When you conceptualize healthy eating, your first thought might be about calories. Even though calories are important. Your primary concern should be nutrients food.

That’s because nutrients, including protein, carbs, fat, vitamins, and minerals, are what your body needs to thrive. “Nutrient density” refers to the amount of nutrients in a food in relation to the calories it provides .

All foods contain calories, but not all foods are nutrient-dense UFABET

For example, a candy bar or a box of mac and cheese may be incredibly high in calories but lack vitamins, minerals, protein, and fiber. Similarly, foods marketed as “diet-friendly” or “low calorie” may be very low in calories but lack nutrients.

For example, egg whites are much lower in calories and fat than whole eggs. However, an egg white provides 1% or less of the Daily Value (DV) for iron, phosphorus, zinc, choline, and vitamins A and B12, while a whole egg packs 5–21% of the DV for these nutrients .

That’s because of the nutritious, high fat yolk that eggs contain.

Plus, although some nutrient-dense foods, such as numerous fruits and veggies, are low in calories, many — like nuts, full fat yogurt, egg yolks, avocado, and fatty fish — are high in calories. That’s perfectly OK!

Just because a food is high in calories doesn’t mean that it’s bad for you. On the same token, just because a food is low in calories doesn’t make it a healthy choice.

If your food choices are based solely on calories, you’re missing the point of healthy eating.

As a general rule, try to mostly eat foods that are high in nutrients like protein, fiber, healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals. These foods include veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds, beans, fatty fish, and eggs.