Healthy And Inexpensive Diets: Recommended Foods

A healthy and balanced diet is not the antonym of a cheap shopping list. In fact, basing the diet on fruits and vegetables will allow us to have a healthy diet, low in trans fat and, in addition, to buy foods that are generally cheaper than meat or fish. Therefore, we show you some tips to follow healthy and economical diets.

Foods to build healthy and economical diets

Apples

Among fruits, apples are especially cheap and highly recommended for promoting weight loss. It is a food full of vitamins, minerals and fiber. Its regular consumption will help us reduce appetite and better control food intake.

Integral rice

Rice is a common food throughout the world and is the base ingredient in countless dishes of the traditional cuisine of many countries. Specifically, brown rice is healthier than white rice and helps us maintain a healthier diet. This is due to its fiber content, an essential nutrient for proper intestinal transit, as evidenced by an article published in the journal American Family Physician .

In general, a serving of brown rice provides us with 21% of the recommended daily allowance ( RDA ) of magnesium, 15% of the amount of vitamin B6, 4% of the amount of iron and up to 3.5 grams of fiber .

On the other hand, about half a cup of brown rice can provide the body with up to 1.7 grams of starch.

Greek yogurt without fat

Greek yogurt is a food with excellent nutritional values and many health benefits. A daily serving of Greek yogurt can provide around 23 grams of protein. Anyway, it is not advisable to choose its skimmed version. The fat in dairy is essential so that they do not lose fat-soluble nutrients.

Greek yogurt even matches the more traditional sources of protein, such as meat or fish. Remember that proteins are essential substances for the maintenance and recovery of muscle tissue, according to a study published in 2017.

Oatmeal

To avoid consuming refined foods such as white flour, we can replace it with oatmeal. Oats are cheap and easy to find in any supermarket, which can be used both to make homemade flour and to accompany any breakfast.

If you want to maintain a healthy diet, it will be advisable to avoid adding sugar to oats. A serving contains around 4.6 grams of starch which, as we have mentioned, will help us provide the necessary energy to face the day with guarantees.

Beans and chickpeas

Legumes are foods with nutritional properties that provide the body with good amounts of protein, vitamins and other essential nutrients. In addition, most are easy to find at a reduced price, so they are highly recommended items to include in healthy and inexpensive diets.

Regular consumption of beans and chickpeas can help us reduce extra kilos, which is especially recommended for overweight people. In addition, they help reduce blood pressure; Among the different beneficial nutrients that these foods provide are iron and sodium.

Canned tuna

Tuna is a fish that will provide us with protein. In addition, it is an excellent source of omega 3 and healthy fats. These lipids are closely related to maintaining cardiovascular health, according to a study published in The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews .

Specifically, these fatty acids help improve cardiovascular health, since they promote the elimination of bad cholesterol and protect the elasticity of the arteries.

In addition, by having an anti-inflammatory effect, they protect the body against various diseases and ailments. 

Therefore, incorporating canned tuna into your diet will help maintain a healthy diet, even keeping a cheap shopping list, especially if we opt for canned with sunflower oil instead of olive oil.

Sweet potatoes

Sweet potatoes or sweet potatoes will offer the body essential vitamins and minerals. A serving of sweet potatoes will provide us with 37.7% of the RDA of vitamin A, 15% of that of vitamin B6 and a good amount of potassium and fiber.

In addition, they contain vitamin C, manganese, vitamin B1, B2 and phosphorus. This product is quite easy to find in any store, and we can prepare it in very different ways, often the same as potatoes. It is a highly recommended food for healthy and economical diets.

Establish an economical and healthy diet

In short, fruits and vegetables are much cheaper food than meat or fish and processed foods. Therefore, increasing your consumption serves both to maintain a healthy diet and to reduce the overall cost of the shopping list. All of these are perfect products to incorporate into healthy and inexpensive diets.