Contrary to what the popular media emphasizes, good nutrition isn’t simply about getting thin enough for your next high school reunion. Good nutrition has a number of other benefits, as well, including better circulation and stronger bones. These tips will help you become someone who can say, “I eat a great diet.”
Try to avoid trans fats and high fructose corn syrup. Not only are they bad for you overall, but avoiding them will also help you avoid most of the other foods that are bad for your diet. Cutting these from your diet means you will have to be more aware and selective of what you eat, but you’ll be healthier overall for it.
Vitamin C is an important part of a healthy diet. It is an effective antioxidant. It also helps forms the collagen which is needed for healthy blood vessels and gums, wound healing, and development of teeth and bones. Vitamin C has been found to decrease the risk of cancer, cataracts, heart disease and other diseases.
Look at the ingredients in the food you eat. If you can’t pronounce the ingredients, don’t buy it. Sticking to foods whose ingredients you can pronounce means that you will be eating in a much healthier way. Those other foods are loaded with preservatives and other things that do not help your body.
Foods with trans fat in them should be avoided. You could be risking heart disease if your diet contains too many foods that are rich in trans fat. Trans fats replace the good cholesterol, HDL, with bad cholesterol, LDL.
A great tip to live a healthier lifestyle is to calculate how many calories you need on a daily basis. The amount of calories you need every day varies with every person depending on many different factors such as sex, weight, height, body type, etc. Once you calculate your daily caloric needs, you can count your calories to ensure you stay at your daily need.
When considering your nutrition, do not over do it with vitamins and supplements. Multivitamin pills can never replace the amount of nutrients that you receive in eating food. While they are good to compliment your meal with, never substitute a pill for real food. Your body might not react well to a large intake of concentrated vitamins.
Try not to use dessert as a reward for eating healthy. If a child sees dessert as a reward, they’re going to think that it is the best food. This will only reinforce their desire to have sweets. If you want to use dessert as a reward, try offering fruits and other healthy foods.
Raisins and other dry fruits make for a great addition to hot cereals. Keep a box or two around so you can always take advantage of the vitamins they pack. Simply sprinkle them into your oatmeal, grits, cream of wheat or any hot cereal after you’ve cooked it. They will quickly absorb moisture and release part of their flavor right into your bowl.
Make an old fashioned comfort food a little more healthy. Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches are quick and easy. Opt for a whole grain bread, preferably one with nuts and seeds in it. Make sure that your peanut butter is of the natural sort without added oils or sugar. Lastly Get real fruit spreads, not jellies. These changes will make your lunchtime favorite an adult variety.
When you are eating, it helps if you actually eat your food slower. When you savor your food, it is more likely that you will feel full much quicker, than if you just wolf it all down at once. You can even try eating half of your meal and then pausing for a few minutes and then finishing the rest.
If you are a big soup fan you should try making your own from scratch instead of eating those that are in a can. Store bought soups in a can are full of fat and sodium, and a lot of time the low-fat versions have sugar added to them for flavor. Making your own means you regulate what goes in them.
Skipping breakfast can be detrimental to your health. It is a common belief that skipping breakfast can lower the daily calorie consumption. However, it has been scientifically proven that skipping meals affects many things including your metabolism and excessive snacking. You’ll actually end up eating more calories than you would have had you eaten healthy breakfast.
Now that you have read a few tips describing how to eat healthily, all that remains is to get started doing it. There is a lot of temptation in the form of fast foods and a vast array of processed junk sold at the supermarket. But with a solid nutrition plan you can rise above that temptation and forge a new, healthy you.
