10 Tips Towards Better Nutrition
NATURAL HEALTH SOLUTIONS
This article was provided by Dr. James R. Schiffer DC of Kapsner Chiropractic Centers in Round Rock, TX. If you’d like to learn more please visit https://www.kapsner.com/round-rock-chiropractor/
Keep these tips in mind as your work towards your new way of healthy living and being!
- Cook once, eat twice. By doubling recipes you will eliminate any excuse such as “I don’t have time to eat healthy.”
- Load up on fruits and veggies. The American Cancer Society recommends eating six to eight
servings of fruits and vegetables every day. Get into the habit of reaching for fruits and veggies when you want to munch rather than grabbing snacks and sweets. - Eat healthy fats. Foods such as nuts and avocados are loaded with the fats and oils our bodies can process.
- Eat breakfast. Studies show that people who skip breakfast are more likely to be overweight and have higher blood sugar levels.
- Drink water. Water is an essential nutrient your body needs. If you’re someone who regularly chooses coffee, soda or juices (which are loaded with sugar) start replacing those choices with water or in the very least drinking water in addition to the other beverages.
- Choose wisely. Just because something is low in calories (a 100 calorie pack of crackers) doesn’t mean it’s nutrient packed. Choose to eat 100 calories worth of nutrient rich foods like fruits and veggies. You will be able to eat a much larger quantity and your mind and your body will feel like it’s getting “more.”
- Keep up with your exercise routine. Once your body discovers it will have a chance to burn off fats and calories it will exit survival mode and burn them off.
- Monitor stress. When you are stressed it can be very easy to stray away from good nutrition by choosing foods our brain has identified as “comfort foods.” Keep up with your time outs so you can decompress and be less stressed.
- Do one thing at a time. Rather than eating on the go or in front of the computer or tv, place your food on a plate and acknowledge you are about to have a meal. When you train your brain to recognize a meal, you can avoid over eating because you give yourself the opportunity to realize when you are full. You will also feel much more satisfied.
- Sleep. Sleep is important for many reasons. For example it rejuvenates your energy levels, keeps your immune system balanced and helps keep your mind and memory sharp.
I have found in my experience that in the quest of looking and feeling better it is 80% diet related and approximately 20% workout related. I believe the trick is to find a nutrition program that works for you for a permanent life long lifestyle change. There are diet tricks out there that will make you lose weight quickly but the results are usually short lived and many people gain more weight back than what the initially had before the diet. Anytime the body is deprived of something for long periods it will go into emergency mode and the weight loss will stop. Afterwards your cravings will be greater than they were before.
A great way to lose weight and keep it off is to increase or rev up your metabolism. Metabolism is the system than converts what we eat and drink into energy our body can use. So what we want to do is tell our body that food is everywhere and that we need to speed up our fat burning and our metabolism. One way to do this is to eat more often on regular intervals. Eating every few hours keeps the “furnace” burning and keeps us burning fat for hours. Eating healthy fats will also keep your body burning its own fat sources. Since fat is coming in it tells the body that there is no lack of nutrients allowing you to burn off that excess fat. Examples of good fats are olive oil, coconut oil or MCT oil, salmon, nut butter, and olives.
Another great way to boost your metabolism is to drink plenty of water every day. We should all aim to at least drink one gallon of water per day and it has been shown to increase our metabolism by a third.
It is very important that we avoid restrictive caloric diets. These diets send our metabolism to the basement and we actually will retain weight due to our body thinking it’s in a state of deprivation and starvation. This stems from the fact that centuries ago we would go through periods where food was very limited and our bodies would have to try to maintain as much fat stores to survive. All caloric intake should be at least above 1500 calories per day or more.
I have found it to be very beneficial to make sure you are getting plenty of sleep and rest. Many people are exhausted and sleep deprived on a daily basis. We should all aim to be getting on average 7-8 hours of rest. This aids in helping us maintaining a healthy weight and allowing our body’s to recover from busy days and from the workouts from the days before. I find that when I am exhausted I make poor food choices and end up eating more processed food. It also has been shown that when our body’s are tired and sleep deprived it diminishes our body’s ability to produce insulin. And as we know insulin is critical in transportation of sugars out of the blood stream and for our ability to burn calories. When insulin production is poor than our body will retain more weight and we will feel more tired and exhausted.
I have found it very effective to while deciding what to eat to focus on “God” made food and stay away from processed man made food. The processed food is filled with excess sodium and packed with calories that we just don’t need. It is hard to over eat when you eat healthy natural foods such as fruits, vegetables, meats and nuts and seeds. If you have ever tried to over eat a plate of broccoli and grilled chicken you will know what I mean.
The eating that I have found most effective is the Paleo Diet, also known as the Caveman diet. It is based on animals and wild plants. When eating this way I have found that I am not eating unhealthy additives, refined sugars and other chemicals. I find that you lose weight without even trying to and have much high energy levels and focus. Another benefit that I have found with eating this way is my quality of sleep is much improved. I have much more energy in the day and sleep much better at night.
My advice is to make lifestyle change modifications and don’t focus on diets. When we do this we can get weight off of us and maintain it for years to come. Try to exercise daily for sixty minutes or more, eat natures food not processed, don’t skip breakfast, monitor your weight daily, eat every few hours, do not binge on food, and just get back up and start eating right again after we make a mistake.
My advice is to try to make changes slowly and don’t try to change everything all at once or it may led to failure. Pretty soon is will become your new “normal” and you will not have to worry about doing any of these “YoYo” diets any longer.
Dr. James R. Schiffer D.C.
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