Many people have a misconception about “DIET”. It is made to be a way of life that is taxing and takes a lot of effort. Many people are short on time and don’t want to put in the effort to make extreme changes to their way of life. When really, it’s all about the little choices and timing in your daily meals. Choices that simply come down to baked or fried, white or wheat. These simple choices can add so much nutritional value to your meals. This is a starting point — recognizing the choices when they appear on a menu or on the grocery list.
Choices like:
- Spinach instead of Lettuce
- Black Beans instead of Pinto Beans
- Brown rice or Quinoa instead of White rice
- Baked instead of Fried
- Olive Oil instead of Vegetable Oil
- Sweet Potato instead of Regular Potato
Now you’re choosing right – how can you take another step? TIMING. Every 3-4 hours eat something. To start off take a 3-5-day log of when you eat. Notice if there are any gaps of more than 3-4 hours; if so, add a snack in there — a bar, some nuts, almonds, grapes; something to keep your metabolism burning throughout the day. Having more than a 3-4-hour window creates storage for your body. The body never knows when it will be fed next; thus, it stores to make sure it has enough energy and fuel to run off. However, if you consistently feed it and begin to do so with the right CHOICES, the body will burn what it is being fed because it is on a routine — the metabolism is burning.
Now you’re, choosing the right food, timing right, is there anything else? One more – WATER. Start by having a glass of water with every meal. Once comfortable, the goal is to drink half of your body weight in ounces per day. By figuring this out, divide it into your meals and now you have a mark to hit.
1) Choices 2) Timing 3) Hydration — these three things will take you on the step to eating healthy and feeding your body with proper fuel. As a result, energy, cognitive, physical levels etc. increase due to each aspect of the body being completely fueled to work at optimal level.
Tune in next week for more detail on How to Build a Meal. Start by these three steps and we will follow up on how to become more specific on what is and how much should be on your plate.
For any questions please feel free to contact gymcoordinator@espfit.net or call (214) 389-4001.