Healthy eating is not rocket science. It is a continuous process that takes time, especially if you have never taken your health and fitness seriously before. Developing healthy eating habits is a simple yet effective way to build consistency for your health.
Making healthy changes doesn't require you to overhaul your diet completely. Instead, you can start making small intricate changes to see the positive results and build upon them.
But, for anything to be sustainable, it has to be enjoyable! We know that proper nutrition is essential every day, but it's not always easy to follow the guidelines. Therefore, this article brings you six eating habits that you can easily incorporate into your daily routine to lead a healthy and active life.
Make Your Meals Colourful
It's all too easy to fall into the same old meal habits and neglect to include a variety of foods in our diet. This is easy to resolve if you keep in mind to make each meal as colourful as possible. Minerals, vitamins, phytochemicals, and antioxidants give each fruit and vegetable its distinct colour. So, the more colours you use to paint your plate, the more nutrient variety you'll obtain. It can also keep things interesting, ensuring that you do not become bored.
Eat Your Fruits and Veggies
Add green leafy vegetables and fruits to your diet. They are a rich source of multiple essential vitamins and minerals. Veggies are also high in fibre and very low in calories. This means it will make you feel full without having you go overboard with your calories. If you want to lose weight, make sure to add a bowl of veggies to every meal.
Drink a Lot of Water
Water is an essential nutrient that is sometimes neglected. Water makes up over 60% of your body weight, and every system in your body requires it to work properly. Water is essential for digestion, absorption, circulation, nutrition transfer, and maintaining body temperature. It's also common to confuse dehydration with hunger. Sometimes when you think you're hungry, your body is trying to remind you that it's dehydrated and needs water. Start your day with a glass of water as soon as you wake up. You'll most likely be thirsty anyway. This will help you wake up your organs and get them back to normal functioning after sleeping all night. Keep a water bottle with you always, and keep sipping from it often.
Eat Slowly and Chew Your Food
According to research, it can take up to 20 minutes for your brain to recognise the neurotransmitters that tell you when you are no longer hungry. As a result, slowing down allows your brain to catch up with how hungry you are. Also, take your time chewing your meal before gulping it down through your food pipe. This assists your body in better digesting the food that has been consumed and helping you burn a few extra calories by moving your jaw. Small efforts, such as learning how to chew properly, can go a long way toward developing a healthy eating habit. First, chew the food 32-40 times until it creates a paste, at which point it is ready for the stomach to perform its digestive magic.
Cut Back on Sugar
Consuming sugary foods and drinks regularly raises your chances of obesity and tooth decay. Sugary meals and drinks are typically high in calories and can lead to weight gain if consumed in excess. They can also promote tooth decay, particularly if consumed between meals. Therefore, it would be best to avoid the packaged sugary drinks and foods available in the market.
Some of the packaged food and drinks containing high sugar:
Always make sure to check the food label before consuming any packaged product. If the total sugar present is less than 5g per 100g, then you can have it. If anything above that, try to avoid it or consume in a minimal amount.
Cook Yourself Often
The best way to know what's in your food is by making it yourself. We know it's not always possible to cook your food in this bustling lifestyle but make a conscious effort to cook more often than you used to. This is the best way of knowing what you are eating and the calories you will be getting from it. Also, play around with multiple spices to make your food flavourful to avoid boredom and ordering from outside.
The Bottom Line
It is also wise to not accept any false information on nutrition floating around on the internet. There are some common nutrition myths which must be dispelled so that one can feel more about food choices in future, and one way to do so is read our blog – 5 Biggest Nutrition Myths Busted. Cheers to healthy eating!
References
Daniels, M. C., & Popkin, B. M. (2010). Impact of water intake on energy intake and weight status: a systematic review. Nutrition Reviews, 68(9), 505–521. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1753-4887.2010.00311.x
Jeong, J. N. (2018). Effect of Pre-meal Water Consumption on Energy Intake and Satiety in Non-obese Young Adults. Clinical Nutrition Research, 7(4), 291. https://doi.org/10.7762/cnr.2018.7.4.291
Faruque, S., Tong, J., Lacmanovic, V., Agbonghae, C., Minaya, D., & Czaja, K. (2019). The Dose Makes the Poison: Sugar and Obesity in the United States – a Review. Polish Journal of Food and Nutrition Sciences, 69(3), 219–233. https://doi.org/10.31883/pjfns/110735
Rippe, J., & Angelopoulos, T. (2016). Relationship between Added Sugars Consumption and Chronic Disease Risk Factors: Current Understanding. Nutrients, 8(11), 697. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu8110697
