Top 5 Nutrition Tips For A Healthy Lifestyle

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is not something easily achieved. It requires dedication, education, and motivation. Being healthy is not just about exercising or limiting your food intake, it’s also about managing the nutrients that enter your body in the first place. So while you’re frantically Googling reviews for fitness software to keep you on track of your workout schedule, you should also be looking up nutrition tips and tricks for optimal results all around. One will not be effective without the other.

To help you with this, here are the top 5 nutrition tips for a healthy lifestyle:

1. Drink water

Our bodies are over 50% water. It’s the number one substance that we need to survive, even above food, sunlight, or sleep. Human beings cannot survive for more than 1 week without it. As far as staying healthy and even for weight loss, drinking water can help you feel full longer, ensuring that you eat less at each meal and between meals.

2. Portion control

Speaking of eating less at each meal, managing your portion sizes is a huge asset to your health (especially for losing weight if that’s your end goal). Eating smaller portions more frequently has been proven to help speed up the metabolism. Although smaller portion sizes can be difficult to achieve while dining in the United States, many countries throughout the world (most notably in Europe) already arrange meals this way as a standard for their culture. If you struggle with maintaining consistent portion sizes, consider trying a fitness program like BeachBody 21 Day Fix that aids in both exercise routines and portion control management.

3. Limit snacking

Although the previous tip suggested eating more often with smaller portions, this does not mean increase your midday or midnight snacks while eating the same amount for your 3 main courses. Limiting salty or sweet snacks from your diet and instead replacing those choices with better alternatives like fruit or nuts will help lower your cholesterol and promote weight loss.

4. Add fiber

Fiber is extremely important for digestive health and it is a main factor in weight loss strategies. It can help prevent heart disease, diabetes, and even cancer. The best part about fiber is that it is found in so many foods that are already suggested for proper nutrition, such as many fruits (bananas, apples, pears), vegetables (broccoli, spinach, peas), and nuts (cashews, almonds, pistachios).

5. Get your greens

A general rule of thumb is that any food product that is naturally green is good for your health.  The reasoning behind this is that green foods like spinach, broccoli, peas, avocados, or kiwis are packed with phytonutrients from the photosynthesis process that plants undergo via the sun’s rays. These nutrients get passed on to us as we eat them and can boost our immune systems to help fight disease and keep us in tip-top shape year-round.

Falling into the routine of positive nutrition habits is the most effective way to stay on track of your progress. It’s easy to let bad foods or health practices sneak in and ignore it as a slip-up. However, if you want to live a long, healthy life, it’s vital that you take proper care of your body. You’ll be surprised at what your physical health status can do to your mental and spiritual health as well.

For more information on getting active before your summer beach body comes out to play, check out our related post: 10 Tips for Getting In Shape For Summer!