Eat Smarter Wrap-Up
KEY POINTS:
1. We need to start looking at food as medicine - good nutrition maintains health and prevents disease.
2. Make small, 1% changes to improve your diet and overall health. Eventually eating healthy will become habit.
3. You don't have to be perfect. But if you make a concerted effort to be healthy the majority of the time, you don't have to worry about those days when healthy food isn't available, or when you have to grab a quick meal on the road.
Why worry about what we eat? Because food is the most powerful drug we put in our bodies. Food can help prevent and cure disease, and it maintains our health. However food can also damage us, make us more susceptible to disease, and undermine our mental and physical health and wellbeing.
I’m guessing that there are times you may feel overwhelmed when you read these posts. I know from personal experience that the barrage of recipes, superfoods, spices, recommendations, and advice about what to eat and when to eat it can be a lot to take in. So I thought today would be a good day to review the 7 keys to improving your eating habits 1% at a time:
1. Hydrate. Make drinking water part of your daily routine. Get a water bottle and keep it with you, and fill it up a few times every day. Water is just as important at work as it is in the gym. Stay hydrated and stay healthy.
2. Eat Mostly Plants. Eating plants will not only help you prevent chronic illnesses, but will also help you power up your immune system, which fights off viruses, bacteria, fungi, and other invaders.
3. Consume More Nutrients, Fewer Calories. Remember the formula Health = Nutrients per Calorie consumed (H=N/C). Choose nutrient-dense foods as apposed to calorie-dense foods. For example, skip the muffins and bagels and choose protein and vegetables.
4. Eat Anti-Inflammatory Foods. Poor nutrition causes chronic inflammation. Eating a large quantity and variety of fruits and vegetables can help optimize your anti-inflammatory and antioxidant status.
5. Eat Healthy Fats. To decrease your intake of unhealthy fat, reduce or eliminate saturated animal fats, trans fats, hydrogenated vegetable oils, and processed foods. Add healthy fats to your diet, such as nuts, seeds, avocados, and coconuts.
6. Eat Healthy Carbohydrates. When we eat a lot of simple carbohydrates, this can lead to a depression of the immune system, kidney damage, atherosclerosis, oxidative stress, and cancer. Incorporate healthy carbohydrates into your diet such as quinoa, whole grains, vegetables, fruits, beans, legumes, nuts, and seeds.
7. Eat Healthy Protein. The amino acid tyrosine is a building block for the neurotransmitters that wake you up, help you concentrate, focus, and problem solve. Go for protein-rich foods such as meat, poultry, seafood, beans, tofu, and lentils when you need to concentrate, problem solve, or deal with stress.
Remember that habits form slowly through deliberate effort and 1% changes. No person can revolutionize their eating overnight. It’s all about starting somewhere and then building on that momentum. And once you are eating well, it’s easy to keep the habits going and include other interesting options.
And nobody needs perfection. One of the worst mindsets we can adopt while trying to build new habits is that we have to be perfect. Nonsense! Our goal is to make small, incremental changes so that we arrive at a place where a good majority of our food intake is high-quality.
It might be helpful to print out the images below and put them up on your fridge or somewhere where you can easily see them.
This Week's Exercise: Try a new recipe!
This week your challenge is to try out a new recipe. To help you get started, there are some recipes and snack ideas at the end of the My Fuel Plan tool, and also on page 48 of The Ripple Effect Workbook.
Then share your recipe with a friend!
Enjoy :)
Bonus Exercise: Start, Stop, Continue
Now that you’ve completed the module, is there a habit or routine that you would like to start? Is there a habit that you would like to stop? Is there a habit that you would like to continue? Write these down on page 50 of The Ripple Effect Workbook.
The information and advice provided in this program is intended to assist you with improving your performance, as well as your general health. It is not intended and should not be used in place of advice from your own physician or for treatment or diagnosis of any specific health issue. By participating in this program you acknowledge that undertaking any new health, diet and/or exercise regime involves certain inherent risks, that you assume such risks, and that you release Wells Performance Inc. from any responsibility or claim relating to such participation.