Nutrition as an autonomous science determines the ultimate health of our body. Diet is not only the process of losing weight.
Clearly, a slim, firm body, well ribbed and healthy is more attractive than an overweight body, with visible fat and seriously “suffering” fitness.
However, this is not the only reason you need to learn to follow a right nutrition program.
Your entire body (even its most insignificant function) relies on your diet for its satisfactory completion.
Therefore, your bad habit is to order every “junk” food found, to avoid your breakfast, to eat very late at night (just before going to bed), to get up in the middle of the night for a quick snack from the fridge, harms not only your body weight and your look, but also (primarily) your health.
It’s true that the problem usually starts with a misconception about food.
What I mean by that?
We tend to adopt 2 extreme perceptions of our food. One is that of the “badly desired food” (usually full of unhealthy and useless calories) and the other is the “incredibly boring food” (mainly concerning healthy & nutritious meals lacking any imagination).
This is the mistake.
Do you realize that?
A healthy food does not mean it should be boring, tasteless, and indifferent, with no imagination.
Any food in our plate must promise a process of enjoyment, EVERY TIME, not being something causing shame, guilt or frustration.
On the contrary, it should be something offering joy, energy, life.
Here we present some useful tips with the hope to make you reconsider the way you have learned to deal with your meals and yourself in general.
Tips for Proper Nutrition and Happy Life
No.1: Love Yourself
Get off the couch, take off your extra clothes and stand naked in front of a full-length mirror for a few minutes. Look carefully and observe every part of your body. Identify what you find “problematic” and think about what you would like to change.
Then find what you consider the most beautiful spots on you and feel grateful for them to the nature that offered them to you.
Accept yourself for what it is and see what you can objectively change in your body by following a healthier diet and in general a healthier life (with exercise, meditation and stress relief, careful diet, positive thinking, with personal time dedicated to things you love and which fill you with joy).
No.2: Simplicity & Imagination
Do not get wasted on complex recipes and elaborate delicious creations requiring a lot of effort, lot of free time and unnecessary expenses.
See what raw materials you have at home (fresh vegetables & fruits, good quality meats, fruits, seeds, nuts, legumes, roots, sprouts) and use your imagination to make a beautiful (tasty and presentable) dish that offers satisfaction on all senses (smell, taste, touch, sight, even hearing).
In a delicious fresh salad with fresh seasonal vegetables, add a little sour apple and some walnuts, to “sound” to the tooth and will break the monotony of the salad.
Think out of the ordinary and play with flavors & ingredients you love. Experiment. Your every attempt may not be successful but offers fun in the process and makes you discover new flavors that you will love.
No.3: Drink plenty of Water
Water helps you stay healthy & hydrated, also “cleansing” your mind of the false hunger messages probably received. It is a common phenomenon to confuse the feeling of thirst with that of hunger, especially when intense emotions of everyday life come inside you (as stress, anxiety, boredom, sadness, grief, loss, nervousness, exhaustion).
Drinking water gives your body time to process the messages the brain receives and evaluate the information in a proper way.
Furthermore, water helps the proper functioning of the digestive system in general, promoting weight loss and appetite management.
No.4: Find Hobbies
Fill your free time with activities. Many times this boredom is leading to extensive overeating… not hunger.
By keeping your body busy and mainly your mind you manage to avoid “raids” to refrigerator and consumption of useless & unhealthy snacks.
No.5: Add exercise in your Life
Exercise is not just a way to lose weight or firm your relaxed muscles.
Exercise is health, maintaining your body healthy and full of energy, ensuring a heart working properly, two lungs providing oxygen properly, gaining physical and mental health and balance.
You don’t have to spend endless hours in the gym if this doesn’t suit you! Go out for a jog or even for a walk.
Put on music at home and dance freely, release your body and mind.
Try yoga. Do some team sports with friends, or go for swimming.
Take your dog for a walk in the mountains.
There are ways to turn even boring exercise into a fun time of day.
Exercise will help you to improve your body look, but mainly to improve its relation to health.
Exercise will also enhance your quest for a healthier lifestyle and help you eat better and learn to love yourself more.
No.6: Adopt a schedule in your Sleep
Create a sleep schedule in your daily routine. Do not let the hours pass unnecessarily damaging your sleep quality.
It is important (even for your diet) to have your sleep in order and dedicate at least 7-8 quality hours for your sleep every night.
Many experts have associated overeating and weight gain to lack of sleep.
Therefore, it is not strange to “freeze” your metabolism and increase your weight, if you just do not rest as much as your body needs.
No.7: Do not be hard on Yourself
There will definitely be days when you eat more disgusting (unhealthy, fattening & high calorie snacks). There will definitely be days when you will not be in the mood to get up from the couch and go to gym.
It doesn’t really matter.
Don’t feel bad.
Do not make yourself feel sorry for it, because otherwise – very simply – you will hate the entire process in the end.
A healthy lifestyle should not be visualized in your mind with “forced labor” but with something, you do because you want to, wishing to live better, feel healthier and live longer.
So the next time you just want a break from the healthy lifestyle, just enjoy it without regrets and then return to your healthy routine stronger and happier, full of more willingness and stronger self-confidence.
No.8: Carry a Small Basket
Do not fill your supermarket basket with unnecessary shopping and fattening snacks.
Before you go to the market, write a list of the products you need and try not to get away from it, no matter how many chocolates or cookies you see on the supermarket shelves.
In fact, prefer to buy seasonal fruits and vegetables, which are richer in taste & aroma and in vitamins.
No.9: Smart Replacements
When you have an appetite for sweets or something fatty, think smart.
As already discussed, you do not need to feel guilty when one day you want to break the rules.
However, it does not have to be completely unhealthy every time you do it.
You can also find the middle way between those, which satisfy you and will not take you completely out of your goal.
Do you want something sweet? Eat dried fruits instead of candies or chocolates.
Put yogurt in your food instead of fattening creams.
Make delicious fruit salads with small pieces of health chocolate and nuts. They will fill you up and offer you a sweet satisfaction.
Do you want pizza? Make your own homemade version with cold cuts and low-fat cheeses and many fresh vegetables of your choice (cherry tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, onions, arugula, zucchini, eggplant, carrots and anything else comes to your mind).
Do you want a burger? Make your own superb and “poor” calorie juicy turkey burger and a yogurt sauce without fat and unnecessary calories.
Instead of French fries, add vegetable sticks in the oven and accompany your burger deliciously but perfectly healthy.
No.10: Small Dishes
Change the tableware. Don’t use those big and very impressive dishes even if they are quite trendy.
Make sure you serve your food in small plates. First, the eye should be full, so it is necessary to be satisfied with what it will see.
You can try lot of different diets to help you with that!
Therefore, it is better to have in front of you a small plate but full of food, than a huge plate looking empty (having finally the same amount of food as that in the small plate).
The message eventually transmitted to brain is that the plate was nearly empty and therefore (reasonably) you would not be able to satisfy your feeling of hunger.
