In the world of nutrition, there is a constant stream of information that (unfortunately) overwhelms most people. Yes, even nutritionists get overloaded with nutritional TMI! Regardless, it still drills down to the basics that people often miss in their quest to be healthier. I’ve thought about this a lot as I stroll through the grocery store seeing what people have in their carts! It’s absolutely mind boggling what constitutes food in some people’s minds and that they actually paid hard earned money for some of this stuff.
So let’s get serious and came up with ten things you can implement easily for better health that won’t cost you much money and you won’t even have to think about (very much). Here you go—
1) First Thirst. Water is cheap, readily available and will boost your health, your absorption of nutrients and give you great skin! What’s not to like about that? Before you order a soda, grab the juice or iced tea, drink your water. Water first, then the other stuff. If you really wanna save some cash, skip the other stuff entirely.
2) Big on Breakfast. Eating breakfast gets your metabolism started, your appetite handled and consequently, helps you to stabilize, maybe even lose weight!
3) Eat in Season. Fresh fruits and veggies can be expensive, but if you buy in season (take advantage of locally grown stuff), you’re going to get superior quality and less cash outlay! If you do a garden, you’ll eat even better for WAY less!
4) Watch the Iceberg. There are FAR better lettuces out there. Iceberg is nearly nutritionally void. Just let the color GREEN be your guide; the greener, the better!
5) Get Blue. Throw some blueberries on your cereal this week. Blueberries (fresh or frozen) have more antioxidants and phytonutrients than any other vegetable or fruit on the planet! I like them in my steel cut oats in the morning.
6) Home Plate. Large salad plates work better for portion control than conventional dinner plates. Your plate should have a deck of cards-sized protein source and a fist-sized amount of complex carbs—the rest, piled high with veggies.
7) Brown Outs. Skip the white rice, white flour and sugar. Instead, go with whole-wheat flour, brown rice and use evaporated cane juice (also called Sucanat) instead of regular sugar. And go SPARINGLY on all of them!
8) Go Fish. Eat wild fish instead of farm-raised fish to enjoy the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids not found in farm-raised. You can find it on sale and flash frozen to save money. Wild salmon is an especially nutritious choice!
9) Better Butter. Use half olive oil and butter whipped together. Spreads easier, better for you and less saturated fat than regular butter.
10) Shake the Salt. When cooking, use toward the end of cooking and only to taste. Taste your food BEFORE you salt it and if you wanna go hardcore, remove the shaker entirely from the table.
There you go. As you can see by the list, they’re pretty easy things to implement. You can take a few and run with them this week; add a few more next week. Babysteps! You can do this!
Have fun getting your healthy food on!
0 Responses
I agree with everything in this article, however I must point out one thing. In recommending people cut out the salt, you do need to mention an alternate source of iodine. There are a lot of people in our culture who have thyroid issues due to a lack of iodine in their diets. That’s why they started iodizing salt to begin with, but for many of us who use little-no salt, it doesn’t help much. If people are eating a lot of sushi and other sea-greens, they should be ok, but if they’re like me (a prairie-girl all the way 🙂 ), they need to supplement some other way.
Thanks for the great information. Keep up the good work.