmed; it will have a better ratio of Omega3s.Eating healthy will never have felt so easy!