It is National Nutrition Month and the purpose of this month is to bring awareness to a healthy lifestyle so people can make better food choices each meal. For someone like a nutritionist, it might be common knowledge how to make wise choices for breakfast, lunch and dinner each day but not everyone has this knowledge and for some people, they are doing the best that they can with the information that they have. Reaching out to people and arming them with the nutritional information that they need to be healthy and successful is important and getting people thinking about what they eat is the first step towards a big change across the country.
Let’s take a look at some basic nutritional tips that can help you look better, feel better and embrace a healthier lifestyle:
-Reduce Your Sugar Intake
While sugary beverages and treats are delightful, they aren’t good for you on a regular basis. Every once in awhile it is ok to have a slice of cake at a birthday party or indulge in a sweet treat as a reward for eating healthy all week but a daily intake of sugar can lead to obesity, diabetes and cancer. Being the most refined carbohydrate that there is, sugar is the most likely thing you can consume that will increase your overall BMI. Don’t waste your daily calorie count on soda or sports beverages. Natural sugars from fruit and such is fine in moderation and is actually good for you. When choosing a beverage aim for eight glasses of water per day and if you need a sweet treat, reach for that juicy apple instead of that candy bar.
-Lean Protein Every Meal
Protein is what your body utilizes in order to produce energy. Every one of your main meals should have a healthy amount of lean protein included and snacks can include protein as well. This will give you all of the energy you need each day to work, play and be healthy. You can get healthy and lean protein from things like skinless chicken breasts, nuts, milk and eggs. You should ideally consume about 20 to 30 grams of protein in each meal. If you’re dragging and feel tired often you may be low on protein.
-Increase Your Fiber Intake
If you want to feel more full and satisfied throughout the day you may want to increase your fiber intake. This will also help regulate your gastrointestinal tract and keep things healthy in that department. Fiber can be found in fruits and vegetables, seeds and such. Fiber isn’t digested by your body even though it is a carbohydrate. That’s why it is healthy for the body because it isn’t converted to unwanted sugars.
-Learn To Read Labels
A little knowledge on how to read nutritional labels can go a long way towards picking out healthy foods at the grocery store. You should try to keep sugar servings to the single digits and keep carbohydrates to a healthy minimum. This is also a great place to count calories and watch your saturated fats. Cholesterol can come in both healthy and unhealthy forms as well so be careful with choices.
Lack of nutritional knowledge is very prevalent in our country these days and while it isn’t people’s own fault that they aren’t well versed in nutritional know-how, it helps to educate since many people are willing to learn something new. It doesn’t always include something involved like visiting your doctor or nutritionist (though these things can help). Sometimes just a bit of basic information goes a long way.