To stay active, healthy food choices are crucial in our day to day lives. The stay active food list must include whole grains carbs, healthy unsaturated fats, proteins, vitamins and minerals.
Healthy living- Stay active foods
To enhance your productivity and longevity healthy living habits are crucial and it includes your dietary choices . What can be the stay active foods included in your daily diet to enhance productivity ?
The normal diet may include two healthy balanced meals and snacks in between to keep up your energy levels. Ensure that you take healthy meals and snacks.
For a healthy balance, meals and snacks should include 50% veggies and fruit, 25% whole grains and 25% lean protein (fish, lean meats, beans, eggs).
A short list of stay active foods for healthy living
Milk, eggs, meat, poultry, fish, legumes (beans, lentils) and nuts and seeds are the commonly available foods that provide essential nutrients such as protein, vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids. The optimum balance of these nutrients may help you live an active life.
Role of water in keeping you stay active
In order to stay active, you need to be hydrated. How much water you consume a day is dependent on several factors such as your level of work, needs of the body, the climate and weather.
Always keep water handy and take sips of water after working out or doing some strenuous work. Along with water intake you may have some fresh juice without any added sugars. Another great option is buttermilk to restore your electrolyte loss during workouts. It is recommended that always drink water or a healthy sports drink when you do high intensity work outs.
However, it is very important that you should avoid carbonated drinks and sugar sweetened drinks. These can make you fat or obese with an added burden of lifestyle diseases as complications. Stay away from these unhealthy drinks.
Avoid excessive consumption of coffee in daily life. The caffeine present in coffee can also disrupt your sleep cycle and oft- repeated days of sleep deprivation can cause cardiovascular diseases, low insulin sensitivity, metabolic syndrome, problems with memory and cognitive functions of your brain. To protect your sleep rhythm, stay away from excessive intake of coffee.
What to do before you start work outs?
- Have a small meal or snack a couple of hours before you exercise such as boiled eggs, nuts, seeds etc.
- Consume more raw organic vegetables (carrots, cucumber, bell peppers, and cherry] as salads, soups etc.
- Always keep water handy and take sips of water after working out or doing some strenuous work. Along with water intake you may have some fresh juice made of low sugar fruits without any added sugars.
Eating wisely help you for a great workout whether that is a walk in your garden, or a seaside jogging or workout at gym.
A few Ready to eat stay active foods
o Low fat yogurt sprinkled with chopped walnuts, pistachios
o Chicken white bean soup
o Tuscan white bean soup
o Muesli with raspberries
o Pesto chicken salad with greens
o Avocado pesto
o Tomato gratin
o Ribollita soup
o Hungarian apple soup
o Tuna antipasto salad
o Cauliflower broccoli gratin
o Italian egg drop soup
o A mix of fortified cereal, dried fruit, nuts and seeds & milk.
o Stalk of celery with low fat cottage cheese.
o Scandinavian muesli
o Small bran muffin.
o Slice of whole grain bread with peanut butter.
o Plain or chocolate milk with a banana.
common Stay active foods recommended for healthy living
Bananas
Avocados
Fatty fish
Apple
Berries
Yogurt
Beets
Green leafy veg
Legumes
Lentils
Soya bean
Dark chocolates
Oatmeal
Sweet potatoes
Quinoa
Nuts and seeds
Pea nut butter
Green tea
All these foods listed here are enriched with proteins, fibers, omega 3 fatty acids vitamins, minerals like potassium, calcium, magnesium, zinc etc.
Furthermore, these fruits, nuts and green leafy vegetables are great source of antioxidants and phytochemicals which help the body to stay active, fighting against oxidative stress.
Green leafy vegetables help your gut health. They also boost your brain health and immunity.
Bananas are also a good source of other types of fiber, such as pectin. When bananas ripen, the proportion of water-soluble pectin increases.
Eat healthy, choosing the right food for staying active all the day. Nutrition plays a pivotal role in determining your activity &energy levels.
written by dr sanjana p
References
· https://www.health.harvard.edu/category/staying-health