YOUR BODY: NEW AND IMPROVED!!! PART I
10 Tips to live your healthiest year yet!
1. Eat Breakfast: It jump starts your metabolism, delivers sustained energy and can keep cravings in check. To put your best foot forward all breakfasts are not created equal try to stick with protein and fiber. Two great choices are eggs and oatmeal.
2. Put Whole Foods Front and Center: Eating plenty of fruits, vegetables, lean protein, whole grains and dairy is the surest way to consume a wide variety of important nutrients your body needs. Try using the Dept. of Agriculture's nutritional guide for every meal. Draw an imaginary line down the middle of your plate and fill one half with fruits and vegetables. Then divide the other half of the plate down the middle again and add a healthy lean protein to one quarter and a whole grain on the other quarter.
3. Make Friends With Healthy Fats: Unsaturated fats such as those found in olive oil, avocados, nuts and seeds can reduce your cholesterol levels and decrease your risk of heart disease and stroke. Healthy fats can also make food more filling.
4. Pick the Right Packaged Food: Scan nutritional labels to ensure that foods you choose contain some fiber and protein while very little sugar and sodium. If the words partially hydrogenated appear anywhere on the package make sure you put it back on the shelf because it means the food contains artery clogging transfats.
5. Keep Your Portions in Check: Try to limit larger meals while out to dinner or lunch. Most meals cooked at a restaurant contain much higher amounts of calories than food that would be prepared at home. Try to stick to broth based soups which help you fill up but do not contain a lot of calories. When eating at home, serve your meal on a salad plate rather than a dinner plate. Research also shows that you are less likely to go for an extra helping if it's more than an arm's length away so keep your serving platters on the counter rather than on the table.
Stay tuned next week for the next 5 tips on how to make 2014 the healthiest year of your life!
Yours in health,
Dr. Brian Wallace
Adapted from Success Magazine May 2014
Article by Paige Fowler