Eating Right in a Nutshell: Three Quick Tips for a Healthier Diet
Everyone knows that a healthy diet is at the cornerstone of longevity. Alongside regular exercise and proper sleep, food choices have a considerable effect on not only how long you live but also how you maintain optimal health into your later years.
There are many different ideas as to what makes the perfect diet, though, so it can be confusing to know where to begin. Rather than debate which diets are best, this article will offer you three quick tips you can use to make any diet healthier.
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1. Don’t Skip Breakfast
Breakfast is one of those meals that’s in the press a lot: some sources say it’s the most important meal of the day, while others claim you should fast instead and skip eating altogether until lunch.
For most people, the truth is going to be somewhere in between: breakfast is by no means absolutely essential, but most people are going to benefit from not skipping it.
The key with breakfast is that it has a balanced macronutrient profile to ensure you’re firing on all cylinders until lunchtime. Head to the grocery store and stock up on fresh fruit and whole grain products, as these sources of carbs will give you sustained energy until lunchtime (bananas, apples, and blueberries, and foods like oats, wholegrain bread, and fiberous cereals work great). You could also consider adding a protein source, such as eggs or yoghurt.
2. The Importance of Portion Control
More important than deliberating over the nuances of different diets is to control your portion sizes, as this will have the biggest impact on weight gain. Strategies like using smaller plates or the hand measurement method are great ways to estimate portion size and can help you plan out meal composition.
Applying proper portion control means you don’t have to track calories, and you can enjoy a healthier diet without having to dig into things too deeply.
3. The Value of Meal Prep
That said, it doesn’t hurt to do a little planning, and some methods, like meal prep, can actually help you save time in the long run.
If you’ve prepared all your meals for the day beforehand, you’ll always have something healthy to eat when you get hungry, preventing you from binging on junk food.
It’ll take a little effort to organize at first, but once you get into the groove, you’ll wonder why you never did it before. Getting the majority of your cooking done at once negates much of the hassle and time commitment around meal times; whenever you can make healthy eating easier, you increase its success rate.
Wrapping Up
Healthy eating doesn’t have to be difficult, it just takes a little foresight, some basic planning, and a few useful strategies. It can be easy to get overwhelmed by the prospect of fixing your diet, but you don’t have to do it all at once. Little tweaks can make a big difference: it all adds up, and with a bit of patience, you’ll have this down in no time. Good luck!
