Five Nutrition Habits to Maintain
Posted: May 17, 2019
Excerpt from the book Be Your Personal Best: Fitness by Master Christopher Rappold
Correct nutrition is one of those things that have a major effect on virtually every area of your life. Wherever you go, whomever you are with, and whatever you are doing throughout the course of a day, what you are eating follows you. Whether at a wedding or working out in the yard, in traffic or on a tropical island, nutrition is interwoven into your day. It stands to reason that what you are putting into your body will have a major impact on your energy.
Dr. Mark Mincolla, a brilliant holistic doctor, teaches the concept of the food we eat as natural medicine. There are foods that heal and there are foods that cause inflammation in our bodies. There are foods that provide vital nutrients and foods that leach nutrients from our body. There are foods that build and there are foods that destroy. Taking the time to analyze the impact of what you are putting into your body is a worthy study that will quite literally add years of good health to your life. As you delve into the topic you will learn that everybody has a different chemistry and what is good for one person may not be good for another. Like a fingerprint, each person is unique and different and needs to be respected as such. Learning it yourself or finding an expert like Dr. Mincolla is certainly a shortcut to making this happen for you.
Here are five habits in install and maintain to provide better nutritional choices. They are simple to understand and will aid in helping you be a better you. Don’t try to change them all at once; changing them one day at a time will ensure they stick.
Water: So many people unknowingly walk around at a significant disadvantage of being continually dehydrated. As a general rule, aim to drink half your body weight in ounces of water each day. This will provide you with the necessary fluids to think more clearly, and allow your body to function optimally. As you create this habit, be sure that water is in its purest form, you cannot count consumption of coffee, tea, soda or alcoholic beverages.
Water Rich Foods: What percentage of each meal is made up of vegetables? Most would agree that 50 – 75% of every meal you consume should consist of vegetables or legumes. If you look at the average American diet it is completely reversed. 25% is green and 75% is non-water rich like chicken or steak.
Eat smaller portions: Think about how you feel at the end of your Thanksgiving meal. Bloated, sluggish and generally craving a nap. Digestion is the largest energy drain placed on our body. Instead of eating three large meals per day, which will contribute to you feeling fatigued, think about eating six smaller meals per day; grazing instead of gorging. An indicator if you are eating correctly is how you feel immediately after you eat. If you are feeling tired perhaps you are putting too much demand on your body all at once.
Honor the Three-Hour Rule: As mentioned previously, digestion is the biggest drain on your physical body. It stands to reason, that when you eat prior to going to bed, your physical body will be up working hard to digest what was consumed instead of enjoying a vital recharge. If you are going to bed each evening at 10 p.m., then plan your last meal to be no later than 7 p.m. By creating this you allow digestion to occur during waking hours instead of sleeping hours.
Read the labels: You don’t have to be an expert. A simple rule of thumb is if you don’t recognize the word, can’t pronounce it or have no idea what it is, then don’t eat the food. This will significantly alter what you are putting into your body by keeping you eating only foods that can feed your body with the right kind of nutrients.
A couple quick ways to weed out other foods that you should eliminate as a regular part of your nutritional plan. If a food has 15 grams of sugar or less, 200mg of salt or less and 25% of calories or less from fat then it is a go. If it breaks any of the above three rules then you eliminate it as a part of your regular daily plan.
Master Christopher Rappold has authored many books on personal development as well as self-defense and bullying strategies. His book Be Your Personal Best: Fitness helps you to change your mindset so you can establish goals and make healthier habits. If you would like a free copy of this book, please visit here.
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