Changing Your Unhealthy Ways Is Not As Hard As You Think
Do you eat fast food often? Do you tend to snack on unhealthy packaged foods and lack a proper amount of fruits and vegetables? These things can lead to obesity, depression, and other serious disorders common in today’s society! Read on to find out how you can change your nutrition to facilitate a better life!
To avoid eating too much food at mealtime when dieting, use smaller plates, bowls and cups. It is instinct to fill up your plate so if you use smaller dishes, you will eat less food. Your mind will also let your stomach know you are full since you see a full plate when eating.
Be aware of what chemicals are in your food. This is generally why it’s best to stick to natural food like natural produce and fresh proteins and natural grain options. You should avoid these like you would anything else hazardous because they can slow down your metabolic rate and harm your diet.
When choosing foods, think about nutrition. Green beans seem nutritious, for example, but broccoli is a knockout in terms of nutrients, so it is better to pick broccoli for dinner. Potatoes are yummy, of course, and quite innocent, when they’re not slathered in butter or cream, but if you want to pack a truly nutritive punch, swap them out for sweet potatoes from time to time. They’re jam-packed with vitamin A and C and fiber. It’s said that sweet potatoes (NOT sweet potato fries, sorry!) are so nutritious, that you could survive on them alone.
Sometimes it is better to add things to your diet rather than remove them. If you absolutely do not have the willpower to replace all those unhealthy snack foods you eat with fruits and vegetables, eat the fruits and vegetables anyway. Slowly begin to phase the snack foods out when you feel you can.
When trying to lose weight, it is vital that you keep your metabolism high. Green tea can help. Green tea has components that have been proven to raise your metabolism. In addition, spicy foods have been proven to raise your metabolism. Consider adding chili peppers to your food to achieve this.
If you’d like to keep an eye on your nutrition over the holidays, try eating a light meal before sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner. If your stomach is empty when you attend this dinner, you will tend to overeat. Eating something small before going to Thanksgiving dinner can help you fill up faster and avoid overeating.
If you have bought one of the new special peanut butters with extra omega-3s added in order to improve your nutrition, be aware that you’ve mostly bought a marketing ploy. Though many foods are fortified in a way that makes a real difference nutritionally, the amount of omega-3s added to this special (and expensive) peanut butter is so small that you would have to eat 8 sandwiches’ worth (16 tablespoons) to get as much omega-3 as in a four-ounce serving of salmon.
Calcium rich foods are essential. High-calcium foods include cheese, sardines, dried beans and nuts. Calcium is vital for your body to maintain strong bones and healthy teeth. If your body does not get enough calcium, it can develop osteoporosis, which causes brittle bones. This painful disease causes your bones to turn soft and brittle.
Add the natural nutrient inulin to your meals. This nutrient is found in leeks, garlic and artichokes. It is a carbohydrate that not only helps shed pounds, it helps prevent digestive upset. Garlic also aids the immune system. If you’re concerned about garlic breath, odor can be reduced by blanching the garlic, or by taking an odorless garlic supplement.
Enjoy a drink now and again. Countless studies have shown that a drink now and then, whether it be a glass of wine or beer, is actually good for you. A certain amount of alcohol can help to lower the incidence of cardiovascular disease. That being said, you should aim for a low-alcohol version, which is obviously, lower in calories.
Unless you are diabetic, avoid eating two to three hours before you go to bed. Do something to take your mind off food like putting away leftovers, washing the dishes, or cleaning your teeth. Finish your evening with a nice cup of herbal tea. This will help you to relax and get to sleep.
Believe it or not, salad is not always your best bet when it comes to dining out. Fast food restaurants and chain eateries often offer up side salads that reach into the thousand calorie range – and that’s before you add dressing and croutons. If you are at a restaurant and the salad still looks like your best bet, ask your waiter to bring out the dressing on the side. This ensures that you will not be forced into consuming an unnecessarily generous amount of dressing. Better yet, opt for fat-free dressings.
Sleep soundly and avoid excess alcohol. Both of these things can increase your pores and cause your face to appear oilier. When your pores get larger, they’re more susceptible to acne-causing infections and dirt. Aim for at least seven hours of sleep every night and keep your alcohol intake under two drinks.
Slow down when you’re eating. It takes up to half an hour from the time you start eating until the time you start feeling full. So if you are eating slowly, in half an hour you’ll feel full and you won’t have stuffed yourself and overeaten to do it.
As you grow older, it can be more of a challenge to maintain good nutrition on a daily basis, so it is important to keep your appetite stimulated with fresh ideas. Try a new spice, read a best selling cookbook, or just wander among the colorful produce at the local farmers market to jump start new interest in eating healthy.
Hopefully now you can see how easy it is to improve your nutrition and reap the health benefits it provides. If you don’t want to suffer from depression and obesity, stop eating the fast food now and apply the advice you’ve just read in this article to improve your diet and improve your life.
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