News

5 Easy Changes to Your Diet that Can Have a Huge Impact on Your Health

Changing your diet does not have to mean making huge sacrifices. Here are some easy ways you can eat healthier while still being able to eat most of what you want to.

Add Mushrooms when you can

As strange as it sounds, one of the easiest ways to change your diet to be healthier is to put mushrooms on everything that you can. Mushrooms have almost no calories and they take on the flavor of whatever dish you put them in. The principle is simple: the more room in your stomach that is taken up by mushrooms, the less room you will have to fill with other foods. Mushrooms help your body feel like it is full, taste great, and are packed with vitamins and nutrients.

If you do not like mushrooms, you can do much the same thing with vegetables of most kinds. Leafy greens especially lend themselves to this strategy. These go with most dishes and also have limited calories. You do have to be careful, however, because if you have a dish with a rich sauce or a lot of butter, leafy greens can soak a lot of that up and turn into a delicious, albeit calorie-packed, side dish that can quickly send your health down the wrong track.

Drink Alkaline Water

There is recent research that suggests alkaline water provides a plethora of health benefits. The idea is that the fact that the water is a base will help neutralize the acid in your blood. This could potentially help with everything from cell repair to bone growth. The water tastes just like regular water but has the potential to help you achieve a healthy balance in your health.

Meal Replacement Shakes

While it may seem like meal replacement shakes are just a way to curb your hunger with a shake instead of real food, the shakes actually do tend to help people lose weight because they are packed with fiber and water that fills up your stomach without being packed with calories. The best way to avoid hunger pangs is to have something in your stomach that is packed with nutrients, and meal replacement shakes fit the bill nicely.

Take Out Sugary Drinks

This one is easy simply because when we are hungry, we might crave sugar but it is far easier to resist drinking sugar than it is to resist eating it. If you do happen to find yourself really craving that sugary drink you are used to, then try drinking as much water as you can. You will no longer be thirsty and the water is great for you! This change is very powerful both because it is a change that is easy to stick with and because it can remove so many calories from your diet. Sugar is bad for you on so many levels that getting in the habit of stopping this one bad choice can not only make you shed a few pounds but will also improve your overall mood and health.

Give Up Refined Carbs

The keyword here is “refined.” You do not have to remove all of the carbs from your diet to reap the benefits of a better diet, you just need to take out the carbs that have been so refined by modern food processing techniques that your body breaks them down to sugar right away.

The trick for most people is simply recognizing what foods contain refined carbs. A good rule of thumb is that anything that has been baked and packaged probably contains highly processed carbs. The issue with these is that they can be immediately broken down into sugar, while whole grains contain fiber and other nutrients that help keep you feeling full and can even increase your metabolic rate.

Change Up Your Breakfast Habits

For a lot of people, breakfast can be the most carb-filled meal of the day. Pancakes, waffles, toast, bagels, and a bevy of other common breakfast foods all contain tons of processed carbohydrates. If you do feel the need to keep these carb-rich foods in your diet, at the very least switch to a whole-grain variety. A better option, however, is to switch to a protein-heavy breakfast. The ideal candidate is eggs. You can mix in tons of veggies and mushrooms with your eggs and they are a delicious way to start the day. They will also help you feel full for much longer than their starchy alternatives.

Related Articles

Back to top button