How To Have Better Eating Habits
What you eat every day affects your health and how you feel now and in the future. Good nutrition is a big part of how you can live a healthy life. When combined with physical activity, your diet can help you reach and keep a healthy weight, lower your risk of long-term conditions like diabetes or heart disease, and improve your overall health and well-being.
It doesn’t have to be hard to start and keep healthy eating habits. If you start by making small changes to your daily routine, you can make big changes to the way you eat and make healthy eating habits that will last. Read on to find out some of the ways you can get started.
Eat Mindfully
Your brain doesn’t signal that you are full for roughly 20 minutes which is why it’s good to eat more mindfully and slowly – you won’t go past the fullness level before your brain has a chance to catch up.
If you currently wolf down your food because you’re always on the go or you’re worried you won’t get to finish before someone in the household needs you for something, it’s time to start prioritizing. If you ensure that you have enough time to eat, the difference in your health and well-being will be easy to notice.
Fill Half Your Plate With Fruit Or Vegetables
What do your plates normally look like when you are serving up your food? If the majority is filled with meat or potatoes, you need to turn things around because actually, at least half your plate should be full of vegetables or fruit. This doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy some delicious Hasselback potatoes or a juicy steak, for example. It just means you need to ensure you’re getting enough of the fresh food your body needs.
Choose vegetables that are red, orange, and dark green, as well as other vegetables, for your meals. You can eat fruit as a main dish, a side dish, or as a dessert. The more colors you put on your plate, the more likely it is that your body will get all the nutrients it needs to stay healthy.
Hydrate
Staying hydrated can help you lose weight and keep your energy up. Sometimes it’s hard to know if you’re hungry or thirsty. If you drink more water, your body will stay hydrated, and you’ll be able to tell when you’re really hungry.
What’s the right amount of water to drink? Experts say that the old rule of eight glasses a day isn’t a good guideline anymore. How much water you need depends on your height, weight, level of activity, and where you live, among other things. As a rule of thumb, you should drink between half an ounce and an ounce of water for every pound you weigh.
Be Careful With Your Portion Sizes
By watching how much you eat, you can still eat the foods you love and stay healthy. There are a few ways to keep from eating too much:
Check how big your plates and bowls are. Are they bigger than standard ones? If so, put less on them. Don’t buy the biggest plates the next time you go shopping. People usually fill their plates, no matter how big they are.
When you order at a restaurant the next time, try asking the server to put half of your meal in a box. If you still want it, it’s there for you, but you might actually be full. Plus, as we mentioned above, pay attention to how hungry you feel, and try to stop eating when you’re full – eating slowly helps hugely with this.
