Diet diversity: how to diversify your diet?

Diet diversity is extremely important for overall health as well as gut health. But often, people eat from a restricted food list. They do not want to widen their food list. But this leads to poor health and immunity. Here are some tips on how to diversity your diet.

Diet diversity and health

Both gut health and overall health of a person depends on diet diversity. This implies eating a variety of foods in a week. The bacterial flora of the intestines should be diverse so that the gut health is better. This will boost immunity and overall health of the individual. Moreover, our body requires a diverse range of nutrients which we will be able to get only when we eat a variety of foods daily.

Nature has provided us with a diverse variety of foods. But unfortunately, since 1900, the foods that we eat have narrowed down in types. This is because the crops grown are of a restricted and narrow range. Some crops are mass produced at the expense of others. It has reached a stage where we have only 25% of the food types compared to what our ancestors ate. This could be detrimental for health. How to ensure that we follow diet diversity?

Here are six ways to diversify your diet:

Experiment with different food grains

There are different types of food grains available. But globally only a few types of these are grown. Others have fallen into extinction. We need to start looking out for these ancient grains such as quinoa, barley, rye, fonio etc. Purchase them and intermittently add them to your diet. For example, you can swap your rice for quinoa, use oats in place of commercial cereals, and add barley or spelt to salads and soups to enrich them. You can purchase these rare grains online too.

Add colour to eating

Try to pick up colorful fruits and vegetables for that rich antioxidant boost to your diet. Shop with more colors and try to see to it that there are at least three colors in your plate daily.

Try different cooking methods

Cooking methods can be varied to add variety and spice to life. It will make eating less dull. For example, you can roast vegetables on one day and steam them on another occasion. You can cook them on the third occasion and eat them raw on the fourth chance.

Keep rich foods within reach

Nuts and seeds are versatile. They can be eaten raw or added to a number of food dishes. Hence leave a jar of nuts and mixed seeds on the kitchen top or dining table to remind you to consume them raw or add them in foods.

Premixed combinations of foods

One should go more for premixed combinations of foods such as those of fruits, vegetables, legumes, pulses, nuts or seeds. This adds variety to the food and improves health.

Read here: Foods of the future 2050 to enhance diversity and have food security!

Dried herbs and spices

Keep dried herbs and spices at one place where it can be easily sighted. This will remind you to use them. Add them to your prepared food dishes for extra nutrients. Use mixed herbs. For instance, cinnamon added to porridge or mixed herbs added to salads. Both enrich these food dishes.