Switching to a healthy diet and consuming the right type of food has many good health benefits that your body will thank you for. Losing weight is one, but it isn’t the only benefit, though.
Here are some other benefits that you can get, if you switch to a healthy diet.
Weight loss and maintenance
Being able to lose or maintain your weight is one of the biggest advantages to healthy eating. This is because many healthy foods are often low in calories and high in fibre content, such as fresh fruits and vegetables. Lean meat proteins like chicken breast are also lower in calories. If you eat these, you are taking in a lot less calories compared to someone who eats potato chips or deep-fried chicken wings. On a healthy diet, you are less likely to exceed your calorie requirement per day – so you don’t put on extra weight.
Lowered risk of heart disease
Foods that are high in saturated fats can increase cholesterol and triglyceride levels. As a result, this causes fatty deposits to build up in the arteries, and blood cannot flow well, thereby leading to heart problems. But if you eat food that is high in healthy fats, such as avocados, nuts and “fatty” fish such as salmon, you can help to reduce your risk of heart disease.
Controls your blood sugar levels
Consuming whole grains and multi grain carbs will release sugar much more slowly into your bloodstream because they take longer to digest. As a result, this helps to stabilise your blood sugar levels, thereby preventing a spike in blood sugars, which eventually leads to diabetes.
On the other hand, foods containing plenty of refined carbs and unhealthy sugars, such as white bread, white rice and soft drinks can cause your blood sugar to spike rapidly. While this is perfectly okay once in a while, rapid blood sugar spikes on a regular basis leads to Type 2 diabetes.
Lowered risk of cancer
Eating healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables contain plenty of antioxidants, which are important in reducing your cancer risk. This is because antioxidants protect the body against free radicals, which are harmful by-products from the body system that attacks healthy cells and change their DNA, resulting in the growth of cancerous tumours. But by consuming antioxidants through healthy fruits and vegetables, these free radicals are controlled and eliminated from the body.
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