Nutrition can be tough sometimes! Here’s some easy tips to start eating towards your fitness goals.
Stick with as much ‘real’ food as possible:
The best way to know what you’re really eating and get in all the nutrients you need and fuel your body is with real food! Things like lean meats/protein sources, veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds, some whole grains(my favorites are quinoa & oats). Your body will thank you!
There’s lots of packaged and super processed food out there claiming to be healthy. It’s not always true, marketing departments are good at what they do! Next time you pick up those ultra ‘healthy’ protein bars make sure you check what’s in them! Many have a crazy amount of added sugar. I’m a fan of Rx bars &LaraBars right now because they have no added sugar! It’s all from dates.
Cut down on processed sugar:
One thing that will sabotage your goals quick is too much sugar! I’m not talking about the sugar you get while eating whole fruit, this comes packed with nutrients and fiber. The sugar we want to avoid is found in so many different packaged foods and under a bunch of different names! Too much of this added sugar has been linked to belly fat, many different health problems and will definitely slow down your progress if it’s consistently over eaten. This isn’t to say you can never have a treat! You just don’t want to have too much processed sugar and make it a daily habit. Get your sweet fix from things like fruit and high percentage cacao dark chocolate.
Here’s just a few hidden sugars to look out for :
Hydrate:
Drinking enough water daily is a huge part of a healthy lifestyle and working towards your goals. Without enough water your body can’t function properly. Even mild dehydration can cause headaches, tiredness and other issues that will keep your from feeling and performing at your best. We can also sometimes mistake thirst for hunger and that can lead to unnecessary snacking.. usually on something sweet! If you’re hungry but not really for anything specific and you’ve eaten recently try drinking some water! It’s also extremely important to drink enough water if you’re training! We lose more than we think in sweat.
Be Prepared:
Have healthy foods around and ready to eat. You don’t have to have an intense meal prep but you want to be sure that making the healthy choice is easy (ex: have your chicken thawed and ready to cook, veggies cut and ready to cook etc)! A lot of times we come home hungry and ready to eat and the junk food is easier than cooking a healthy meal or making a healthy snack. Make your healthy choices easy so that you don’t end up end up in a drive through or with a frozen dinner!
Some of the food I like to have on hand: Chicken, canned tuna, salmon, potatoes & sweet potatoes, mixed greens salad, a variety of fruit, avocado, veggies for salad & oats for big batches of granola. These things make it easy for me to stay on track! I can make them in batches or thaw them so that when I come home i can just throw the chicken or salmon in the oven, cut some veggies and throw it on a salad!
Allow the occasional treat:
Knowing that you’re allowed to have a treat sometimes makes all the difference. It keeps your from feeling deprived. If you set your healthy nutrition goals and they’re unending with no treats in sight it can be hard to stay on track. Knowing that you’ll be ok if you have a cookie or ice cream cone every once in a while is key! Having a short term goal until you can have your favorite treat again allows you to stay focused and keep from feeling like you’re going to be missing out on them forever.(ex: sticking with good nutrition all week because Saturday you and a friend are going out for an ice cream). Finding a balance of healthy choices and not feeling deprived has been key for me in eating well consistently!
Hope something in here helped:) I’d love to hear some of the ways you guys stay on track!
Niki
