Eating Right: 7 Tips for Improving Your Diet

Eating Right: 7 Tips for Improving Your Diet : Every year 678,000 Americans die due to unhealthy diet-related conditions.

Many people across the country aspire to healthier diets and lifestyles. However, living up to these resolutions can be an uphill task due to heavy work schedules and other situations.

7 Tips for Improving Your Diet

If you are thinking of improving your diet, here are seven ideas that can inspire you to eat healthier.

Make Vegetables and Fruits a Diet Staple

You likely have grown up hearing that an apple a day will keep the doctor away. For many people, recognizing fruits and vegetables are essential is one thing. Making them a regular part of their diet is a whole other matter.

Fruits and vegetables help you prevent inflammation, cognitive decline, suppress coughs, and manage blood sugar. You can also fortify your immunity by taking more fruits and vegetables. Therefore, the next time you call Agenacare Housecalls for your flu shot, think about supplementing that with more vegetables and fruits on your plate.

Ideally, your diet needs to consist of 50% fruits and vegetables if you want it to be nutritious. That translates to five to eight servings a day or put another way, two cups of fruit per day, and two and a half cups of veggies.

To help you overcome the idea of having to eat all fruits and vegetables in one go, you can spread them across your meals a day.
Eat the Right Kind of Fats

Due to hearing about fats not being suitable for one’s health, many people steer away from fats entirely. The first thing you should know about fats is that your body does need them.

Your body requires dietary fats to get more energy. Fats help support cell growth, take part in producing essential hormones, and help the body absorb certain nutrients. On top of all that, dietary fats do protect your body organs.

The right way to deal with fats is not throwing the baby out with the bathwater. You need to identify the right kinds of dietary fat to take and know which ones to avoid.

Saturated and trans fats are the bad kind that you need to stay away from. These kinds of fat raise your bad cholesterol level and put you at risk of heart disease.

To avoid trans and saturated fats, minimize your intake of animal-based foods. These include bacon, untrimmed meat, and butter. It would help if you also stayed away from fried fast and processed foods.

Adding more plant-based foods in your diet will help you consume more of the good fats. Foods like avocados, nuts, seeds, and olive oil contain the right kind of fat your body requires. You should also eat fish twice a week as it contains omega-3 fatty acids.
Eat More Fiber

Taking more fiber can help you improve your digestion and lower your cholesterol levels. Additionally, because fiber will make you feel full for longer, you end up eating less.

A convenient way to bump up your fiber levels is by subtly incorporating it into your meals. For example, you can add cereal high in fiber to your yogurt. You can also top off your salad with flax seeds, which will also give you more flavor.
Watch Your Portions

One of the more straightforward ways to a healthier diet is by eating less. To better achieve this, you should pay attention to the portion sizes you take each day. Using a smaller plate is an excellent way to keep your food portions in check.

That’s because when your mind sees the food on a small plate filling it up, it becomes visually satisfied. Consequently, you have better chances of not taking more servings after you finish your meal.

The opposite happens with big plates where the food, though sizeable, appears to be less. You end up eating larger portions because your mind is not visually satisfied.

Another way to watch the portions you eat is to use your plate as a guide. As an approximate model, vegetables should be half of your plate.

High-quality proteins such as meat and dairy products ought to fill up a quarter of the plate. Foods high in fat like cheese and butter should be half a tablespoon’s worthwhile complex carbs fill up the remaining quarter.
Up Your Water Intake

You can’t make your diet better without drinking the right amount of water every day. Water is necessary to aid your digestion and enable each cell in your body to function correctly.

If you are drinking more volumes of other fluids than water, you need to rectify that. Start and end each day with a generous glass of water and carry some with you to sip throughout the day.

You can add lemon or lime to your water to spice it up with flavor if that can help increase your water intake.
Enhance the Flavors

An impediment to healthier food is that many people struggle with the taste. In the end, you might succumb to the temptation to eat a less healthy diet due to its better taste.

You can overcome this barrier by layering your food with flavors that appeal to your palette.

For example, adding cilantro, basil, and dill to a salad can help you eat more vegetables on the regular.
Weekend Meal Prep

Busy people tend to not cook as frequently during the week. Instead, they rely more on takeout, which may not be as healthy since it is a convenience food. Therefore, if you want a better diet, consider meal prepping over the weekend.

You can make a grocery run for healthy ingredients and cook several meals in one go. When you get home, you only need to microwave it. That way, you eat a healthier diet during the week.

Improving Your Diet Is Foundational for Your Health

Poor diet has a direct impact on your health, and thus, you need to find everyday ways to inspire yourself to eat healthier. Assess how you operate daily to find sustainable means of improving your diet that can stick.

Do you want to learn more about how you can live a healthy life? Check out our other content for wholesome diet and Nutrition tips.