9 nutritional tips that anyone can apply
A healthy diet, what is it? Are there any universal nutritional guidelines that can help everyone eat healthily or healthier? Both small and large? Both for those who want to change their eating habits and those who want to lose weight? Today, I present to you 10 recommendations that any person can apply regardless of where they are in their eating habits and how much they weigh.
A HEALTHY DIET IS EATING REAL FOOD
Believe me, gummies, fish paste with almost no fish, sausages with almost no meat, pâtés, canned goods, Chinese soups, deli meats loaded with soy protein, and other products are not real. Toast bread is not the healthiest product either (how to choose bread?) or artificial, sugar-loaded muesli. No, even fitness yogurt muesli with syrup is not healthy.
The more ingredients in a product, especially those you don’t recognize, the worse. This applies to deli meats, flavored dairy (check how to choose dairy), pâtés, and other similar products. Base your diet on unprocessed products and create your own delicious compositions and dishes. You can put shredded coconut-baked chicken, hummus, or broccoli paste on a sandwich instead of just deli meats.
Use spices to enjoy a variety of flavors. I deeply believe that people truly know what a healthy diet is and are able to instinctively assess what can be considered real food and what is heavily processed. If the answer to the question “Did my grandmother/great-grandmother eat this?” is “no,” then it’s probably not worth eating.
Do not drink calories
Simply do not drink anything that has calories. Give up carton juices, carbonated and non-carbonated drinks, energy drinks, flavored waters (because that is also a drink! Not water). Choose green, red tea, fruit infusions, water, herbal infusions (if you do not have health problems and no contra-indications). Use lemon, and if you sweeten, try to limit the amount of sugar or choose a healthier alternative such as honey or agave syrup. You can also replace unhealthy drinks with something much more beneficial for your health like ginger infusion.
If you sweeten, do it slowly, really slowly start adding less sugar. I assure you, over time you will get used to not sweetening.
EAT AT LEAST 3-4 FULL MEALS
Eat at least 3-4 nutritious, healthy meals a day. If you function well on 5 meals, then eat 5, but do not snack. Snacking is a real enemy in maintaining a proper figure and health. I hardly have any consultations with people whose snacking does not affect maintaining a proper figure.
It is worth writing down for at least a week what you eat, when, and how much. You will quickly realize how many truly full, nutritious meals are in your diet, and how many are just nibbling something on the side? Sometimes just eliminating snacking between main meals is enough to lose weight, improve your well-being, and have more energy to act.
WATCH YOUR PORTIONS
If you are consistently putting a lot of food on your plate and doing it every time you eat a meal, it is unlikely that you will not start to gain weight. As a result, your appetite will increase, and the path to obesity or overweight will be open. Prevent this!
Put on small or medium plates. Make sure that at least half of your dinner plate is vegetables. This graphic may help to illustrate how to compose a dinner.
“The graphic below may also help you, which shows portions using your hand. You can apply this to yourself. It’s that simple!
Eat and enjoy your food… slowly.
Eliminate situations where you eat on the way to school or work, when you grab something and gobble it up. These are often high-calorie snacks, rich in simple carbohydrates and fat, after which you quickly become hungry. They also do not provide you with the vitamins and minerals necessary for proper body function. A doughnut or croissant with mushrooms is not really a nutritious meal! Sit down, relax, and devote at least 15-20 minutes to your meal. Chew each bite at least 20 times. I know it sounds funny, but people have stopped chewing their food! We swallow everything almost whole! So, how can we not eat more when a meal lasts only 5-10 minutes?
Choose a sweet alternative.
If you really want something sweet during the day, choose a healthier alternative and try to make sure it is not too high in calories. 1 oatmeal cookie is not a problem when included in your energy balance, but a slice of cake from a café with cappuccino or coffee, sugar, and full-fat milk can make a big difference, especially in the evenings. More mundanely, that same cake at home or pseudo-healthy bars are not better. If you do eat something high in calories, try to move more than usual. Take a walk, choose the stairs, clean the house, and reduce the portion size of your dinner.Wait for seconds. If you are not full after the first serving, wait 10-15 minutes. You may find that you no longer need a second serving after that time. The brain does not immediately receive a signal of fullness. You need to spend time on your meal and chew your food.
Do not experiment with MONO-INGREDIENT DIETS.
Simply do not experiment with diets such as apple, oatmeal, cabbage, phase of the moon, and I don’t know what else. Opt for balanced solutions without peaks, valleys, ups, downs, excessive euphoria when after 3 days of eating apples you suddenly weigh less. And as soon as you start eating normally, everything will almost 100% return to normal. Eat a variety of foods. Satisfy your cravings, but in moderation. And remember, the most important thing is to listen to your body and its needs.
Don’t overeat at night.
Healthy individuals should have their dinner 2-3 hours before going to sleep. This means that your last meal doesn’t have to be at 6pm unless you go to bed at 8-9pm. Dinner should ideally be easily digestible and not too large. Grandma always used to say to give your dinner to your enemies – I don’t agree, but you don’t have to eat it like a king either. It can be delicious, aromatic, and tasty, like a festive feast, but it’s better if it’s not “excessive” and within your stomach’s capabilities.
You know that your stomach has a volume of about the size of your fist, right? Well, imagine that it then has to deal with such a big evening meal right before you go to sleep, when your body wants to rest. Night and sleep are not times for increased digestion, but for regeneration. People often wonder why they’re tired all night. Believe me or not and test it out. Excessive food at night can “tire” you out.
Give up salty, unhealthy snacks.
Give up snacks like sticks, chips, crackers, nuts in breadcrumbs and similar oddities. They are small, calorie-dense, contain a lot of salt, often also flavor and scent enhancers that impair the functioning of taste buds, and it’s hard to control their consumption. Allow yourself to have them once in a while, but also choose healthier versions. Because let’s be realistic, some people can’t give up certain products entirely, for example, chips (in that case choose those with reduced fat content and remember to make sure it is made of potatoes and not potato flour). And even better if you eat freeze-dried fruits, carrot or apple chips. Don’t buy big packs! A big pack always means you’ll eat more. Really. Few people can finish it before seeing the bottom.”
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