Healthy eating habits are essential to our wellbeing. Here are 5 healthy eating habits to eat less and achieve your health aspirations.
Many people, when it comes to food, are just looking for a diet that works or eat based on the culture; they grew up in. How we eat, why we eat, and when we eat are equally important.
Here are a few guidelines to help you choose what to eat, when to eat, and how you should eat.
Your Aspirations in life should dictate your food choices
Food affects energy levels, mental, emotional, spiritual and physical health.
Before you decide what diet to follow, get some clarity on your long-term aspirations.
Losing weight is not enough because this can be achieved through diets that cause long term harm to the body.
Aspirations can include;
- High energy and alertness
- Building muscle
- Ability to work 18 hours without the need for stimulants
- Athletic training
- Preparation for higher meditative possibilities
The diet of a person is physically active is different from that of a student who spends his day in the library or a person on a spiritual quest.
Nutrition, based on your aspirations, narrows down your options to only the kind of foods that support your desired outcome.
Be mindful of the quantity of food you consume
The amount of food we eat affects how alert and energetic we feel throughout the day. An empty stomach produces a hormone called Ghrelin. Its function is to carry the message to the brain that the stomach is hungry.
The same hormone heightens the performance of the hippocampus, which is part of the brain responsible for staying alert, active, and focused.
It means that to remain alert and active during the day, you should be mindful of the quantity of food you eat.
During the hours that you are most active, consume food that can be digested within three hours. Otherwise, you risk feeling dull and sluggish.
Two meals a day if you are over 30 years old, and three meals if you are below 30 years of age.
If your goal is to have more energy and focus, be mindful of when feel full and stop eating.
Chew your food properly
Making healthy food choices is the first step to healthy eating, proper digestion of the food is the second.
Properly chewing your food before you swallow mixes the food well with your saliva to aid the digestive process.
Food that gets pre-digested in your mouth does not leave you feeling sleepy and tired after a meal because the body does not waste energy to break it down.
Do not eat when you are Angry
When we are angry, our body enters a fight or flight mode. The body considers this a state of emergency; digestion takes a back seat, and the body does not properly assimilate the food you eat.
Focus on the nutritional needs of the body, not the tongue
When you buy a car, you ask is what kind of fuel is needed to function at its best.
If it is a diesel car, you would put diesel in the gas tank, if for some reason, you pumped gasoline in the diesel car, the vehicle might function, but it will not be doing so at its optimum.
Similarly, with the human body, at least 80% of your diet must be comprised of foods supported by your body design.
Here I will not debate on which type of food might be suitable for your body. A quick test of deciding whether the food you eat supports your body to function at it’s optimum is how you feel after eating.
If you are energetic after a meal, you’re eating what is suitable for you, but if you are sluggish and need caffeine, then evaluate your food choices.
The tongue is a small percentage of the body, don’t choose food that makes you dull to satisfy it.
If you can make good choices for your car, you can do it for yourself.
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