Hello all! I went home for the first time in two months this weekend, so you'll have to forgive the delay in posting. Here is Friday's post, as requested via poll by... YOU.
I've been wondering lately how people go about making sure they eat right and get the proper nutrition. There are very few people I know who focus on portion control and calories. When I thought about this, I realized - maybe people just don't know what they are doing wrong. So I put together this post to give ten tips that everyone should live by.
1. Water is your best friend. You should be drinking a minimum of 64 ounces of water per day. New dietary guidelines recommend even more than that - The Institute of Medicine states that men should be drinking about 13 cups per day, and women should be drinking about 9 cups per day. Water is important - it helps flush out toxins and wastes from your body, aides in digestion, keeps your skin healthy, and keeps you hydrated, a factor in maintaining energy all day. So drink up!
2. Forget making half your grains whole. Why not go for 100% whole grain? Most people have heard that the food pyramid has changed from a bottom-to-top model to a vertical model, with little sayings like "vary your vegetables" to remind people what to eat. Well, for grains it states that you should "make half your grains whole." This is important because a whole grain not only has more nutrients in general, but it also has more dietary fiber. Dietary fiber is a nutrient that keeps you full but cannot be digested by the human digestive system, so it helps to push other foods through. By eating whole grains most, if not all, of the time - you are constantly helping your system out. To "go" whole grain, simply read labels - make sure the first ingredient is whole wheat, not anything bleached or enriched; go for the whole option, like brown rice over white rice; and eat more popcorn - a whole grain in itself. Plus, the extra fiber helps reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes.
3. Hunger cues - ditch the media. The best way to tell if you are full or not is to listen to your hunger cues. However, some people have tuned them out for so long, they don't know what full "sounds" like anymore. So ditch the media. Turn off the TV and walk away from your computer to eat your meals. And then listen. As you eat each bite of food, put your fork down. Ask yourself if you are truly hungry for more. Slow down and enjoy yourself - and you'll find that your body will let you know that you have had enough, usually far before you would normally stop eating. Want to lose weight? This is a big one!
4. Vitamins - go for a multi. A multivitamin can do wonders for your nutritional health. It helps to provide any nutrients that are lacking in your daily intake, making sure you are well-rounded, even when you can't guarantee eating right all day. Two things to keep in mind - buying a good quality vitamin is important. The cheaper a vitamin, the more likely it is to have filler components - vitamins and minerals that are cheap to include but not necessary to your nutrition. Secondly, a multivitamin is a supplement, meant to help balance out a well-rounded diet. It is not meant to provide all the vitamins you need in a day.
5. Too much of a good thing - dairy. Unless you are lactose intolerant, like myself, there are very few people who don't like cheese. Cheese can improve a meal, or so I'm told. And of course, ice cream, yogurt, and chocolate milk aren't half bad either. But dairy products are also high in fat - so keep that in mind. This is one food group you want to watch yourself in eating, and make sure you choose the low fat option if possible.
6. A love of vegetables. If there is anything you should eat, it's vegetables. All different kinds, but make sure you eat them. The dietary guidelines only ask that we eat 2.5 cups per day, but if you eat more - it definitely won't hurt you! In fact, if you are counting calories, vegetables are the one thing you can skip in your daily totals! Awesome! Of course, make sure you are going without butter, excessive salt, and that you are eating "real" vegetables versus starchy ones (potatoes, corn, peas, etc.).
7. Soda doesn't make the cut. This one is simple. There are ingredients in soda that can lead to cancer. Even diet soda, made with aspartame, has these ingredients. So why drink it? If you drink even just 8 ounces a day on average (so drinking 24 ounces one day would be 3 days of 8 ounces), you can lose weight just by cutting out soda. In fact, studies show that cutting out soda can result in a loss of 25 pounds in one year. That's definitely worth ditching the bubbly cancer-causer to me!
8. Waking up happy - the breakfast benefit. A healthy breakfast jumps starts your day, giving you energy to get up and moving and kick starting your metabolism into gear. Plus, skipping breakfast makes you more likely to overeat later in the day. So why do so many people go without it? Two common dilemmas: not having enough time to make breakfast and not feeling hungry for breakfast foods (or at all) in the morning. When it comes to time, all it takes is a little planning. You may not have time to make a vegetable-filled egg white omelet in the morning, but you could replace that time by taking a Sunday afternoon to make a batch of whole grain pancakes, and then eat them for the week. Or make a breakfast smoothie the night before. Better yet? Buy Ensure, and have a pre-made breakfast smoothie. If you're not hungry in the morning, you are probably eating too close to bed the night before. Try to stop eating two hours before you go to sleep, and you'll start waking up hungry. If you just aren't hungry for breakfast foods, you could try eating something else - a sandwich, leftover rice, or vegetable pizza. In Europe, people eat sandwiches early in the day - why can't we?
9. Eat often! So many people make this diet mistake. When you go a long time between meals, your body literally goes into starvation mode, and your metabolism slows down. You should be awake about 16 hours a day, so eat 5 or 6 times, every 3 to 4 hours. This way, you can also eat smaller meals. I look at it as an opportunity to eat more variety in my day.
10. Enjoy your food. It really is that simple. Make meals you truly enjoy, and your cravings for unhealthy options will decrease substantially. If you enjoy what you're eating, eating proper nutrition becomes less of a chore and more of a second a nature.
I hope you enjoyed this post! Don't forget to leave a comment if you like what you've read!
Good one Amanda. #10 is the best advice. I found that when eating properly, cravings for the junk food disappeared. Keep up the good work.
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