Superfoods

Stress at work, poor eating habits, late nights, lack of physical exercise can have far reaching effects on your overall health so if you want a healthy body, you should first lead a healthy lifestyle. Many times we tend to follow unhealthy eating habits without realizing their implications on our body. Although 'healthy lifestyle' may sound like an overly hyped phrase in the modern world, it's actually much easier than you think and in this article we will tell you how:

Your business meetings and personal appointments can wait; you first need to have a wholesome and healthy breakfast to start your day in the right note. It’s called ‘breakfast’ for a reason so make sure you do not skip the first meal of the day for anything, not even to lose weight! Kick start your day with oats and a low fat mixed fruits smoothie including bananas, apples and grapes.

Cut back on artificial sweeteners!

If you have a sweet tooth, you may need to put some control on it just to make sure that you stay healthy so eliminate artificial sweeteners as such possible. Do you know that the so called diet soda can actually cause you to gain weight over time? Shocking, but it’s true so substitute sodas with fresh fruit drinks instead. If you have a craving for sugar, consider using the natural sweeteners such as stevia which is much safer.

Is vegetarian diet recommended?

When we talk of superfoods, most people believe that it includes only fresh fruits and vegetables, so does that mean that a vegetarian diet is the best? Well, your body requires a good amount of all nutrients and also some good calories that come from meat products. Although the vegetarian advocates claim that there are ways to cover the nutritional deficiencies without eating meat, if you love both you can choose to eat a balanced diet including both veg and non veg foods. Non vegetarian foods such as fish (salmon), lean red meat, and chicken liver are good for health.

Nutritional supplements - are they needed?

If you eat a balanced diet including fruits, green vegetables and organic meat, you will not require additional supplements to boost your health. But, in case you do need supplements make sure you consume only as much is recommended by your doctor. Taking high amounts of B vitamins can have an adverse effect on your overall health, so don’t trust on popping pills to achieve your weight loss goals, but eat healthy to see a long term effect on your body.

Is your body getting enough exercise?

It’s easy to blame a culture for bad food habits, but there’s no escape when it comes to being physically active so start giving yourself some ‘me time’ from your busy schedule by going for daily morning walk or at least ten minutes exercise. You can start by taking the stairs instead of the lift and make sure your body gets enough exercise required to keep it fit and agile.

Have you tried to follow a strict diet regimen and failed each time? Does that make you feel frustrated and wonder that dieting is perhaps not your cup of tea? Wait! Don’t lose heart because there’s still a lot that you can do without having to deprive yourself of all that you love eating. The biggest mistake that most people wanting to lose weight do is opting for a crash diet, by skipping meals and eliminating all the non-healthy foods they love eating at once. Although this may sound like a great idea, but the truth is that it makes you feel punished after a couple of days and you will soon give in to your cravings.

Cutting back on comfort foods?

The key to successful dieting lies in taking baby steps to eliminate unhealthy foods from your meals and substitute them with healthier alternatives. However many people tend to go extreme with the desire to see quick results and end up frustrated. Remember that a diet plan that completely deprives you of the comfort foods you love eating will not last for long, so go and treat your taste buds with a chips or candy, but in moderation. Instead of cutting back on the comfort foods completely, you may consider indulging in them once in a while and this will encourage you to continue your diet regimen.

Believing on fake diet foods?

If you bought that special peanut butter with omega-3s to improve your nutrition then let me tell you that you have spent your money on a marketing ploy. The real amount of omega-3s in these heavily advertised products is so small that you will need to eat 16 tablespoons of peanut butter to get some substantial omega-3, and we definitely don’t need to tell you what all that butter will do to your body. Similarly those prepackaged diet foods like shakes and bars may seem convenient but they hardly help you lose any inches in the long run.

Looking for overnight results?

Rome was not built in a day, and in real life too there is nothing like overnight results so you will need to give your diet regimen some time to show effect. Don’t sabotage your body by depriving it of foods for quick results and also avoid working out excessively because if you over work your body beyond its limits, this might backfire. So give your body some time to adjust to your weight loss plan, by slowly cutting high calorie and fatty foods from your diet and making sure that you walk for at least 30 minutes each day.

Living on salads?

Again if you tend to order only salad every time you are out dining with friends or family then this might not be the best option as salads do not have enough carbohydrates to satisfy your hunger. So, you may order some healthy foods such as brown rice, garbanzo beans, and lentils. When you are on a diet, you would need to cut back on your alcohol consumption but you may drink occasionally in moderation.

When you are following a health diet you should enjoy it because you are doing it for a good cause and not to punish your body, so remember to eat healthy comprising of superfoods, and pamper yourself with tasty treats once in a while to keep yourself on the track and achieve your coveted goals.

Are you too busy to spare some time for yourself? Many people think eating healthy foods is a tough job because this involves choosing what you eat and preparing all that healthy stuff with hard to find ingredients, and this becomes their biggest excuse for eating unhealthy food. If you too fall into this group, then forget those excuses now because in this article we will tell you about some quick to prepare healthy foods that make for great meals and snack whenever you are hungry, and trust me they won’t take too long to make.

Drinking enough water is important

You can start by drinking enough water because this is required to flush out the toxins from the body, hydrate your cells, and keep you healthy inside out. Human body is composed of nearly 60 percent water so it makes sense that you keep a bottle of water with you at work and drink at least eight glasses of water throughout the day.

Stock your fridge with healthy foods

When you go shopping, make it a point to buy fresh fruits, green vegetables and nuts. You will be surprised to know that there are actually a lot of superfoods around you; all you need is to realize their importance and ensure that you have more of them. Some good recommendations are bananas, apples, blueberries, broccoli, spinach, avocado, goji berries, sweet potatoes, and so on. When you are hungry at work and wish to munch on some mid day snacks, eat fruits and they will be as filling as cookies or cupcakes.

Eat healthy, snack often!

Make it a point to have at least two servings of green vegetables at lunch and dinner, and cut back on cheese and other dairy products. If you must eat meat, consider including wild salmon and chicken in your meal as they contain healthy nutrients required by your body.

Hard boiled eggs are a quick and healthy option for times when you are too hungry to cook a nutritional meal. Eggs are a great source of protein and you will not only feel fuller but highly energized. Other quick but health snack items that you can carry with you are dried fruits, sugar free candy nuts, and sliced fruits.

Don’t skip on meals

No matter how busy you are, never miss your breakfast as this is one of the most important meals of the day. We recommend that you eat more oats in your breakfast as it contains high amounts of soluble fiber that can help reduce your cholesterol and triglyceride levels, thus lower the risks of getting heart diseases.

Make the right choices

Obesity, poor nutrition and stress are interrelated to each other and they are the outcomes of our extremely busy modern lives where we have time for everything but us. Eating healthy and nutritious foods is not as hard as you think because it’s all about making the wise choices and taking informed decisions.

With the great technological advancements of today, you can have your calorie counter and diet planner right in your iPhone or Android phone, so there are absolutely no excuses to keep postponing your commitment to eating healthy, so waste no time and gift yourself a fabulous body!