The basic healthy diet

Basic diet for health

The basic healthy diet

This basic healthy diet consists of three meals. The first one has 5 whole, fresh fruit and vegetables of your choice. The second one is a complete protein of your choice (see the options below). The third meal is your selection of the following healthy snacks.

What is the basic healthy diet?

The basic healthy diet strips down modern principles about healthy eating into the easiest possible plan to follow. It is made for people who don't like complicated diets or endless recipes. It's the simplest diet out there. Once you're used to this diet, it's easy to progress into other diets and take your progress further.

It's this simple.

Who should follow this basic diet?

This diet is made for the absolute beginner who has never followed a diet before. It is designed to be so easy to follow that people who struggle to stick to more complicated diets can also be healthy.

It consists of a large variety of foods that you can choose form. This ensures that anybody, on any budget, can follow this diet. The long lists of food allow you to cater for the foods that you enjoy the most. You can choose to avoid the foods that you don't like and still be healthy. The variety also guarantees the fact that you can find the right food to eat on this diet no matter where you live around the world.

Little to no food prep is required for any of these meals. You don't need to be a master chef to follow this diet.

This diet helps people with general weight loss, a body detox, increased longevity, disease prevention, better energy levels, a faster metabolism and improved overall health. Once you get used to this diet, you can progress into a more complicated diet to focus exclusively on one of these key areas. In the meantime, the basic diet will help you with all of them.

Success depends on simplicity.

What other diets do you recommend for beginners?

For young adults

The young adult diet is specifically designed for young adults who need to discover how to make eating choices of their own. We recommend this diet to males and females from the ages of 20 years old to 30 years old. It is meant to establish healthy eating habits that will last for the rest of your life.

For Indian food

The Indian diet covers foods that are common in the Indian subcontinent. It is made for people who don't eat typical Western foods like bread, hamburgers, pizza or noodles. In this diet we go through the healthiest options for Indian people and organize the foods into choices that you can have over a 7 day period. Recipes are linked to each meal for those who would like to try out this style of eating as part of a healthy diet.

For weight loss

The weight loss diet covers all the basics that someone needs for healthy weight loss. It shows you the principles that will lead to weight loss and a healthier body.

To build muscle

The Bulking diet is for people who are trying to maximize muscle growth. It is not for weight loss but for bulking up. Use this diet to build muscle fast.

The ketogenic diet

Our very own keto expert JP Wells has written numerous articles about the ketogenic diet. This is currently one of the most popular diets out there. He has written about how to limit your carbohydrates to lose weight on keto, common mistakes that most people make on the diet, supplements that you need when you do keto and how you can do keto when you want to build muscle.

Choose a diet based on your goal.

What are the benefits of the basic diet?

What makes the basic diet special if I could follow any of the diets above?

1. The basic diet is simple and easy to follow

It's the simplest diet of them all. You don't need to memorize anything and it's not too difficult to stick to. This is great for people who want to improve their health and get into the rhythm of healthy dieting and see positive changes in their body - without committing to something that they can't stick to.

2. You get all of the nutrients that you need

You don't need to worry about starving your body or missing out on any of the nutrients that it needs. This diet will give you the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, plant compounds, trace elements and protein that you need. None of the good stuff is left out.

3. It easily progresses into other diets

This diet will give you the confidence to improve your health in other areas of your life. Once you can follow this simple diet, you can easily progress it into another one that takes your progress to the next level.

If easy, overall health is your primary goal then you can stick to this diet forever.

4. It improves your overall health

This diet is meant to strengthen your body (brain, muscles and joints, circulatory system, hormones etc.). Amazing things happen when you prioritize your health.

5. There are a lot of food choices to choose from

You are not limited to one or two choices per meal. I will give you a long list of foods that you can eat at each meal.

You are empowered to do what works best for you without sacrificing your health or your progress.

Look after your health.

What are the elements to the basic diet?

There are four basic elements to this diet:

1. Cut out the foods that are bad for you

This is probably the biggest step of them all. We don't realize how much processed food is killing us. The artificial flavors and colors, sugars, sweeteners, preservatives, hormones and other chemicals are causing long term damage. A lot of your health improvements will come from the fact that you are no longer hurting your body with these foods anymore.

2. Make sure that you get all of the nutrients your body needs

The next important step is to ensure that your body does get what it needs every day. You need vitamins and minerals to make energy. It takes nutrients to maintain muscle, bone and joint tissue. Your brain can only work properly when it has the nutrients that it needs. The basic diet will give you all of these nutrients.

3. Organize your eating habits into an easy-to-follow system

We eat unhealthy food when we don't plan ahead of time. Get used to eating in a predictable format so that you have complete control over your health. This will eliminate the opportunity for you to eat the wrong food. The lists are varied enough for you to stay on track during social occasions and when you eat with friends and family at a restaurant.

4. Drink enough water

Every cell in the human body needs water to survive. Dehydration leads to cellular death. Did you know that dehydration could lead to weight gain as well?

On top of that, dehydration causes cravings for sugar, nicotine and caffeine. The body does this to try to compensate for the lack of energy from a slow metabolism because of dehydration.

Drinks like energy drinks and soda will dehydrate you even more. A lot of stress at work is caused by dehydration. Hydration is one of the fastest ways to boost your immune system.

These are the most important elements.

First meal: 5 fresh fruit and vegetables

Most people who follow a Western diet don't eat enough fruit and vegetables. Our bodies were designed to depend on these kinds of food to survive.

The fiber helps the digestive system to keep itself clean. Antioxidants keep the liver and the cells free from toxic chemicals. Vitamins and minerals that are found in plant foods support mental health and healthy heart function.

The indigestible parts of plant food make them good for us because they stimulates digestive health and prolong the amount of time before we need to eat again.

The sugar in fruit is not damaging like the sugar in processed food. Fruit sugar is locked in fiber that the digestive tract must first break down. This leads to the steady supply of energy for hours instead of a sudden flood of nutrients that lead to weight gain, diabetes, the overproduction of insulin and cardiovascular disease. An apple a day really keeps the doctor away!

Have your choice of any three fruit and vegetables. They don't necessarily need to be on this list. You can have a serving of seeds, legumes, nuts or beans in place of your fruit or vegetables. Just make sure that you have at least 5 servings of 5 different types of plant food every day. Choose organic if you can because organic provides more health benefits. Raw is better than cooked fruit and vegetables.

Plant food is healthy.

List of fruits:

1. Apples
2. Apricots
3. Avocados
4. Bananas
5. Blueberries
6. Cherries
7. Figs
8. Grapefruit
9. Grapes
10. Guavas
11. Honeydew melons
12. Kiwifruit
13. Lemons
14. Limes
15. Nectarines
16. Mandarins
17. Mangoes
18. Passion fruit
19. Peaches
20. Pears
21. Plums
22. Raspberries
23. Rock melons
24. Strawberries
25. Watermelons

List of vegetables:

1. Asparagus
2. Beets
3. Broccoli
4. Brussel sprouts
5. Cabbage
6. Cauliflower
7. Celery
8. Corn
9. Cucumber
10. Garlic
11. Lettuce
12. Onions
13. Potatoes
14. Pumpkin
15. Shallots
16. Spinach
17. Sweet potatoes
18. Tomatoes
19. Zucchini

List of other healthy plant foods:

1. Beans
2. Lentils
3. Chickpeas
4. Legumes
5. Nuts
6. Seeds
7. Muesli
8. Peas

Second meal: A complete protein of your choice

Fruit and vegetables generally cover all of your nutrient needs, except for a few. There are some nutrients that you should get from protein sources. These nutrients include iron, protein, amino acids, B vitamins and essential fatty acids. 

Protein has long been regarded as a weight-loss food because your body burns calories to break it down. Protein is needed for cell regeneration. 

These foods, like fruit and vegetables, take longer to digest and give you a stable source of energy. Protein is very filling. A very small portion of protein can be stored as fat (unlike sugar, processed food and simple carbohydrates). A much larger portion of protein is used for energy or tissue integration, compared to fattening food like sugar.

Choose healthy.

List of healthy protein sources:

1. Beef
2. Cheese (unprocessed)
3. Eggs
4. Fish
5. Milk
6. Pork
7. Yogurt (unsweetened)
8. Seafood

Note on protein

AVOID protein sources like processed meat and processed cheese. These foods are loaded with sugar, artificial ingredients and other chemicals that will damage your health.

Third meal: A healthy snack of your choice

The first two meals are the most important on the basic healthy diet. They ensure that you have all the nutrients you need to function properly and create your own, natural energy. 

The third meal functions to make up for the missing calories that you'd miss if you only had the first two meals. 

Your body will learn to hold onto fat stores and lower its metabolism if you don't eat enough calories on a long-term diet. This is known as yo-yo dieting. It leads to greater fat gain and lower energy levels after each attempt at trying a new diet. Eat enough calories every day to prevent this from happening.

Since you are giving your body enough micro nutrients, you need to make sure that you are getting enough daily energy from the third meal. Your body can create energy from a variety of food sources and therefore there are no strict rules about what you should eat in this meal. 

The only real important thing is that you avoid unhealthy foods (like processed food, sugar and artificial food) and stick to healthy food (like the ones listed above). You can mix and match the above foods to create your perfect third meal.

Brown rice and whole wheat bread is allowed in this meal.

Don't cut down on calories too much.

List of healthy meals to choose from:

1. Yogurt and muesli
2. Steak, pumpkin and corn
3. Brown rice, broccoli and squash
4. Sweet potatoes, beans and pork
5. Whole wheat bread and peanut butter
6. Hummus and celery sticks with cottage cheese and chicken strips (not crumbed)
7. Vegetable stir fry with salmon
8. Avocado chicken salad

Notes on the third meal

It can be tempting to have a burger or something else that is unhealthy at the end of the day. If you struggle to avoid unhealthy foods, check out these great ways to turn junk food into healthy food. These ideas fit into the principles of this diet and you can easily incorporate them into your third meal.

Commonly asked questions about the basic healthy diet

Do I need to exercise on this diet?

You should exercise on any diet - even when you are not on a diet. It is too good not to do. This diet is created independent of an exercise plan, but you should still exercise anyway.

If you struggle to motivate yourself to exercise, try this easy exercise induction program. It starts with a single squat on day one to reduce the intimidation that most people feel toward exercise.

This exercise program will help you to lose weight and this one will take your fitness to a whole new level. Try the muscle building program if you want to build muscle.

Can I drink coffee or tea?

You can. Don't add creamers, sugar or sweeteners. Sweeteners cause weight gain just as much as sugar does. If this is a struggle for you, try to do it for 14 days - That's how long it takes for your taste buds to completely regenerate. After two weeks your plain coffee or tea will taste just as good as it did when you added sweetness to it.

You should, however, drink more plain water than anything else on this diet.

What else can I drink besides water? 

Lemon juice and green tea are both extremely healthy alternatives to water. Use them sparingly to spice up your hydration. Drink plain water most of the time. You want to train yourself to be healthy in the long run and getting used to plain water is the best way to do that.

Do I need to practice portion control on the basic healthy diet?

You do not need to practice portion control on this diet. The health (and weight loss) benefits come from the fact that you are cutting out the unhealthy foods that are making you fat and unhealthy. The foods in this diet will help you to lose weight.

Certain calories fill you up more than others. All calories are not created equal. Calories that don't give you a feeling of satisfaction and make you eat more are known as empty calories. These include sugar, white bread, processed food, fries, soda and condiments.

All of the calories on this diet will give you a feeling of fullness and reduce your desire for more food. Your body won't crave extra calories when it gets all of the healthy nutrients that it needs.

Can I swap my meals around on this diet?

You can. These meals are ordered in a way that suits most people. If you want to eat these meals in a different order, that's fine. Just make sure that you eat at least 5 different servings of fruit and vegetables along with enough protein every day.

Conclusion

The basic healthy diet will empower you to take control of your own body without any tactics that harm your health. It is also very simple to follow. This diet has a much greater chance of consistency - and that's what it's all about.

Remember to consult your medical practitioner before you make any big lifestyle changes. Stay Strong!

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