Eating right is an important part of living a long and happy life because your body relies and energy and nutrients for survival. Without the right diet, you can experience a good deal of health concerns that can negatively impact your health and your overall quality of life. If you want to be healthy, then you need to engage in healthy eating habits.
Spend time paying attention to ingredients.
Sometimes, food and supplement labels might be a little bit misleading, causing you to believe that something is healthy because it contains “no added sugar” or because it is “non GMO”. However, to keep a well-balanced diet, you have to actually read all the ingredients to make sure that you are not eating something that you actually want to avoid. Maybe it has no added sugar, but it still has a ton of calories and carbohydrates. Maybe something is not genetically modified, but that does not always mean it is not full of harmful ingredients that you might want to avoid.
Other claims on the label like “gluten free” actually suggest that the food is the opposite of healthy. Gluten free diets are not good for you unless you have gluten sensitivities or celiac disease. Fruits and vegetables are obviously health, but “gluten free” labels usually mean that the food contains a gluten substitute that is packed with processed sugars. Sometimes, rice is also used as a gluten substitute, which can affect the balance of heavy metals in your bloodstream. Rice absorbs many heavy metals in the ground like mercury and too much mercury can very toxic.
Protein and fiber are your best friends.
If you are overweight, then you definitely want to cut back on sugars. Most nutritionists would also tell you to cut back on salts and fats. 
Although some diets tell you to increase your fat intake, the majority of diets are going to tell you to focus on protein and fiber. Fiber generally contains carbohydrates, but these carbohydrates are not the simple carbs found in processed sugars. These are carbohydrates that take a long time to digest and provide you with nutrients that can sustain you through the day. It stops you from getting hungry later and it provides all sorts of benefits to your digestive tract.
Additionally, carbohydrates are essential for brain fuel and for your immune system, so fiber is also likely to help you focus and maybe even prevent certain diseases. Protein can provide you with similar advantages. Protein is essential for catalyzing the reactions that occur in your body. More chemical reactions usually means a faster metabolism. Therefore, protein can boost your metabolism and, like fiber, it takes a long time to digest, which means it can sustain you for a long time. Many vegetables have both protein and fiber. Chicken, tofu, beans, fruits, and nuts can also provide you with many of those essential nutrients.
Antioxidants are also going to help you live longer.
Antioxidant theory states that many chronic diseases are a result of free radicals. Antioxidants are the best way to save yourself from free radicals. Free radicals are oxygen compounds that have a free election. A free election makes these free radicals unstable. Normally, oxygen is pretty stable, but certain chemical reactions caused by metabolic shifts can make these oxygen compounds unstable. They want another election to become stable again. There are some places that these oxygen compounds can get themselves another election. They can steal it from important cell components including enzymes and even DNA. Alternatively, they can steal an electron from an antioxidant.
An antioxidant is any compound that can easily donate an election without causing any problems to your body. Obviously, you would prefer if free radicals could get an electron from antioxidants because it prevents cell damage. This cell damage is known as oxidative stress and too much of it can cause inflammation. Inflammation can lead to almost every illness that you can possibly think of, including dementia, cancer, impotence, infertility, obesity, and diabetes. Therefore, antioxidants can probably save your life. They are commonly found in many fruits, including blueberries, apples, and grapes. Coffee and tea also have some antioxidants.
Stay away from most dietary supplements.
If you are deficient is some nutrients, you can talk to your doctor about getting that nutrient from the food that you eat. Sometimes, your 
diet might not be enough and your doctor will tell you about which supplements you will need in order to keep you healthy. However, for the most part, supplements cannot help you. In fact, studies show that many supplements are actually harmful due to under-regulation. The doses are often too high and the ingredients are sometimes completely useless. They may claim to give your workout a boost or to enhance your sex life, but you definitely need to do some research before you start trying out dietary supplements.
The best way to stay healthy is to get your nutrition from the food you eat, to exercise, and to talk to your doctor. Even if you do all your research to make sure you take appropriate doses and get all important nutrients from your supplements, you still want to be careful. Studies show that people who rely on supplements have a higher likelihood of developing depression and other mental illnesses. The reality is the eating food can make you happy because everyone loves to eat. Therefore, try to get your vitamins from your diet and only turn to supplements if your doctor recommends it.
A well balanced diet means you need to eat the foods that help you live your best life. You need to avoid processed sugars and stick to fiber, proteins, and antioxidants. A little bit of fat and salt can be good for you too, but do not overdo it. Additionally, you need to stay informed about ingredients and you might want to ignore false claims on supplement and food labels. You can always talk to a nutritionist about coming up with healthier dieting habits.
