When we think about having a healthy lifestyle the first thing that comes to mind is the practice of physical exercise and, obviously, the correct diet. We often associate weight loss with physical and mental well-being. However, this is not always the case. There are diets that sacrifice our health in order to lose weight. Something that is not at all advisable .

The key to losing weight is that we consume fewer calories than we burn. If we don’t want our health to suffer, we must meet our basic food needs. In today’s article, you will find a list of healthy diets for your body to appreciate.

The importance of eating habits: early education

When it comes to healthy eating and nutrition, it is not worth dieting for a certain amount of time, especially if you want long-term results. The important thing here is that we acquire healthy eating habits .

If we have children, the early ages are ideal for instilling a healthy lifestyle. Eating habits are formed and developed in childhood, mainly within the family. Parents’ knowledge and beliefs about what to eat and what not to eat are transmitted from the first years of life and shape, to a greater or lesser extent, a child’s future eating behaviour. Just as it is necessary to educate in values, it is also necessary to educate in healthy habits.

Food in today’s society model

If the family has good eating habits, their habits will have a positive impact on the children, who will benefit from maintaining their health in the long term. However, sometimes, eating habits are affected by different aspects :

  • Social influence and overestimation of the prestige of some foods compared to others
  • Economic factors
  • Fashion
  • Beliefs
  • Advertising pressures

We live in an era where many of the foods we consume go through different chemical processes and are sold in large quantities to maximize their profitability. Therefore, it is of vital importance to educate children (and also the rest of the citizens) in the nutritional aspects.

Thus it is possible to detect what is healthy from what is not. The consequences of capitalism on a nutritional level are compromising our health through food. This is an increasingly worrying reality, and that is why cases of obesity have increased in recent decades. Food, along with the lifestyle of Western societies, is contributing significantly to this epidemic in developed countries.

And… what does psychology say about nutrition?

Society influences our diet, but so does our mind and our emotional and psychological state. Psychologist Jonathan García-Allen, also an expert in nutrition, explains in our article “Psychology and Nutrition: the importance of emotional eating” that: “What we eat not only affects how we feel, but how we feel has an effect on the way we eat”. This suggests that our emotional state is a determining factor in eating well, and eating well also has an effect on our emotional health.

For García-Allen, psychological factors and weight gain are closely related . “Psychology can be an important strategy to improve adherence to a diet when we want to control excessive food intake in cases of overweight. The figure of the psychology professional can be essential in the fight against obesity, because emotional factors are very important when it comes to achieving a permanent change in the habits that affect eating”. Clinical psychologists, in fact, are involved in the treatment of eating disorders.

Types of healthy diets

If you want to eat well in order to be healthy both physically and mentally, in this article you will find a list of the best healthy diets.

1. Zone Diet

The local diet is a type of diet that is becoming popular because it aims to meet the nutritional needs of macronutrients. To carry it out, you simply have to apply a basic principle: consume carbohydrates, proteins and fats at every meal .

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Five meals a day are recommended and consumption is as follows: 40% carbohydrates, 30% protein and 30% fat. Fats should be mainly healthy, that is, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated; and carbohydrates should be mainly complex, that is, slowly absorbed.

  • If you want to know more about healthy fats, visit our article: “Types of fats (good and bad) and their functions”

2. Mediterranean diet

The Mediterranean diet is one of the best known diets because it is very healthy , especially for the health of our heart. It is known as the Mediterranean diet, because it has its origin in the nutritional habits of southern Europe, which includes countries like Greece, Spain or Italy.

It is a balanced diet that emphasizes the varied consumption of food, with fruits, vegetables, cereals, fish, meat. One of the important elements is olive oil, a great source of unsaturated fats. You should not eat a lot of food, and it is preferable to eat seasonal products. This diet suggests grilling, boiling or eating the food raw and fresh.

3. Vegan Diet

Veganism, rather, is a philosophy or a lifestyle, in which the person does not eat anything that comes from animals, including eggs and dairy products . Vegan people generally do not adopt veganism for health reasons, but also for environmental and ethical reasons .

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Although the vegan diet has been criticized, several studies have confirmed that it is a healthy diet. However, variety in the diet is necessary to benefit from the high nutritional value, and a reasonable amount of plant protein and iron is needed. If you want to follow this type of diet, it is advisable to go to a professional for information.

4. Organic diet

The organic diet emerges almost as a necessity nowadays, as many people are not aware of what they are eating. Processed products, with high levels of salt, sugar and trans fats are everywhere.

The main axis of this type of diet is that the food must be organic . These are characterized because their cultivation process is totally natural, without chemicals, without additives, without pesticides, without fertilizers, without hormones, without transgenics, that is, without toxic and aggressive compounds that contaminate the soil, its fruit and, consequently, are not healthy for people.