7 simple diet tips that will easily improve fitness
Getting fit is not a simple task. If it was, everyone would be doing it and there would be no need for diet tips. It requires hard work and discipline, but the following should help you through the process much more easily.
The following diet tips require only minor adjustments in your current habits, but are actually the basic building blocks of a healthy diet. They are great first steps into eating to get fit. They will also refresh your memory about the core guidelines.
Shall we get started with the diet tips?
1. Eat whole grains
Recent studies have shown that complex carbs are an essential part of a healthy diet. A simple step to take in order to change your carb intake habits is switching your refined grains to whole grains. Refined grains such as white bread have been stripped from bran and germ which contain all the good parts supplying lasting energy. These are vitamins, minerals and fiber which have the additional benefit of keeping you feeling full.
Several common examples for whole grains include brown rice, whole-wheat bread and whole-wheat pasta.
2. Cut on sugared soft drinks
This one is perhaps the most significant suggestion out of these diet tips which can lead to a big change. White sugar is known to raise blood pressure, develop insulin resistance, increase risk of heart disease, and the list goes on and on. While people are trying to cut the spoons of sugar in their coffee, they tend to forget that a single can of coke contains 9-10 teaspoons of sugar. Orange juice and alike are also considered problematic and packed with empty carbs. While oranges do have many positive factors such as vitamins and minerals, drinking their juice robs them from the fiber. what is left of the process is simple carbs. The best substitute is water, but if you feel it is still too difficult to take the leap to drink only water, start by switching to diet drinks and work on gradually reducing the consumption of soft drinks. If you choose to implement only one of these diet tips to start off with, consider this one.
3. Cut on white sugar
After the previous tip, this is pretty much self-explanatory but will broaden the scope. So how do you cut out white sugar? It really depends on what fits you: whether you go cold turkey or do it in small gradual steps it doesn’t really matter, as long as you begin and continue. Start by replacing sugar with natural sweeteners or substitutes such as honey and Stevia. Continue by bringing to a halt the stocking of sweets at home. It’s always easier to resist temptation when you’re not surrounded by it. In addition, when you feel the urge to grab something sweet and unhealthy, grab something else instead such as a mix of nuts or a low carb protein shake.
4. Eat frequently
I know what you’re thinking, “I thought I was supposed to eat less!”, well in contrast to popular belief, it is much more important to eat right than to eat less. Given you’re eating healthy food, raising the frequency of eating has been proven to help keep your nutrition goals. Keeping a steady supply of energy for your body throughout the day will reduce cravings and urges in between. You are a lot less likely to grab a snack if you’re not hungry, so to some extent, you’ll indeed be eating less. Less unhealthy food.
The recommended number of meals really is driven by your schedule. If possible, we advise on five to seven meals spaced equally across the day.
5. Plan ahead
Much like our meal planning tool Fitness Meal Planner states, if you plan your meals ahead of time, make sure you buy the required groceries and cook them in bulk, it will be much easier for you to stick to your meal plan which in turn will lead to less snacks in between.
You’re much more likely to miss a meal or lag behind your meal plan if you don’t prepare your meals ahead of time.
6. Eat at the same time every day
Recent studies have shown that the body’s internal clock also regulates energy use, suggesting the timing of meals may matter in the balance between caloric intake and expenditure.
Aside from this, when you don’t stick to the meal schedule, the bodies hunger mechanism will start to kick in and you are more likely to snack in between. You should eat at the same time every day. Your body will get used to the schedule. It will cause your body to expect energy at those times.
7. Seek inspiration
This is not only relevant to these diet tips but is also relevant for fitness in general. A basic principle of will power – when feeling weak and unmotivated seek motivation from those you see as having strong will power, especially if it’s also in the field of nutrition. Think to yourself what would that person do in the same situation, this will reinforce your own will power and could help you overcome situations where following a healthy diet seems like a silly thing compared to Thanksgiving’s pecan pie.
Good examples we highly recommend are: http://www.bodybuilding.com or http://www.fitness.com