Always eat breakfast as soon as you can when you wake up. I know lots of people don’t like breakfast and skip it. When you do this, you aren’t waking up your metabolism and getting your furnace burning. Your body slows, your metabolism slows, you start burning fewer calories. If you have a hard time with regular breakfast foods, try anything that sounds appealing. Make a smoothie and sip it. Have a banana. But get something in your body, as soon as you can stand it. If you aren’t overeating at night, you should actually feel hungry in the morning but our bodies are amazing and will adapt the best they can if we treat them the same way for years and years. If you find that milk in cereal upsets your stomach, try soy, rice milk or almond milk. I like a high fiber cereal mixed with some homemade granola, a bit of whatever fruit is on hand and light vanilla soy milk.
Never go longer than 4 hours as an absolute maximum without eating. Again, if you don’t feed your body it goes into starvation mode, your metabolism slows, you burn fewer calories. You need to maintain a consistent blood sugar level. When you go too long, starvation mode makes your body call out for food and then when you finally eat, you are much more likely to eat too much and also, the wrong stuff. Carry fruit and nuts so if you find you’ve gone over 3 hours without eating, you have something handy that is good and good for you. If you find yourself in front of a vending machine or at the corner convenient store, there are very few options that your body will thank you for.
Eat everything as whole as you can get it and with the least amount of processing you can find. Processing destroys nutrients, makes food more difficult to digest and lowers the amount of fiber. The tools of the food processing industry like sugar, white flour, bad oils, additives, synthetic vitamins and processed grains, have a negative effect on your health. Processing produces chemical changes. These chemical changes turn a nutritious grain into a filler with little or no nutritional value. When you fill up on these nasty fillers, you don’t have room left in your diet for all the fruits and vegetables that will supply you with the wide range of vitamins and minerals you need for your body to be the best it can be.
Pack your lunch. While there are a few exceptions, typically it’s extremely difficult to get something healthy from typical restaurants. Even if they offer a salad, it’s all too often smothered with cheese and high calorie and high fat dressing. In the winter, I like to make a large batch of soup and then I have enough for lunch all week. In the summer, my favorite is hummus and tabbouleh on pita bread. I’ve experimented with these recipes and now I have them just how I like them. And think of all the money you will save brown bagging it!
Increase your fiber intake. Have veggies fill more of your plate than your protein and starch. Sprinkle beans of your salad. Substitute whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour for white flour in recipes. Leave the skin on your fruit. The typical American gets about half the Recommended Daily Allowance. Fiber makes you feel full and satisfied and is low in fat and calories. Check out my article about fiber here for more information.
Drink your water. How much you need to drink per day varies depending on how much you are exercising, the weather and certain health conditions but a general rule is 64 ounces or 8 8oz glasses. As long as your urine is colorless or pale yellow, you are getting what you need. When you think that water makes up 60 percent of your body weight, it makes sense we wouldn’t function well without it. Water flushes out toxins and carries nutrients all over your body. Even mild dehydration can make you feel tired and sap your energy. Many people believe it affects your metabolism as well.
If you are already doing all this… great! If not, make these changes today and I guarantee, you will have more energy and feel better as soon as you start doing it!
