Eating healthy doesn’t have to drastically change your diet. As a Nigerian, you’ve probably eaten rice, bread, or spaghetti in the last 7 days, true or true? There’s no need to be shy, it’s not exactly your fault. We have a short list of staple foods which we rotate in our diet weekly. Most of these foods are starchy foods that are high in carbohydrates but not so much in other nutrients. How do you eat healthy despite the obvious limitations to our general diet and the seeming unavailability of other nutrients, we’ve got you covered.
Aim For Variety
This sounds like a no-brainer but there must be variety in whatever you’re eating. Mix it up in the right proportions. An ideal plate of food should have 3 parts. One-third of main carbohydrates like rice and yam, one-third of lean protein like egg, meat, and fish, and one-third of vitamins like fruits and vegetables.
Eat Responsibly
To avoid being stuffed with just one class of food, you must control your portions whenever you’re eating. For people who love swallow like eba and pounded yam, you should aim for a serving as large as your fist.
Don’t forget, just because you can finish seven wraps of fufu doesn’t mean you should eat it. Pity your stomach that’s going to have to digest it.
Fruits Are Your Friends
Fruits and vegetables are important for eating healthy because they are a large source of vitamins and minerals (micronutrients). They help to compliment whatever you eat and also add nutrients to the body.
Pairing your plate of spaghetti with two oranges or a side of pumpkin leaves will do you a lot of good. Luckily, these fruits are relatively cheap and can be gotten everywhere.
Exercise Frequently
Your body doesn’t need just food to survive. It also needs other actions like exercising and movement. We know it’s easier to sit in your chair, work, watch Netflix, and be a couch potato but there’s so much a consistent 30-minute walk in the evenings would do for your body.
You can do runs, regular cardio or lift weights at the gym if you’re up to it. This will help your body’s metabolism and facilitate the usage of whatever you eat.
Get A Menu Plan
Whether you’re buying food or you’re cooking it yourself, it is always great to plan. Have a weekly/biweekly menu that changes with different food combinations and appetizers. That way, you can switch things up instead of buying just Jollof rice every day.
Eden Life can easily help with that. Your Eden Life subscription allows you to pick all your meals weekly from an alternating menu. With over 100 food combinations to choose from, you get to eat different dishes all week.
Stock Up On Healthy Snacks
You should avoid snacks that are extremely high in artificial sugars like cookies and instead buy stuff like nuts and berries to snack on. Instead of a jar of cookies, have a bottle of cashew nuts and grapes in your fridge. You get to stay healthy and save money as they’re also relatively cheaper than cookies.
Don’t Miss Meals
You’d often hear people say don’t miss breakfast because it is the most important meal of the day but the truth is that every meal is as important. Try as much as possible to eat three full meals a day, as far as sapa doesn’t have you in a chokehold.
Your body needs as much energy as it can get and food provides this energy. The more you eat, the more energy you can consume and conserve.
Be Creative
Your meals do not have to be boring. You should experiment often till you find what works for you. There’s no right way to cook, there are only right things to eat.
Cut some paw-paw into your rice and stew, squeeze some orange juice into your egusi soup, use pineapples as a side for your yam etc.
Take Hygiene Seriously
If you buy food from vendors, both online and offline, you should be careful and watchful that they follow hygienic processes and conduct. Unhealthy food can lead to food poisoning. A condition where you get an infection via contaminated food or water. Food poisoning can be dangerous and can even lead to death.
Ensure that you buy your food from trusted vendors who follow the best kitchen practices and make healthy meals.
Eden Life easily falls into that category with a serene, world-class kitchen handled by professional chefs, our food will always be free from contamination. Start an Eden Life meal plan to see how great it is.
Drink Water
You can either decide to mind your business or not but you should drink water. Water helps in your body’s metabolism, circulation, and other processes. Water cannot be replaced by other liquids like alcohol or fruit juice, it must be taken in its purest form to be more effective.
Eating healthy is no small feat. It requires a lot of planning and intentionality. Eden Life is committed to making it as easy as possible. Start an Eden Life plan to make eating healthy seamless for you and your loved ones.