Changing Your Diet
To read the original, illustrated article, click here: Changing Your Diet
It is over half way through the year and your New Year resolution to get healthier is ebbing away. As a teenager, I wanted to pack on muscle and change my lanky body frame into a muscular one, motivated by building a six-pack first! After a couple months of ab-focused exercises, I gave up. Many of us know how hard it is to stay inspired when results are not as apparent. Instead of worrying about how to change your physique, you can start with small incremental steps.
What to cut out
The largest problem in the battle of the bulge is sugar. Sugar is in most things that we eat. Surprisingly, some ordinary food products contain sugar: salad dressing, pasta sauce, and the more obvious breakfast cereals are some examples of food sources with high sugar content found in almost every American home. Whereas it is mind-boggling, to get rid of all these, cutting out sodas and carbonated drinks is an easy area worth considering. However, old habits and fetishes are hard to break without a better replacement. Fruit juice is a good replacement for soda as you transition to water. To break the unhealthy sweet snacking habit, try adding a fruit for every snack.
It is over half way through the year and your New Year resolution to get healthier is ebbing away. I know how it feels. As a teenager, I wanted to pack on muscle and change my lanky body frame into a muscular one, motivated by building a six-pack first! After a couple of months of ab-focused exercises, I gave up. Many of us know how hard it is to stay inspired when results are not as apparent. Instead of worrying about how to change your physique, you can start with small incremental steps.
Beginning your day…
Breakfast is the most important meal that can set the tone for the rest of the day
Start your day with a hearty breakfast. Oatmeal or 10 grain cereals are a good place to start, followed by a whole fruit. The best economical place to buy your cereals is large wholesale stores such as Winco, which sells a variety of grains and condiments in bins. Our recipe section introduces you to wonderful meals you can learn how to prepare with ease.
Healthy meals should be delicious
I resonate with the bias that healthy diets are bland and lacking in variety. I remember when my grandfather was diagnosed with gout; he changed his diet abruptly by introducing an unsavory boiled cabbage recipe. A healthy diet should be more than a steady regimen of salads and rationed TV dinners. Meals can be prepared to taste delicious if you pick the right recipe and flavor it with healthy condiments such as basil, ginger, and oregano.
Avoid late eating and ration your portions
Your disdain for breakfast can be explained not only by conditioning, but also by how much food you eat before going to bed. Eating at least three hours before going to bed is recommended to avoid digestion while asleep. Digestion while sleeping disrupts your sleep pattern and adds to your weight. Also, have you considered eating a heavy breakfast and a middle-of – the- ground – lunch and no dinner at all? Alternatively, why not eat for breakfast what you normally eat for supper.
Get to try new things
Remember, you don’t want to eat your way out of something healthy by eating the same thing over and over. Educate your palate with new recipes, which are simple to prepare.
Conclusion
Remember that getting healthy does involve a holistic approach. Unlike my misguided approach of building mid-section muscle, while ignoring diet. You too might get caught up in one area alone. What is important is to understand you cannot do it all at once but can begin with the most important area – Nutrition. In addition, the Transforming.Life team is here to support you with other areas necessary at achieving optimal health. Your success is built on disciplining your eating habits, gradually shedding harmful ones, while understanding it takes time to get you where you are going. It’s a new day.
