Top 10 Meal Ingredients That
Will Optimise Your Health
Discover Foods that Promote Healing and Enhance Well-being - By Lucy Couser
Reading time: 3 minutes
Using the right ingredients in your meals can benefit your overall health and help promote natural healing within your body. Eating too much or too little of certain foods and nutrients can negatively affect you, so it's important to conduct thorough research on what foods will be the highest benefit. From grains to vegetables to meats, there are plenty of different foods to choose from to incorporate into your meals.
There have been many studies over the years as to what foods are the best for optimising health, so there are some well-known foods that we expect to be good for us. This article will take a look at some of those foods, as well as give you some insight into some other foods that you might not be aware can optimise your health.
Continue reading if you want to incorporate more healthy ingredients into your food. We will also explore some places in the UK where you can eat meals that will benefit your health, so stay tuned.
Best Foods for Health Optimisation
Almonds
If you’re looking to incorporate nuts into your meals, you should go for almonds. They provide us with several nutrients that are excellent for our health, including magnesium, vitamin E, iron, calcium, fibre and riboflavin. Research has even found that almonds can significantly reduce cholesterol levels, so they are perfect for those with high cholesterol.
Lentils
Many food cultures use lentils throughout their dishes, with it being the most popular in Middle Eastern countries. They are an excellent source of magnesium, fibre and potassium. Lentils are best suited for meals that take a long time to cook, as that’s the best way to get the most out of their flavour and get them cooked the whole way through. However, you can buy and eat the sprouted seeds for a healthy snack.
Broccoli
Broccoli is a food fanatic favourite and it’s not surprising why. It’s a very tasty vegetable that can be cooked in a variety of ways including boiled, baked and fried. There’s more to broccoli than its taste though, as it also has many health benefits and is filled with many nutrients like fibre, calcium, potassium, folate and phytonutrients. A single half-cup serving of broccoli can provide around 85% of a person’s daily vitamin C intake.
Kale
An excellent source of both vitamin C and K, kale is a very nutritious and useful vegetable that positively affects your health. Steaming will give it a more unique flavour, but you can also throw it into a pan with your cooking to further ignite the taste of the dish. It can be used in dips, salads, soups and as a pesto. One idea is to make a Kale, Jazz Apple & Cashew Cheese Salad.
Avocados
Avocados are continuing to grow in popularity and are considered to be one of the best ingredients in a variety of different meals. Even though it is high in fat content, these are considered to be healthy fats. They are also a great source of B vitamins, vitamin K and vitamin E. According to a study conducted in 2013, Avocados have also been found to improve nutrient absorption and reduce the chances of metabolic risks.
Sweet Potatoes
Instead of using regular potatoes, you can go for sweet potatoes as a more nutritious substitute. They provide your body with a variety of different vitamins and minerals, in fact they rank number one for their vitamin A, vitamin C, iron, calcium, protein and complex carbohydrate content. Sweet potatoes can be cooked in several ways, just like regular potatoes, and in many tasty dishes.
Asparagus
The most nutritious vegetable in the eyes of many gym-goers is asparagus. It contains the amino acid asparagine, which the body uses to synthesise protein and this makes it perfect for growing muscle. It’s a great option for a healthy post workout meal. Asparagus is also very high in fibre, which can help with digestion. Insoluble fibre acts as a prebiotic, feeding gut bacteria, while soluble fibre can help reduce cholesterol.
Salmon
If you want a meal containing fish, Salmon might be the best choice. It’s very tasty without having the overpowering flavour that some other types of fish will have, which makes it better for a variety of different dishes. It’s also high in nutrients, including protein, omega-3 fatty acids and some vitamin D. You can smoke it, fry it or bake it with all options giving you a fantastic taste that will keep your palette happy.
Chicken
Free-range chicken is an excellent source of protein and can be a very cost-effective solution for many foodies who are looking for the best meat that can be used in any dish. Certain methods of cooking chicken are more nutritious than others. For example, fried chicken will not be good for your health, whereas baking it will make it much healthier. The skin is the unhealthiest part of the chicken due to saturated fat, so you should take this off before cooking.
You should ensure that it is cooked through properly to avoid any risk factors associated with uncooked chicken.
Eggs
One of the most versatile ingredients in food, eggs are a great source of protein and can be incorporated into a large range of dishes. They are great for preserving energy and generating red blood cells due to them including vitamins B-2 and B-12. The yolk contains most of the egg’s vitamins and minerals, as well as the fat and cholesterol. However, cooking the entire egg will bring you the most benefits.Â
If you are cooking a breakfast meal, it’s recommended that you make scrambled or poached eggs rather than the unhealthier fried option.
Where Can I Eat Healthy Meals in the UK?
The UK is one of the countries leading the charge in healthy eating with more major cities looking to incorporate healthier restaurants and shops that sell nutritious goods. For example, many restaurants in Leeds have become more nutritious and is one of the best cities for finding healthy meal alternatives.
If you’re going to a supermarket in the UK, you’re in luck as there are now plenty of healthy food brands available. Huel, Biomel and Gut Stuff are some of the healthy brands that have been hitting UK shelves over the past few years.
Lucy Couser
I have a degree in creative writing from Manchester, and when I'm not reading romance novels, I go camping, hot yoga or shopping for second-hand fashion.
