When it comes to health and fitness, nutrition is the hardest part for most people. Eating healthier seems hard to do, expensive and not worth it because unhealthy foods just taste too good. If that statement sounds like you, let us give you a few tips to help you save time, money, reach your goals and eat delicious food while doing it!
Slow and steady wins the race when it comes to improving your nutrition.
Whether you’re looking to lose weight or just improve your diet, sustainability [being able to sustain a certain method or pattern of eating for a long period of time] is the most important thing to keep in mind. Making a huge change overnight, in terms of the content of your food, will likely be a less enjoyable and more difficult avenue than simply editing your current diet over time. Finding foods that work really well for you and can be easily implemented into your routine, will help you build healthy habits that will carry you through the rest of your life.
Weight loss and striving for better health take time, so be patient, but enjoy the journey! Here are some tips to help you succeed:
Easy Basics Oven
Sheet pan meat and veggies.
Do you struggle to multitask while cooking? Try sheet pan dinners! They are an amazing way to quickly and easily cook all of your meal components at the same time and without having to do much cleaning at the end of the night. Find a sheet pan recipe as well as a few more easy meals here:
Meal Prep Hero
Quinoa and Veggie Meal Prep.
Do you buy lunch every day because you got sick of bringing last night’s dinner to work for your midday meal? Getting takeout can be very expensive and even distract you from your goals. Here are some ideas to help you prep make affordable, healthy meals that you won’t get bored of.
Sweets, Treats & Snacks
Fruit and Yogurt Dessert Bars.
Do you feel confident with your eating throughout the day but battle with your sweet tooth and try to fend off a snack attack at night? Here are some ideas to make healthier versions of your favorite snacks, as well as some tasty alternatives you may have never thought of before!
Whitney Simmons:
Tracking your nutrition, not “counting calories”.
So, you want to lose a few pounds. The general rule for weight loss is that you must be in a calorie deficit, which means that you burn more calories than you consume. However, before deciding to cut X amount of calories, one must determine where to start. Many health and fitness experts recommend to track your food in an app like MyFitnessPall for 3-5 days to get a feel for what you usually consume. The idea of this is scary to some but mindset is everything so think about it this way: you aren’t counting your calories, you are tracking your nutrition. You want to make sure that you are eating the right amount of food relative to your activity level and a balanced amount of macronutrients (carbs, fats and proteins) to keep you fueled and energized!
Once you’ve figured out what your caloric intake looks like, you can apply that to different foods to determine how to get the most “bang for your buck”. For the caloric price of a respectably-sized bacon cheeseburger, about 800 calories, you can eat two pounds of grilled chicken and red potatoes- that’s pretty nuts. Losing weight or just eating healthier in general does not mean you have to go hungry. Be satisfied, stay full for longer and give the body the nourishment it deserves!
At the end of the day, calories are units of measure to help us understand the outline of what our body needs. Once that data is collected, it is up to you to decide how to best fuel your body by trying out different foods and methods of eating until you’ve discovered a great fit!
Spaghetti squash noodles.
“Cheat” the content of your meal, not the size of it.
Give yourself the freedom to eat your favorite “cheat meals” from time to time. You know, the ones that taste great but make you feel like garbage.
Looking at foods at ‘good’ and ‘bad’ isn’t a productive mindset to have but let’s be real- buffalo chicken pizza and frosted donuts aren’t doing you any favors outside the flavor department. So, go ahead and live a little! But remember that practicing portion control is important for overall nutrition, no matter what your goals are. Think of it in monetary terms: when you're trying to be money conscious but still want to treat yourself, you pick something that you can still afford rather than emptying your bank account for some retail therapy. The same thought process should be applied to "cheat" meals: indulge responsibly.
The key to success when it comes to nutrition is cultivating a good relationship with food. The foods that make your body and mind feel good should feel like your BFF, and the foods that don’t make you feel great but are still important to you should be that friend that you can only tolerate in small doses.
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Now get out there, get out of that diet mindset and go eat some amazing food!
