How Eating Healthy Now Affects your Body in the Future

 

Think of your health as the amount of money in your bank account. Just as you’d like to have more money and keep growing, it’s also wise to have more health in your body and keep that growing as well. 

 

And while maintaining a balanced diet may not always be convenient or cheap, it’ll definitely pay off both in the short and long- term health plan you intend to have for your body.

 

A healthy diet means you’re doing the following on a daily, or in some cases weekly, basis:

 

-       Eating a healthy breakfast

-       Eating foods rich in folate, as dark leafy greens, carrots, tomatoes, and bell peppers

-       Balancing your intake of lean protein and whole-grain carbohydrates

-       Cut back on sugar, salt, fats and alcohol

-       Eat fish 2 or 3 times a week

-       4 to 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day

-       Drink caffeine in moderation

"I would say that the most important thing [in keeping one's heart healthy] is a well-rounded diet that is rich in fruits and vegetables and whole grains and fiber," says Sally Barclay, a registered dietician at the Nutrition Clinic for Employee Wellness at Iowa State.

 

A good trick is to divide your plate. Mentally visualize your plate divided into 4 quarters. One quarter should be lean protein the size of your palm is ideal; one quarter should be complex carbohydrates, as brown rice or pasta; the last 2 quarters should be fruits and/or vegetables. Also, a good point to keep in mind is the more colorful your plate, the healthier it is for you.

 

Enhancing your emotional state:

For a quick pick-me-up, the first thing we crave is pastries or some French fries. But the truth is those foods contain refined carbs which even though they may help the brain produce serotonin, they also cause a quick crash. Serotonin is also known as the “feel good” hormone which your brain secretes when you feel pride after hitting a milestone or reaching a goal. On the healthy side of the spectrum, whole-grain carbohydrates produce a more lasting effect on your mood and sustain the levels of serotonin in your body.

 

Maintaining a healthy weight:

Staying within your recommended daily caloric intake and eating moderately sized meals are two ways you can be in control of your weight. Having a healthy weight means you’re reducing your risk of chronic diseases, like heart disease and diabetes just to name a couple.

 

Boosting your energy levels:

Eating foods high in iron sustains your energy levels throughout the day since the mineral iron helps carry oxygen throughout the body. Examples of food sources rich in iron are spinach, Swiss chard, almonds and quinoa. Also, snacking on nuts and fruits, and drinking water helps maintain your energy levels.

 

This is what happens to your body when you start eating a healthy, nutritious diet:

 

After 1 day:

Less hunger pangs

Boost in metabolism

Increased focus and clarity

 

After 1 week:

Increased energy levels

Better sleep

Decreased bloating

Emotional stability

 

After 1 month:

Youthful skin

Eating healthy becomes a lifestyle choice

You save money on soft drinks, fatty junk food and snacks

 

After 6 months:

Boost in self-confidence

Better sex

Lower blood pressure

Stronger bones

 

After 1 year:

You’ve reached your goal weight

You’re smarter about your food choices

You feel stronger and more alive

You get sick less often

Your concentration and memory have increased

 

In their book Perspectives in Nutrition (1990) by Gordon M. Wardlaw and Paul M. Insel, they state that "...nutrients are the nourishing substances in food that are essential for the growth, development and maintenance of body functions. The essential meaning is that if a nutrient is not present, aspects of function and therefore human health decline. When nutrient intake does not regularly meet the nutrient needs dictated by the cell activity, the metabolic processes slow down or even stop."

If you think about it in that perspective, you’ll realize that food is much more than just counting calories or reading food labels. It makes us look at food as the sustenance we need to keep going strong for many years to come.

The Health Benefits of Probiotics

 

Most people spend a lot of time trying to get rid of bacteria in their lives, but what if we told you not all bacteria is bad for you? In fact, your body relies on millions of healthy, helpful bacteria to keep you safe and healthy every day. And by giving your body beneficial probiotics, you can improve the population of helpful bacteria inside your body that are necessary for your continued health. 

Eating foods rich in probiotics can not only prevent illness but also treat some disorders and imbalances. Learning which foods are high in probiotics, as well as the benefits these organisms offer to your body, will help you feel better and stay healthier over time.

 

Understanding Probiotics

 

You have bacteria, yeast, and other microbes all over your body, both inside and out. Luckily, many of those organisms are helpful bacteria that perform vital functions for your cells, tissues, organs, and body systems.

 

Probiotics and the beneficial bacteria they support can help:

•       Boost your immune system, allowing you to heal faster from sickness and injury.

•       Prevent infection by stopping hostile bacteria from taking over.

•       Improve your digestion, which allows you to better absorb nutrients from the foods you eat.

 

The majority of helpful bacteria in your body live in your gut and keeping your digestive microflora healthy not only aids your digestion but also ensures your immune system is working properly. These two systems are directly linked.

 

When you throw off the balance of good versus bad bacteria in your gut, such as when you are sick or when you are taking antibiotics, you need to help your body replenish the friendly bacteria in your system. Eating probiotics can restore this balance, which creates a barrier against harmful microbes.

 

Probiotics and Antibiotics

 

When you take antibiotics to treat an infection, you not only eliminate the bad bacteria that are making you sick but also the healthy, beneficial bacteria that can make you well. When you take probiotics during and after using antibiotics, you are helping to restore the natural gut microflora that your body needs quickly. This also can help increase the effectiveness of antibiotics, which can help you feel better faster and require fewer and smaller doses of antibiotics in the future.

 

Probiotic-Rich Foods

 

Foods that are cultured or fermented are good sources of probiotics, as bacteria are what create their flavor and texture. Examples of foods that are high in probiotics include cultured yogurt, miso, tempeh, kefir, buttermilk, sauerkraut, kombucha, kimchi, and nattō. While some of these foods have bacteria which grow naturally, some include bacteria that are adding during the preparation process.

 

These foods and beverages contain one or more of the following strains of probiotics:

•       Lactobacillus acidophilus

•       Lactobacillus casei

•       Bifidobacterium bifidum

•       Lactobacillus bulgaricus

•       Lactobacillus gasseri

•       Saccharomyces boulardii

•       Lactobacillus plantarum

•       Bifidobacterium lactis

•       Enterococcus faecium

•       Bifidobacterium longum

Any food that claims to have probiotics should contain at least one of the strains listed here. This is also true for probiotic supplements, so always read the label if you are in doubt.

 

Supporting a Probiotic Environment

 

In addition to eating foods that contain probiotics, you can create an environment that is supportive of the healthy bacteria in your body. You can start by altering the pH of your digestive system by eating more sour foods. Fermented vegetables and vinegars contain small amounts of probiotic, but their acid content is the most powerful part of their benefits. They contribute to a gut environment that allows probiotics to flourish.

 

You can also be sure the bacteria in your system have plenty of fuel by feeding them a high-fiber diet. The fermentable fiber in fresh vegetables, fruits, flax and chia seeds are perfect for giving probiotics the food they need to maintain your healthy bacteria levels.

 

Eating Probiotics

 

Adding probiotics to your diet is one health move you can make to improve your health. These foods contain beneficial bacteria your body needs to fend off unwanted visitors. Help your body today by including probiotics in your next meal or snack.

 

5 Amazing Benefits Of Learning To Love Yourself

 

No matter how much the hardest among us deny this – we all have a desire to be loved. Often, it's a romantic love that we crave. We are caught up in our loneliness and it's normal to have a want for companionship. Though, romance isn't everyone's struggle or want – it may be a familial want or a platonic friendship. While, for some it may be a combination of all of these. 

 

Rejection and hurt can leave us feeling unfulfilled and disillusioned with how we expect relationships to play out. When they don't go as we want them to we often blame ourselves and wonder where we went wrong... that's not what it's about. 

 

This is where learning to love yourself comes in – and that comes with some incredible benefits, here are six.

 

1.     You'll Be Large & In Charge 

 

Instead of making bad choices because you're being led by shame, guilt or fear – you will be empowered to make choices that truly make sense for who you are – meaning you will be living your authentic life. You will no longer be caught up with people pleasing, instead you will live a life that brings you satisfaction. Self-love means trying to honor yourself because you know your needs are just as important as others. 

 

2.     You Set Boundaries & Stick To Them 

 

Once you have the hang of honoring your needs you start to feel more confident, which means you are more assertive. Of course, this results in a more purposeful attitude, especially when it comes to dating. You start to see who is wasting your time and you're strong enough to move forward without them. More to the point, you are strong enough to set clear boundaries with people and stick to them.

 

3.     The Approval Seeking Will Stop 

 

When you truly love yourself, you stop worrying about what everyone else thinks about you – which means you're a less defensive person and more confident about living a life that is authentic for you. Why would you need acceptance from everyone else when you truly accept yourself? 

 

4.     You Will Be A Conscious Decision Maker 

 

Loving yourself gives you the courage to cut things from your life that don't truly bring you joy or provide you with ample space to grow. It's easy to make courageous decisions when you value yourself and actively make choices that are intended to honor you, rather than risk harming you. 

 

5.     You Will Enjoy Alone Time

 

A lot of people get caught up in keeping busy schedules simply because they're terrified of feeling or being alone. You surround yourself with people, throw yourself into work, and make decisions that help you avoid that loneliness. Why would you do all of the things that you don't love? You could be filling that time with things that you actually enjoy doing – whether it’s meditation, swimming, writing or watching a movie. It doesn't need to feel scary to spend time alone, you should enjoy time with yourself. Self-love brings more comfort when you're spending time in your own company. 

How Much Exercise Do You Need Every Day To Lose Weight?

Weight loss is a goal that requires both a disciplined dietary approach and exercise, among other factors, to achieve and excel. How much exercise is needed every day to achieve your weight loss goal is a common question and not one that generally has a clear answer. 

Unfortunately, there is not a magic number of minutes, reps or hours needed to lose weight, rather there are a number of variables that need to be considered in order to figure out the right number. 

We'll examine the different variables that come into play when trying to determine how much exercise is needed to give you a roadmap to determining the exercise timeframe that works best for you.

Variable 1: Calories Consumed and Calorie Quality

The first principle of weight loss is that to lose weight we must achieve a caloric deficit or expend more calories than we are consuming. Thus, in order to know the amount of exercise needed to lose weight, we need to know what our daily caloric intake is, and just as importantly, what the sources are for those calories (for example, vegetables versus potato chips). 

To this point, if you operate on a low-calorie diet generally speaking, it would take less exercise to lose weight and you may be fine with a moderate 3-4 day a week training plan. Conversely, if you eat excessive amounts or use tons of supplements, you'll need to up your exercise plan and really push to get back into the caloric deficit mode.

Variable 2: Exercise Type and Intensity

The second key variable is the type of exercise, and more specifically the intensity. 20 minutes on the elliptical has a far different energy output than 20 minutes of all out sprinting. This variable can also dovetail with our first variable, in that the greater the number of calories consumed, the more energy we may have for high intensity exercise, whereas if we aren't consuming too many calories, we may not need to exercise for an especially long time or at a high intensity per se. 

In general, exercise modalities that are more aerobic will require a longer time to see any sort of effective impact on weight loss. Jogging, biking, the elliptical or other options would all require a significant amount of time, potentially hours over the course of a week, to see a meaningful impact. 

Conversely, anaerobic activities such as sprinting, resistance training or interval training methods will be more effective in a short amount of time, yet their intensity level is much higher and thus they have a certain level of pre-requisite fitness to achieve their full potential and results. 

Variable 3: What is the Weight Loss Goal? How much time do we have to achieve it?

The third variable is arguably the most important, what is the weight loss goal? Much like our car ride or travel plans are determined by our destination, our exercise plan and weight loss journey will be dictated by the goal we have set. 

If the goal is to lose 5 pounds in two months, that is a fairly modest and achievable goal for most and would not require much additional exercise. If you were a sedentary person prior to your goal you would only need to exercise 20-30 minutes a day for 3-4 days a week to achieve this goal. 

Conversely, if you goal is to lose 30 pounds in two months, the equation is radically different, and it would take an extreme amount of exercise, multiple hours every day at high intensity to achieve that same goal. 

Putting it All Together: Finding the Right Number

Now that we have examined the variables, we can think about how to more effectively answer the question of how much exercise we need per day to lose weight. If you have a low caloric intake generally speaking, are planning on utilizing low intensity aerobic exercise and have a modest goal than you might be ok with 30-45 minutes of aerobic exercise a day. 

However, if you love to eat, love to lift weights and also have an ambitious goal for weight loss, you're going to have to spend hours per day working out to reach those goals. 

The ultimate recommendation would be to accurately assess your starting point as compared to your goal, look at how much time you have to reach that goal, and then make a plan accordingly to reach it rather than rely on a standard number or cookie-cutter approach that doesn't apply to every person.