3 Easy Everyday Nutrition Habits to Live a Longer Healthier Life
Nutrition is a complex topic, and one size does not fit all. However, these easy everyday nutrition habits can help you live a longer, healthier life.
Keep reading to find out what these universal easy everyday nutrition habits are and how you can include them in your daily diet. Treat yourself to health and wellness daily and watch how you start to feel better, happier, and more energized than ever.
3 Easy Everyday Nutrition Habits
Getting straight to the point here are easy everyday nutrition habits you can use daily. Best of all, they are simple and very effective at increasing health quickly. Spoiler alert, these everyday nutrition habits pertain a lot to macronutrients.
Try them out and watch how you start to feel more energized. Improve your mood, cardiovascular health, and overall wellbeing today!
1. Eat Unrefined Carbohydrates
Carbs are an important part of a well-balanced diet. They are not the enemy, carbohydrates are a source of energy for all of the cells in the body. Sure, there could be some benefits to eating some low-carb meals or even intermittent fasting, but if you are someone who works out, runs, or engages in physical activity, you need to be fueling properly.
Carbohydrates should be of good quality. Therefore, our carbohydrates need to be as unrefined as possible. This means they have a more complex structure and are higher in fiber, minerals, vitamins, and other key nutrients. These types of carbohydrates include legumes, nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Furthermore, these types of complex, unrefined carbohydrates tend to release sugar slowly into the body, providing a constant form of energy and keeping blood sugar levels stable.
2. Boost Protein Intake
Just like our carbohydrates need to be of good quality, it is just as vital for our protein to be high quality as well. Plus, we may benefit from an increase in protein. If you want to know exactly how much protein you need to eat, check out this article here. On average, a person needs about 0.8 to 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight.
It is important for us to start consuming healthier quality protein. This means any animal product we consume should be grass-fed, as cruelty-free, and healthy as possible. We are what we eat. Furthermore, something like pasture-raised eggs have more nutrients such as omega-3 and vitamin E than normal eggs or cage-free eggs. In fact, it may even be beneficial to increase our plant-based sources of protein as well. This includes legumes like lentils, beans, chickpeas, tofu, and edamame.
3. Add More Plant-based Fat
Finally, hitting the last important macronutrient, fat. That is vital for life. Down to our very cells we need fat to live. In fact, our cells rely on the structure of a phospholipid barrier that helps them keep their shape. This barrier is primarily composed of fat. The fat we eat is used to repair and make more cells, therefore it is important for the source to be of high quality as well. Try to start eating more fat, but make sure it is of high quality and healthy sources.
This includes fat from whole foods such as avocados, nuts, and seeds. When you are using oil, make sure you choose cold-pressed oils, as these are minimally processed. Choose extra virgin olive oil for salads and sauces and something like avocado oil due to its high smoking point for cooking. Start to use more nuts and seeds in your cooking or add them to your salad for an increase in healthy fats.
Extra Nutrition Tips
Here are a couple more everyday nutrition tips that you could start doing for an increase in health. These are also very simple and rely heavily on habit. Once you start getting into the habit of health, it becomes second nature.
- Swaps – what’s an easy way to eat healthier? Start swapping unhealthy options for healthier ones! Some easy health swaps include eating whole grain bread instead of white bread, quinoa instead of white rice, and lean protein, instead of low-quality cuts. Check out more food swaps in this article here.
- Sneak in Veggies – my mother used to do this for me and I continue to do it to this day. Sneak vegetables into meals. If you’re making rice, chop up some spinach and sneak it in. If you’re making a cheese sauce for pasta, it’s super easy to sneak in some cauliflower and blend it all up. You won’t notice a difference in taste, but it’s an easy way to increase vegetables in your diet.
- Buy in Bulk – if healthy eating starts to become too expensive, try buying in bulk. It may cost more, but you get a lot more in general, which drives the price down. Buying in bulk is a great way to save money in the long term.
- Freeze – if you buy in bulk, and you worry about food spoiling, here’s the last tip. Freeze any fruits or vegetables that you think are about to spoil. This is a way to quickly preserve the food and makes them a great option to add in smoothies for a Frozen treat
The Takeaway
Health and nutrition can be crazily complicated. Every single body is different, and with different needs, there is no one size fits all for nutrition. So, what are the easy everyday nutrition habits you need to start doing in order to live a longer and healthier life? It involves the three main macros, carbohydrates, protein, and fat. Start obtaining these macronutrients from healthier quality sources. High-quality sources.
Remember that health comes from within. Eat nutrient-dense meals, exercise when you can, at least 3 times a week, and take care of your mental health. Daily habits become the building blocks for emotional, mental, and physical health. Take care of your gut health too! Learn everything you need to know about gut microbiota today for free here.