7 Realistically Easy Ways to Improve Your Diet
It’s Monday morning, “today is the day,” you pep yourself, and then begins your healthy diet. Fruits for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, and then a chicken salad to end the night. Tuesday? Pasta for lunch with mozzarella sticks on the side, and burgers for dinner with dessert to end the night. We’ve all been there, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Adopting a “healthy diet” right away isn’t as easy as it sounds, and there are ways, simple and realistic ways, you can improve your diet, without necessarily making shocking changes to your eating habits! Let us tell you of some!
Plan ahead!
Before each week starts, create a strategy. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, with healthy snacks to munch on. This helps you shop smarter at the grocery store in an aim to either gain, maintain, or lose your weight. Remember how that one night you couldn’t think of what you’d like for dinner so resorted to a fast food option? And that one night became three nights and more? Plan ahead!
Don’t be salty!
On a good day, we should be limiting our sodium intake to 1,500mg a day, but the best of us always go for well more. Reducing sodium, however little by little, not only lowers your high blood pressure risk but also tames your sugar cravings. Two birds, one stone!
Keep it to 80%!
“Hara Hachi Bu,” a principle practiced by the people of Southern Japanese Okinawa islands, means to only eat until you’re 80% full. It’s proven that their people eat lesser than most cultures, and live longer! The less bloated you feel, the longer you live – must be true!
Peel Good!
We’ve been guilty of just tossing the peels of fruits and vegetables right into the trash, missing out on an abundance of nutrients. More often than not, the skin of a fruit contains more nutrients than the inside – like citrus peels containing more fiber and Vitamin C than the flesh.
Add color!
Be it the yellow of lemon, the red of berries, the purple of grapes, or the green of lettuce – colors contain vitamins! Don’t shy away from adding color to your meals. You could even have fun with it! Challenge yourself to add one more color to your dinner table with every meal.
Munching bowls!
What if we told you about saving the planet could get delicious? Swap your plastic bowls for bell peppers – halved and deseeded. Go crazy with your favorite fillings, and add a new dimension to your appetizers! There’s a long list of fruits and veggies that could take the shape of bowls.
Please cheat!
We can’t stress this enough! Your drive and motivation are serving you well, but you’re definitely entitled to a hall pass and enjoy a pizza or some cake every now and again. Some have a cheat day in a week, some had a cheat meal in a day – whichever keeps you going!
And there you have it – some simple, cheap, and let’s face it, realistic ways to keep our diet in check whilst still making the most out of fun and vitamins in your meals! Think you could do better and would like to share tips of your own? Share with us on the Rotimatic Owners community here!