10 Must Have Superfoods in Your Daily Diet to Lead a Healthy Life
As human beings, we need a lot of nutrition to keep our minds and bodies on the run, active and healthy. Different foods provide us with different nutrients and the key to living a healthy life is including a good mix of all of them. Eating a healthy diet not only keeps you lean and strong but it also guards you against health issues like heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer and more. With almost everyone leading a busy life and counting calories, it is best to include Superfoods that give you ample nutrition even when you prefer to keep your serving bowls small.
Leafy Greens: Green Leafy vegetables provide essential nutrients as well as disease-fighting phytochemicals. Include a variety of leafy greens like spinach, kale, broccoli, lettuce etc and go green, go healthy!
Berries: Berries are high in fibre, vitamin C and age-defying antioxidants. The best part is that their taste is absolutely scrumptious. You can snack on a handful of berries or add them to your smoothies, yoghurt, oatmeal or porridge.
Cruciferous Veggies: These are a vital source of fibre, phytochemicals and vitamins, which not only help in making our body function better but also save us from certain types of cancer. Broccoli, radish, turnips, kale, cauliflower, wasabi, mustard greens are important cruciferous vegetables.
Nuts: Nuts provide micronutrients like selenium along with monounsaturated fats (MUFA) which in turn reduce the life-threatening risk of heart diseases. Almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pecans, pistachios should be included in your healthy snacking module. You can add them to your morning oatmeal or evening whole-wheat brownies too.
Legumes: Legumes help in reducing the risk of heart disease as they are rich in fibre, plant-based protein and folate. Choose from the wide variety India is known for and ensure you cook one main dish of legumes every single day, be it red kidney beans, soya beans, chickpeas, lentils, green gram, black gram, or any other pulse of your choice.
Olive Oil: Olive oil is known to be one of the healthiest oils to cook your food as it is enriched with vitamin A, monounsaturated fatty acids and polyphenols. Olive oil reduces the risk of heart diseases to a great extent. The next time you plan to cook, you know which oil to use!
Tomatoes: Tomatoes are known to reduce the risk of prostate cancer as they are high in vitamin C and lycopene. Tomatoes can be added to almost everything from salads to soups to plates of pasta to vegetables.
Whole Grains: Whole grains are known to lower the risk of heart diseases, diabetes and high cholesterol as they contain protein and complex carbs, along with minerals, phytonutrients and B vitamins. They are also a rich source of soluble as well as insoluble fibre. Eating oatmeal is one of the best ways to benefit from whole grains. Also, switch to multigrain aata to get the best out of whole grains in the easiest possible way.
Yoghurt: Yoghurt is a good source of probiotics, proteins and calcium. Probiotics are known as the ‘good bacteria’ and protect your body from harmful bacteria. While buying yoghurt, remember not all yoghurt is equal. Try to avoid flavoured yoghurt as it contains a lot of sugar, instead add fruits to plain yoghurt and keep it healthy.
Herbs & Spices: Lastly include herbs and spices that pack a plethora of benefits even in one teaspoon. Drink turmeric/black pepper concoction to build immunity, sip in detox water made with coriander, mint, lemon rind and cucumber to torch fat and wipe out toxins, drink green tea fortified with the power of lemon and ginger to speedify your metabolism!
