Every person has unique nutritional needs to lead a healthy life and have a healthy body.
To fulfill these needs, you must maintain a regular and specific amount of every nutrient in your diet, including fiber, carbohydrates, fats, proteins, minerals, vitamins, and lots of water!
Together, these make up your balanced diet. However, some conditions such as stomach flu, diarrhea, nausea, diverticulitis, inflammatory bowel disease, or others may bar you from eating certain foods.
Even specific activities or goals can narrow down your food options. For instance, if you are trying to lose weight, you need to cut down on your carbohydrates.
Similarly, if your diet makes you feel full too fast or if stomach problems or particular activities require you to feel light, you should explore foods that are easy to digest.
Easy-to-digest foods in your diet ensure that you stay healthy, fulfill your nutritional needs, keep stomach problems and gut infections away while living a happy and full life. You feel fresh and healthy all year round!
So, what makes the perfect diet?
Foods to Eat
Here are foods you should eat to feel light and full all year round while meeting your dietary needs. They are easy to digest and full of healthy nutrients.
1) Soup and Broth
One of the simplest, healthiest, and easiest-to-digest meals you can add to your diet is soup and broth. If you boil chicken or mutton on a low flame for a sufficient amount of time, you’ll get tasty broth ready for consumption.
If you add spices, vegetables, and chicken to the broth, you can make a tasty soup that is even richer in vitamins and healthy nutrients.
Easy to make, these two delicious foods are very effective options in an easy-to-digest meal. They help make you feel full without causing heaviness or drowsiness. If you have an upset stomach, they are especially helpful because they are liquid and have high protein and water content.
Water is especially important for digestion, and proteins help in recovering from diseases and muscle growth. So, both these options are very good for you.
Just sprinkle a little salt and pepper on your warm broth or soup and sip away!
2) Yogurt
Unless you are lactose intolerant, yogurt is a very rich option that provides proteins, vitamins, and minerals, as well as some fats to keep you healthy as well as hydrated. It also keeps your body cool.
According to the USDA, 1 cup of plain yogurt made from whole milk contains the following:
- 149 calories
- 5g protein
- 8g fat
- 4g carbohydrates
- 0g fiber
3) Bananas
Bananas are very easy to digest and great for the gut! Moreover, they taste delicious and are super easy to eat. You can carry them anywhere and eat without even getting your hands dirty. So, as a whole, bananas are a very win-win option.
You can also use them in smoothies or with pancakes. Per the USDA, one medium raw banana contains the following:
- 105 calories
- 3g protein
- 4g fat
- 27g carbohydrates
- 3g fiber
Ensure that the banana is ripe as those are easier to digest and absorb.
4) Eggs
Rich in protein, eggs are very healthy and easy to cook. Moreover, they can be turned into various forms such as scrambled, poached, fried, boiled, and more. You can make egg sandwiches or eggs benedict to make things more interesting.
A large boiled or poached egg has:
- 71 calories
- 72 g of fat
- 214 mg of sodium
- 24 g of protein
- 28 mg of calcium
- 5 mg of phosphorus
5) Fresh fruits
Melons, watermelon, applesauce, avocados are examples of very healthy fruits that are easy to digest. They have a healthy amount of carbohydrates and allow you to feel fresh and light after eating them.
6) Fresh vegetables
Like fruits, vegetables are rich in fiber with healthy fiber content. Moreover, they are easy to digest. Healthy options include yellow squash without seeds, pumpkin, beets, spinach, carrots, and green beans.
7) Meat
Meat is your richest protein source, and meats such as chicken and fish tend to digest well and fast. Moreover, it would be best if you tried baking or steaming the meat rather than frying.
Meats are also rich in B vitamins, and fish contains Omega 3, very healthy for your body. However, if you are a vegetarian, you can take alternative protein sources.
Foods to Avoid
1) Sugary food and drinks
Sugary food and drinks sure are irresistible. Be it chocolates, cookies, or doughnuts, it’s hard not to eat them if they are right in front of you or even if they are miles away lying in a bakery or store. However, sugary food and drinks are very unhealthy for the human body.
Sugar is glucose which forms a readily available source of energy for the body.
However, if you have this source available in your blood, your body cannot fully utilize the fats in your diet, causing them to be stored as body fats. This, in turn, can lead to obesity and even heart problems.
Moreover, excess sugar is also stored as glycogen and later fats in the body. They make you feel too full, heavy, and lazy upon consumption. And sugar can also cause diabetes – a very dangerous disease that affects insulin production and glucose absorption in the body – so you are no longer fit to digest sugars. Sugars can also cause tooth cavities. So as a whole, it is best to take as little sugar as possible in your diet.
Be it cakes, soft drinks, or sweets, stay away from sugary foods.
2) Fats
Fat-rich foods such as butter, cheese, fried potato chips, and bakery items are often heavy. They can make you too full or lazy upon consumption. Therefore, these too are not recommended and should be avoided.
3) Processed foods
Foods such as Granola bars, flavored nuts, microwave popcorn, dried fruit, fruit snacks, and margarine are heavily processed. This means they have undergone some process, be it freezing, canning, or whitening.
Processed foods are often cheaper and easy-to-use, however, they are not healthy for you. You must avoid them to feel light and full and healthy.
Bottom Line
Above is the range of healthy and easy-to-digest foods to eat and those to avoid. Together they make the perfect blend of all the necessary vitamins, minerals, proteins, and other nutrients you may need to feel full and light all year round.
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