There is scientific evidence that shows that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables can provide a horde of health benefits, such as strengthening your immune system and reducing your risk of various chronic diseases. It can seem very overwhelming to make major changes to your diet, which makes it better to start with small and simple steps. Listed below are some simple tips that you can use for making your diet healthier over time.
Eat from smaller plates
The size of your dinnerware has an impact on how much you eat. Your portions look smaller when you are eating from a large plate, while eating from a smaller plate makes them seem bigger. This means that you will not realize that you are eating less than usual and try to compensate by eating more when you have your next meal. Eating from a smaller plate can trick your brain into thinking that you are eating more, which prevents you from overeating.
Eat your greens first
The best way to ensure that you eat your greens is to have them as a starter. This ensures that you will finish all your greens when you are hungry. It will cause you to eat the less nutritious portions of your meal in fewer quantity. Moreover, it will lead to lower calorie consumption overall and this could help in weight loss. In addition, eating vegetables before you consume a carb-rich meal can actually benefit the blood sugar levels. This is because it slows down the speed at which your blood absorbs the carbs.
Keep dips and condiments on the side
Being able to order a salad when you go to a restaurant is a huge milestone. However, you need to remember that not all salads are nutritious. As a matter of fact, some of them are smothered in high calorie dressings that can actually increase the calories significantly. When you ask for the dressing on the side, you can control the portion size and the amount of calories you are consuming.
Slow down
The speed at which you eat also has an impact on how much you eat, along with how likely you are to gain weight. Those who eat fast are likely to consume more, which means their body mass index (BMI) is higher than slow eaters. Hormones control your appetite and how full you get, as they signal the brain when you are full, or hungry. But, it takes 20 minutes for your brain to get the message. Therefore, eating slowly ensures that your brain has gotten enough time to know that you are full. You need to eat slower and chew more to consume less.
Don’t go for ‘diet’ foods
There are a ton of ‘diet’ foods available in the market, but they can be highly deceiving. This is because they do have a lot of fat reduced, but they add other ingredients, including sugar, to compensate for the loss of texture and flavor that fat provides. Thus, these diet foods may actually have more calories than regular foods.
