Six simple healthy habits to start doing right now and see changes in your weight.
You want to make changes to your life and start a healthy lifestyle but are not sure where to start or how. Well, here is a quick list of six things to start doing right now and start seeing changes in your health.
Whether you want to lose some pounds, get more energy, or simply improve your health, here are some tips to start changing your life to a healthier one.
1. Start changing your eating habits.
Start by removing or reducing ultra-processed foods, fried food, and simple or refined carbs.
Some of the processed food includes things that are prepackaged and ready to eat, like packaged pastries and sweets, frozen pizzas and sandwiches, and quick frozen meals/snacks.
Avoid or reduce anything fried like potato fries and chips and deep fried meats like breaded chicken.
Some simple carbs examples are anything that is high in sugar and high in starches like white bread, white rice, very sweet pastries and cookies, white flour pasta or noodles.
2. Include healthy fats in your diet.
These are good quality animal fats such as butter, meats, eggs, cheese, and vegetable fats such as avocados, nuts, healthy oils (avocado, olive oil), fatty fish like salmon, tuna, mackerel, and others, and my favorite, chocolate (dark chocolate). However, not every vegetable oil is the healthiest option. So, the most recommended for consumption are avocado and olive oils. That is something we can talk about with more details on another blog.
Eating healthy fats can help with controlling sugar levels and inflammation which is important to help lose weight, according to the article “Eating healthy fats has many benefits” from the UCLA Health site.
Also, healthy fats can help to lower cholesterol levels, can be beneficial with blood pressure, and supports gut health.
3. Consume Healthy complex and high in fiber carbs.
Swap your simple carbs for complex carbs such as sweet potatoes, beans, lentils, garbanzo beans, and quinoa. These carbs mentioned are high in fiber which is digested and absorbed slower than simple carbs like white flour bread and pasta or white rice for example.
Eating food high in fiber carbs means fewer calories, but it takes up volume in the stomach because fiber slows down digestion keeping you fuller for longer, according to the article “15 of the Best Fiber Sources for Weight Loss” from the Foodsmart site.
The article also mentions that eating food high in fiber encourages beneficial gut bacteria to grow and it is linked to help to lose weight.
4. Add veggies to most of your meals.
On most of your meals just add a cup of salad with a vinaigrette or half to full cup of cooked veggies to every meal possible, this will make you feel fuller with fewer calories.
Vegetables are high in vitamins and nutrients and the best part is they are very low in calories. There are almost no carbs in vegetables.
Carbs are high in fiber and as mentioned before, food that is high in fiber has so many benefits to add to your meals. So, you will feel fuller and satisfied adding veggies to your plate instead of adding extra carbs or protein.
5. Include any kind of exercise in your daily routine.
And of course, exercise is really important to improve your health and lose or maintain healthy weight. You don’t have to do a big exercise gym routine seven days a week to really see results. Adding a little extra movement to at least three to four days a week can make a difference.
Your exercise can be practicing any sport for thirty minutes to an hour, taking a daily walk around the block for 10-15 minutes, dancing, or just any stretch or low impact exercises like Pilates or stretching. If you don’t feel ready to hit the gym or start a serious routine just add little by little exercise to your day, and within a few weeks increase 5 – 10 minutes as you increase resistance.
6. Get enough sleep.
Last but not least. This one is just as important as the previous ones. We need to sleep the required hours every night to recover our bodies and brain cells.
Every person needs a different number of hours to feel fully rested, the recommended adult is seven to eight hours for adults. Some people might feel that six hours every night is the right number for them, and some might need eight to nine hours of sleep. For example, I’m one of those people who needs at least eight hours to get proper rest, sometimes eight and a half hours depending how tired I’m feeling.
Summary
These are small steps that will make you feel like you are not doing much but all these little changes combined will make significant improvements.
From my experience, I can tell you that taking big steps right from the start can be stressful and overwhelming. So, start with minimal changes so you can slowly adapt to a new living style. You can also start doing three of these steps first and then a couple weeks later add the other three.
Disclaimer:
The purpose of this blog is for informational purposes only. I am not a certified doctor, nutritionist, or trainer. The information shared here is based on my own experiences and found on my own research. Following the information and advice on this blog is under your own judgment and responsibility.
