A lot of people are very negligent when it comes to their diet. What makes it even worse is that they don’t have a plan that would help them change the situation.
Like many other things in life, if you wish to make a change, you need to start with baby steps. While all of these 6 tips for creating a healthy diet plan are awesome, you should start incorporating them one by one. So, once you get adjusted to one small change, you can proceed with the next one.
1. Eliminate sugary drinks
Sugary and fizzy drinks are extremely popular in the US. Unfortunately, they have an enormous amount of calories. For example, just one serving of Coca-Cola has about 140 calories. Energy drinks are even worse, with 200+ calories per serving.
“Consuming sugary drinks from a young age can have a detrimental impact on your health but can also stifle the development of your teeth,” warns Kreeb Family Dentistry, a dentist in Huntersville. Not only are you introducing a large number of calories in your body with each drink, but your overall health will deteriorate as you start experiencing dental issues.
2. Start cooking
Nowadays, it is fairly common for couples to order food. The numbers are fairly shocking: Americans will order or eat out almost 6 times every week. This will have a major impact on your health, but also your budget.
The biggest issue with ordering or eating out is that all these restaurants use enhancers to make their food taste better. They utilize various preservatives and dressings, which are usually high in calories. Even some healthy food restaurants have this practice.
So, the best way to control the situation and measure your calory intake is to cook at home. If you’re really dedicated to dieting, you can make dishes without any salt or other ingredients. Basically, just boiling meat and vegetables (as unappealing as it may sound) can have a very positive impact on your health.
3. Eliminate white bread
Whole-grain bread is far superior to white bread. Unlike white bread, whole-grain bread doesn’t have endosperm, a starch ingredient that will make your calory intake shoot through the roof. What makes it worse is that white bread doesn’t compensate through extra vitamins, fibers, or nutrients. In fact, whole-grain bread has a much higher quantity of these healthy ingredients.
Another benefit of whole-grain bread is that they’re easily digested. According to one particular study, foods that you can quickly process will have a lower impact on your metabolism. It makes it easier to flush out all the unwanted stuff and retain the substances that your body needs to function properly.
4. Try replacing sweets with fruits
While eliminating bread, or at least white bread, is not that hard, most people struggle with sweets. We got used to them since the earliest years, and the sugar rush has such a strong impact on our bodily chemicals.
Unfortunately, the real truth is that sweets do not provide much in terms of nutritional value. Even the type of sugar used for them is bad for our organism. Instead, if you’re looking for a source of quality, natural sugar, you should go with fruits instead.
Not only do they have lots of vitamins and minerals, but they will also keep you satiated during the day.
5. Avoid highly processed foods
The US is struggling with the processed food epidemic. Compared to some other countries, our food has various added ingredients meant to prolong its shelf life but also to keep consumers satiated and happy. In some cases, food companies will add cheap ingredients that can be detrimental to your health.
The rule of thumb is that appealing foods are usually very unhealthy. Of course, that doesn’t mean you should focus your diet on things that taste bad; just make sure to read the label before purchasing something.
Like other bad foods on the list, highly processed groceries will keep you full, but they will provide very little in terms of quality nutrients.
6. Avoid midnight snacking and heavy dinners
Depending on your job, there is a good chance you will utilize most of the nutrients that you eat. In that sense, you can consider eating as a continuous process of resupplying your body with vitamins and minerals. This is why breakfasts are so important.
However, you don’t actually need abundant dinners, especially if you tend to sleep soon after eating. You won’t have the opportunity to burn these calories, and they will quickly turn into fat, thus endangering your health.