Any good diet will tell you to follow these four principles

Photos by Cats Coming and Polina Tankilevitch/Pexels

With so many diets available these days, it’s so hard to keep track of every single one of them because of contradictory advice. So how do you choose? While not perfect, there are common traits to each diet that make them stand out. Make sure to look for these.

1. Lots of vegetables

Many popular diets are going to say no to a lot of things, but the one thing they’re guaranteed to say yes to are vegetables. Vegetables are antioxidants and contain lots of fibers, vitamins, and minerals. It’s also hard to overeat them because they’re usually low in calories. Effective diets are never going to tell you to cut back on vegetables, especially the green leafy kind.

2. Quality over quantity

‘To lose weight is to lose calories’ is a common premise behind diets, but this is often misused. You should realize by now that the most effective diets don’t talk about limiting calories but eating the right kind of food. It doesn’t have to be organic or even fresh. Canned fish still has a significant amount of omega-3 and is cheaper than fresh ones. Eating nutrient-rich foods satisfies your satiety better and thus, you end up eating less without realizing it.

3. Avoid processed foods

It’s in processed foods that you usually find three of the unhealthiest ingredients: trans fat, refined carbs, and added sugars. While carbohydrates and fat are essential to the body, these three have little to no nutrient content and are better left out of your system. Small amounts should be fine, but the problem is that people tend to eat these in unhealthy amounts.

4. Fill in the nutrient gaps

It’s easy to tell people to just cut off specific food groups, but an effective diet would offer alternatives so you won’t miss out on necessary nutrients. A diet doesn’t work if it just tells you to stop one thing. If your diet cuts grains, you should have other sources of fiber or if it cuts meat, you should have an alternative to protein and vitamin B12.

Looking at what diets got right is a more productive approach than just looking at their flaws. You can better construct a healthier habits that work for you. You don’t have to stick to a diet with a title, just follow these to live a healthier lifestyle.