What we eat affects how we feel, what we can and can’t do. Our diet also affects how well we are able to lose or maintain our weight and how the body functions and heals. This is one of the reasons why often doctors recommend specific diet or food items that boost healing for example when we are recovering from neck pain after car accident or other injuries.

Even in our normal life taking a healthier diet has many health benefits, from staying physically and mentally healthy to reduce the risk of several chronic conditions. However, this doesn’t mean you need to make big dietary changes, but by making a few mindful changes in your lifestyle and picking out healthier alternatives you can make your diet healthier.

Here are a few simple tips that will help you make your diet healthier without too much effort.

Slow down your pace

How fast or slow you eat impacts how much you eat and the chances of you gaining weight. Our appetite or how much we eat and how full we feel are influenced by hormones and they signal our brains whether we are full or hungry, and because our brain takes about 20 minutes to receive and process the messages you can easily eat more than you need to. Hence, try eating at a slower pace, which will give you more time to chew properly and be mindful about how much you are eating.

Pick whole-grain bread in place of refined

A simple and healthier change you can make in your diet is to replace refined grain bread with whole grain. Whole grain tends to have more benefits than refined, it’s a good source of fiber, vitamins B, and minerals like iron, zinc, manganese, and magnesium. As bread is a basic food item that tends to have almost every day, this one change can make a difference.

Add Greek yogurt to your diet

Greek yogurt is made by straining the excess whey, which is the watery part of milk. That’s the final product is thicker and creamier than the regular yogurt and it’s higher in protein and fat. Eating protein-rich food in the day will help keep you full for longer, which means it will be easy for you to manage your appetite. Besides, protein is one of the very important nutrition, along with several other benefits it helps with repairing and healing of the body. That’s why you must include a good source of protein in your diet when you are working out hard or recovering from shoulder pain after car accident or other injuries.

Increase your protein intake

The first of being mindful about your diet is to consider what nutrients your body needs and then make sure you are taking them. Protein is one the most important nutrients because of its ability to impact your hunger and satiety hormones, and many other reasons. A high-protein meal helps manage your hunger hormones better than a high-carb meal. Protein also helps you retain your muscles mass and it’s an important nutrient when you are trying to lose weight. Some good sources of protein that you can add to your diet include dairy products, peanut butter, nuts, eggs, lean meat, and beans.

Include eggs in your diet

Eggs are very healthy, preferably when you eat them for breakfast. Eggs are rich in many essential nutrients and high-quality protein that’s often lacking in people’s diet. Taking eggs in the mornings helps increase the feeling of fullness and you end up consuming fewer calories during the day. Besides, with so many delicious breakfast recipes that include eggs in one form or another, it has become a staple breakfast food.

Drink plenty of water

Drinking plenty of water is an important part of a healthy diet plan. Drinking enough water helps boost weight loss, and support weight maintenance. Besides, drinking a glass of water before every meal may help reduce your appetite and how much you eat. Hence, it is a much healthier option to replace your daily beverage intake with water. This will drastically help reduce your unnecessary sugar and calorie intake.

Bake or roast your food instead of frying and grilling

Switching to a healthier diet actually is more about making small changes than replacing your food items with fancier versions of it. You can make a healthier choice by avoiding grilling, frying, deep-frying, and broiling your meals when preparing fish or any meat. Instead, you can incorporate healthier cooking methods like baking, poaching, broiling, simmering, pressure cooking, slow cooking, and stewing. These cooking methods help you avoid the formation of harmful compounds and enable you to take your food with maximum good nutrients still intact.

Replace your favorite fast-food restaurant

We all like to eat out sometimes and it’s fair to treat yourself every now and then, which truly is the motivation that keeps you going during the rest of the week. However, eating out doesn’t need to be unhealthy. Try replacing your favorite fast-food restaurant with one that offers healthier options. With increasing awareness, there are many fusion kitchens and even fast-food restaurants that offer healthy meal options that are still delicious. These can be a great replacement for you.

Eat your greens first

One way to ensure you eat your green is to take them as your starter. This way you will finish your green when you are at your hungriest, and you might even eat more of them and you might also eat less of other components of your meal. This can help you if you are trying to consume fewer and healthier calories for weight loss or maintenance. Besides, eating your vegetables before the carb-rich components will also have beneficial effects on your blood sugar levels.

Eating fruits instead of drinking them

Fruits give you good nutrients as they are rich in fiber, vitamins, water, and antioxidants. Besides, as fruits are loaded with fiber and several other plant compounds, the natural sugar in them is slowly disgusted, which means they don’t cause big spikes in your blood sugar levels. But the same is not true for fruit juices. Most fruit juices are not made from real fruits and they contain a high amount of sugar. That said even real fruit juices don’t give you as much fiber as eating them as whole fruit and that’s why fruit juices are more likely to spike your blood sugar level.

Cook your meals at home

A very important habit to adopt to make your diet healthier is to start cooking your meals at home. When you cook your meals, yourself you have control over the ingredients and you don’t have to worry about any hidden unhealthy ingredients that will unnecessarily increase your calories intake. Besides, home-cooked meals are more budget-friendly as well. You can plan your meals and save leftovers for the next day. Cooking at home is often associated with improved and healthier diet quality and a lower risk of obesity.

Stay away from diet and processed foods

Eating healthy is simple and making your diet complicated with processed foods and foods that are labeled as fat-free, low-fat, or low-calorie, will do you no good. Often to compensate for the lost taste, processed and diet foods contain a lot of sugar and calories. So, instead, keep your diet simple and just focus on making mindful choices like opting for whole foods like fruits and vegetables, eating fresh berries instead of dried ones, snacking on homemade popcorn instead of chips.

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