Variety in your food consumption
Variety in our diets is often overlooked for a variety of reasons.
Most commonly, variety is neglected when people have tastes and foods they dislike, when they are preparing food for only one person, if people are on a budget, when people are busy and a lack of access to a larger variety of food items.
Variety does not have to be complicated. It can be as simple as exchanging different meats each week and salad vegetables one week and different cooked vegetables the following week.
The reason why variety is important is because some of the food groups contain different vitamins, minerals and nutrients and if you are constantly only eating chicken and vegetables, although a healthy option it is still missing numerous vitamins, minerals and nutrients that other foods contain, therefore you are only consuming a limited amount of nutrients.
By mixing your foods up you are more likely to consume all the food groups and therefore all the nutrients your body requires to maintain an optimal level of health and wellbeing.
Parts of your body may be susceptible to decreased function if you do not feed it certain nutrients. Variety is also a key player in reducing your risk of disease when you are consistently feeding your body a balanced amount of nutrients.
Decreasing your disease risk may not seem very important or relevant when you are younger but strategies that reduce your disease risk will hold your body in good stead for when you are older and it you will be happy that you took time and care to reduce your susceptibility to disease when you were younger.
Some simple examples of having variety in your diet include:
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Meats such as chicken
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Fish varieties
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Different vegetable family, greens one week, root vegetable the next week.
It is best to keep it simple by preparing food items ahead for your week of meal plans as this will ensure more variety.
The more your body can absorb a variety of nutrients the healthier your body and mind will be and the healthier you are, the better opportunity you give yourself to enjoy a healthy life.
Another benefit of having variety in your diet is it prevents you from becoming bored with your food consumption. When you are excited, happy and looking forward to your meals and then enjoying them, the better your body can absorb all those important key nutrients that provide your body with improved health.
When you are enjoying your food this helps your digestion to work better, when your digestion is working well and you are not experiencing uncomfortable food intolerant symptoms, the happier you are and the better your life will feel, as you are not being impeded by these uncomfortable symptoms.
So the key ideas here are:
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Eat variety
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Keep it simple
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Be prepared
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Enjoy your food
Don’t underestimate the power food variety intake can have on your health.
