If you are like most people, you probably don’t spend a lot of time thinking about your nutrition. Even if you try to eat healthy foods, you might not take a close look to see if you’re receiving complete, balanced nutrition. After all, it can be difficult, and time consuming to track all your macros and adjust your eating to optimize your nutritional intake.
Over time, however, decreased nutrition reduces your vitality and can even lead to a variety of health issues. So, if you want to look and feel your best, you’ll want to start by improving your nutrition. Fortunately, this is easy if you take small steps every day to improve your overall nutrition. The following tips and ideas can help you get started on the path to health and vitality.
Supplementation Few people actually eat three, well-balanced meals every day. Far more people eat on the go, snack throughout the day and fit in a single full meal at lunch or dinner, as time allows. This makes it very hard to actually get the nutrition you need. Even if you’re eating decent food, you likely aren’t getting a full day’s supply of vitamins, minerals, proteins and fats. One way you can counter this is through thoughtful supplementation. By adding high-quality supplements to your diet, you can easily boost your daily nutrition.
Packing lunches Eating on the go is not only expensive, it is often unhealthy as well. Most quick food options are high in calories but low on nutrition. This can be even worse if you lean toward fried foods and carb heavy meals. You can quickly shift your daily intake of food by packing lunches. This allows you to get at least one, healthy and well-balanced meal into your diet every day. It also helps you save money in the long run.
Plan for snacks Are you a muncher? Lots of people enjoy eating little snacks throughout the day instead of sitting down for a larger mid-day meal. Some people also like the pick-me-up of an afternoon snack. While this might help you make it to dinner, snacking tends to add a lot of extra calories to your daily intake. Depending on what you eat, snacks tend to be salt or sodium heavy as well. With just a little planning, however, you can make snacking healthy. Plan ahead and bring low calorie, satisfying snacks with you. Pickles, raw veggies, and fruit are all great options.
Protein shakes Protein is a critical building block for lean muscles, but it also helps you feel fuller, longer. You can use this to your advantage to not only increase your overall nutrition but reduce overeating throughout the day. The easiest way to utilize protein is to make yourself a protein shake for breakfast, as a snack or even as your mid-day meal. The key is to find a high-quality protein supplement that provides a complete balanced amino acid profile.
As with any time you make changes, start slow. Be realistic and set expectations so that you have a solid goal to work toward. For instance, you can start by changing a single meal every day. Give yourself a week or two to adjust before introducing additional changes. This will help improve your ability to stick with changes and set you up for long term success