Essential healthy diet ingredients

I’ve talked on another page about foods you need to get out of your diet. You probably already knew about some of them, the stuff with no nutritive value and contents that can actually damage your health.

Now it’s time to consider healthy diet ingredients. Honestly, all the fruit and vegetables you can bring into your diet will be beneficial and a wide variety is key to a balanced diet. Nevertheless, some foods just stand out as extra special healthy alternatives.

Over the centuries many of these foods have been enjoyed and revered for both great taste and medicinal value. Much of what traditional medicines found valuable in these foods has not been thoroughly proven in modern scientific research. Nevertheless, anecdotal evidence abounds in books and on the internet.

I don’t feel it’s my job to wade into that controversy as I am neither a researcher nor a doctor. But, where appropriate I will share my personal experiences and you can judge for yourself. And of course, what works for one person does not always work for another, so be reasonable in your expectations.

As always, if you have any concerns regarding the appropriateness of certain foods in your diet, consult your doctor.

You’ve probably come across various “5 best foods” lists a time or two. Me too. Some of the foods on those lists are so far out (sea weed grown only off the coast of Ireland!) as to be either physically unattainable or outrageously expensive. Not to mention none too appealing to eat.

Having grown up on the east coast of Canada I will confess an affection for dulse, sea weed from the Bay of Fundy…never mind those Irish upstarts. However, I’ve been living inland for over forty years and have yet to find a landlubber who can abide the stuff. Never mind that it’s full healthy ingredients such as iodine and iron and has no fat and very few calories. A healthy food that no one wants to eat won’t do anyone any good.

Having said that, there are plenty of healthy diet ingredients that deserve to be a regular part of your diet. Foods that can help add flavor in the place of fats, foods that can help maintain your immune system, foods that may help lower your cholesterol, fats that are good for you. And the best part is that many of them are simple, truly wholesome foods that are easy to obtain, generally inexpensive and easy to integrate into an ordinary (but healthy) diet.

Red wine

Berries

Olive oil

Garlic

Flax seed

Ginger

Lemons

Green tea

Brassicas

Tomatoes

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