Almost half of all adults in the United States attempt to lose weight every year. Why, then, do two-thirds of American adults continue to be overweight or obese? Here you’ll learn some of the best diet tips to be healthy and fit.
Well, one of the main culprits behind this epidemic is that losing weight has been made to seem like a complicated, even impossible endeavour. But in truth, it isn’t nearly as difficult as the producers of gimmicky diet products would have you believe.
Now, weight loss is never easy, but it is simple. And by putting a few of the best diet tips to use, you’ll find that shedding excess pounds isn’t as confusing as you once thought.
Listed below are 5 healthy diet tips and tricks. Keep reading to learn more!
1. Cut Back on Junk Food
There’s nothing to be ashamed of if you feel as though you just can’t break away from junk food. Processed foods are quite literally designed to be tastier than whole foods. In short, processed, sugary foods are created to be addictive.
That said, while you shouldn’t blame yourself for feeling drawn to junk food, it’s important that you don’t allow yourself to fall victim to these urges either.
One of the most effective diet tips for newbies we can give is to stay away from processed foods as often as you can. There’s nothing wrong with a treat every now and then, working in absolutes is a great way to fail with your diet.
However, if you find that you can’t control yourself once you start, it’s a good idea to avoid treats completely until you break this habit. For example, eating a cookie after dinner is fine. Eating an entire box of cookies, on the other hand, is a completely different thing. (buy belbien ambien)
2. Avoid Temptation
The best way to avoid junk food is to not tempt yourself in the first place. Don’t bring chips, cookies, and cakes into your house at all until you feel that you have your diet under control.
This begins at the grocery store. First, you should always go to the store with a full stomach and a list. Going to the store hungry makes it much easier to fall victim to the lure of unhealthy snacks.
When you’re at the store, shop the perimeter, avoiding the aisles entirely if you can. The perimeter of the store is where you find produce, meats, and dairy products. There’s little to no presence of sugary snacks outside of the aisles.
3. Make a List and Stick to It
As we mentioned above, making a grocery list before you set off for the store is crucial. This will help you to avoid temptation and impulse purchases.
Your grocery list should be made up of whole, nutrient-dense foods. The food you put into your body should have as few ingredients as possible, if any at all.
This means lots of vegetables, fruits, lean proteins, and healthy fats. Then there are healthy extras like green tea, spices, and smoothie supplements. For example, if you’re considering adding frozen spirulina to your diet, tossing some in your morning smoothie is a great way to do it.
Although you don’t have to avoid carbohydrates completely, you should stick to healthy carbs. Not sure where to start? Healthy carbohydrates are found in a variety of delicious foods, including bananas, sweet potatoes, oats, quinoa, and blueberries.
Carbs and fats aren’t the enemies of a good diet. We need them for energy, cognitive function, and the performance of many bodily functions. The key is to get your fats and carbs from healthy sources, not packaged, processed junk.
4. Determine Your Why
Before you start out on your weight loss journey, sit down for an open conversation with yourself, and determine your “why”.
Your “why” is your purpose for dieting – don’t feel pressured to write down something that someone else suggested or that you think you should. Be honest. Choose a “why” that sincerely motivates you.
Yes, a healthy diet offers a wide variety of benefits, from longer life to more energy to lower risk of disease. But if you want to lose weight to improve your confidence by changing your outward appearance, use that to fuel you! There’s no wrong answer.
Not to mention, let’s say you set out to lose weight because you want to look great. Well, after a few months of eating healthy, you’ll feel so fantastic that maintaining that feeling will naturally become part of your why as well.
5. Set Realistic Goals
Having both short and long-term goals is essential to successful behaviour change, but these goals must be realistic.
Modern conveniences have made us come to expect instant gratification, and you can certainly find diets that promise unbelievable results such as “lose 30 pounds in 30 days”.
However, these plans almost always force you to put your health at risk to even have a chance at reaching their promised results. No healthy diet tips will make such claims.
This is because healthy weight loss can only be done gradually. If you’re working hard and staying diligent, you can expect to lose 1-2 pounds per week.
This slow progress can be frustrating, even discouraging at times. But stick to it and one day soon, you’ll be able to look back with pride at your hard work and impressive results.
Improve Your Health by Using Some of the Best Diet Tips
As you can see, the best diet tips don’t include using diet teas, shakes, or pills. And in fact, you should steer clear of any diet plan that recommends these products, as they range from unrealistic to downright dangerous.
Losing weight the healthy way does take more time, but you’ll feel better and be much more successful in keeping the weight off in the long run.
Looking for further advice on taking steps to improve your health and fitness? Be sure to check out our blog!
