If you are looking to put a focus on your health this year, then focusing on the foods you are eating is always going to pay off for you in the long run. No matter how much exercise you do, the adage, “you can’t out-train a bad diet” will always be true.
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The temptation to fall back on bad habits is always an alluring prospect but focussing on making small changes to your diet to help you make easier; more sustainable choices can make all the difference between sticking to your new food goals and falling off the wagon and back into previous habits sooner rather than later.
What food choices should you be making to improve your overall diet and help you to give your body all the vitamins and nutrients it needs each day?
Cut Out Sugar
We all know refined sugar is bad for us, but do you know exactly how many foods have sugar in them? A recent ruling in Ireland found that Subway bread contains too much sugar to be classed as bread. This means the bread they use is more of a sweet dough than what the country identifies as bread. What this tells us is that companies use sugar in pretty much most foodstuffs and cutting back on those foods that contain high levels of sugar will help you to not only cut out how much excess sugar you are consuming but help you to reduce any sweet cravings you may have. If you are missing the sweetness hits you get from sugar, adding stevia to your foods can help you to get that sugar hit in a more natural way that is better for you.
Drink More Water
As you get older, chances are you have realised exactly how much your body needs water. It is recommended that men drink around 3.7 litres of water per day and 2.7 litres for women. More if you are working out or if you are in a warmer climate. Our bodies use water to perform most bodily functions including sweating, cell regeneration, breathing and os on. We lose water via sweating, breathing and digestion.
Portion Control
Focussing on how much you are eating as well as what you are eating is just as important as changing your diet. If you are switching but still eating too much, you will still be giving your body the wrong things as you are overindulging. As a guide, your meals should be made up of a half plate of salad or vegetables, a quarter of protein and a quarter of complex carbohydrates. Choosing smaller plates will help you to cut down on your portion sizes and only eat what you need.
Avoid Saturated Fats
Saturated and trans fats contribute to high cholesterol levels and heart diseases. Avoiding foods such as butter, bacon and unpasteurized milk or cutting down can help you to reduce saturated fats as can limiting foods like cookies and crackers.
Opt for healthier fats such as nut butter over peanut butter, fat-free milk and turkey burgers over hamburgers. Our bodies need healthy fats in our diet every day.
A Good Balance Of Carbs, Protein, And Good Fats
In order to keep in good physical shape, you need to put the right macronutrients into your body. There needs to be a balance of carbs, protein, and fats if you’re to be fully fit and functioning correctly. While the immense detail can be quite confusing, it’s actually all relatively simple in the grand scheme. Firing up the appliances and cooking turkey breast in a ninja foodi grill with some sweet potatoes and veg is just one healthy example of what you can simply create using these macros. Too much of one without the others won’t land you in places you’d like to be in.