Eating healthy foods is a lifestyle trend that is becoming increasingly popular in recent years. A clean diet focuses on whole, unrefined foods rather than pre-cooked or processed alternatives.

Alternatives tend to lose much of their nutritional value because they make them last longer or cost less. Does your diet mostly consist of fast food or instant meals? Here are some of the things you can achieve by adopting a healthy lifestyle.

A Healthier Heart

Many whole foods can have a positive impact on heart health. Nuts are packed with healthy nutrients like vitamin E, omega-3 fatty acids, and fiber.Almonds are particularly rich in monounsaturated fatty acids, which help lower bad cholesterol levels in the blood.

Whole grains like brown rice, oats, or whole wheat bread are also great sources of fiber, which helps your body process cholesterol. Whichever way you do it, lowering your blood cholesterol levels lowers your risk of heart disease.

Lower risk of diabetes

Sugar tastes good. Which is a shame, because it’s not a healthy part of your diet. Sugar provides what’s called “empty calories,” meaning it doesn’t offer any nutritional value other than calories.

Eating too much sugar on a regular basis can also cause your body to develop insulin resistance. This means your cells are more resistant to insulin’s normal effect of delivering glucose to them from the bloodstream.Insulin resistance can contribute to the development of disorders including metabolic disorders and type II diabetes.

More Energy

Processed foods have a high glycemic index, which means they are broken down quickly by your body. They give you a sudden, short-term burst of energy due to the spike in blood glucose levels. However, these sudden bursts also mean sudden lows, which have the potential to make you feel sluggish and tired.

Clean foods, on the other hand, tend to have a lower glycemic index, meaning they take longer to break down and are a more stable source of energy for a longer period of time.

Expand your horizons

When planning a menu around packaged or prepared meals, you take some freedom in your menu choices. It might not seem like it, because there are so many different flavors and varieties of these packaged meals to choose from.But there are countless recipes available from sources like cookbooks, cooking magazines, and food-related websites. Look for recipes that stick to whole foods as much as possible.

Eating healthy means getting the nutrients your body needs without taking in extras that could be harmful. Eating cleanly can help reduce the risk of kidney damage, heart disease, type II diabetes, and stroke. Whole grain ingredients may be a little more expensive, but the health benefits that come with them are worth the extra cost.