How to eat healthily for 2022

As a new year gets underway, you may, like many, either be valiantly trying to maintain your new year’s resolution of eating more healthily, or have already succumbed to the inevitable temptation!

While changing your diet can be incredibly daunting, eating more healthily doesn’t have to be a painful task. Making a few, small changes to your diet could make a significant difference to your lifestyle without even feeling like you’re making any substantial sacrifices.

With this being said, here are some ideas that you can get started with.

Remember, you don’t have to start doing them all at once. Gradually introduce them into your diet as the other changes become a staple of your life. This will make the subsequent changes much easier to handle.

Slow Down!

Although it may seem unbelievable, the speed at which you eat can actually significantly affect your weight. Quick eaters are more likely to eat a greater quantity of food at each meal (consuming more calories before the receptors in their body can tell them that they are full). As a result, it’s not surprising that speedy eaters typically have a higher body mass index (BMI) that those who eat slowly.

It’s worth remembering that it can take to 20 minutes for your brain to process that you’re full after eating. By actively trying to chew more thoroughly, and consciously eating more slowly, you will actively reduce the amount you eat, which may help you lose weight.

This may seem difficult at first, but with enough practice this can be an achievable way of gradually losing weight.

Use Smaller Plates

Another, similarly achievable method of reducing the amount of food you eat is quite simple; serve it on a smaller plate.

If you were to serve the same amount of food on both a small plate and a large plate, your brain will process each meal much differently. Eating from a bigger plate can make your meal look much smaller than if you were to eat the same sized meal on a smaller plate, and make you tempted to eat a second helping.

Try using smaller plates when cooking your meals and see how much of a difference such a small change can make.

Eat More Protein

Protein is a brilliant macro nutrient; it makes you more full, and helps you build up muscle mass.

Adding a source of protein to each if your meals is a good way of making your meals more filling, and getting more goodness into your body.

Protein doesn’t necessarily have to come from meat either. Other good sources of protein include eggs, fish and beans.

Eat Higher Quality Meat

Whilst consuming protein can be good for you, consuming a lot of fatty or processed meat is not.

That doesn’t mean you should necessarily cut meat out of your diet altogether, however, as you can easily replace processed foods. Consider finding a butcher near you, or try the butcher’s counter in your local supermarket.

If you can’t easily get to a butcher in person, then you can always buy meat online from a reputable online butchers such as www.thedorsetmeatcompany.co.uk. This convenient and delicious  meat delivery service ensures that the best cuts come direct to your door!

Drink More Water

If there’s one thing you take away from this article, it should be the importance of drinking enough water.

Not only does it stave off dehydration, which will dramatically increase your wellbeing, but drinking water can increase weight loss and improve your ability to maintain a stable weight.

Drinking a glass of water before you sit down to eat a meal can also reduce your appetite, meaning you eat less and consume fewer calories.

If you regularly drink soft drinks with your meals, then by replacing this with water, you’ll also be cutting out the sugar and fat you’d otherwise be having.

Shop With a List

Although this suggestion isn’t directly linked with eating more healthily, the impact it might have on your health could be substantial.

Entering the supermarket without a list or a plan often leads to people making impulsive decisions, and impulsive decisions aren’t often healthy ones.

By making a clear list of what you want, and sticking to it rigidly, you’ll start to find that you avoid making hasty decisions and buying unhealthy food.

You can make a shopping list an even more effective tool for helping you lose weight by looking up healthy recipes before going shopping, and adding the ingredients to your list.

Not only will a list help you eat more healthily, but it might even help you save money!

Avoid Frying Your Food

Frying your food in lots of oil or butter can dramatically increase how unhealthy a meal is.

Cooking oils include several different compounds that have been linked with the development of health conditions such as cancer and heart disease.

Additionally, many of the foods that are fried are often quite fatty.

This doesn’t mean you should remove these foods from your diet altogether, which would be a rather radical step, but you should consider finding other ways to cook them.

One easy way to cook meat in a healthier way is by buying a slow cooker. You can prepare the meal and put it in the slow cooker overnight or while you’re out during the day, and have a lovely meal ready for you when you’re ready.

Other, more hands-on approaches include baking, roasting, stewing, and poaching your food rather than frying it.

Find Another Go-To Takeaway

We’ve all been there; you get home one evening and there’s no food in your fridge. Immediately you’re on your phone to search through one of the numerous takeaway apps to order something quick and easy.

Unfortunately, much of the time, the quick and easy takeaway options aren’t that healthy.

The great positive about takeaway apps, however, is that the options for ordering food are almost limitless.

Try having a look at the options in your city and finding a healthier alternative to fast food. Yes, it may take longer to prepare and deliver, however your body will be much better off for it.

If you fancy exploring your neighbourhood on foot, you might even find somewhere close by that makes brilliant, healthier food, and you’ll save on delivery fees!

Eat Your Fruit, Don’t Drink It

As we all know, fruit is an important part of your healthy diet. For some time, the recommendation from health experts has been that you eat at least five fruits and vegetables every day.

The health benefits of fruit are clear; not only are they packed with vitamins, but their consumption has also been linked to reducing the risk of several health conditions, such as type 2 diabetes.

Many people understandably think that fruit juices are similarly beneficial for your health, however this is not really the case.

Many fruit juices are not made with real fruit, but rather sweeteners and flavours, which contain a lot of sugar. Sometimes they can even be as sugary as a can of coke.

So, rather than drinking a glass of apple juice each day, try eating an apple instead. You’ll get the same great taste, and your body will benefit much more from breaking down the fibre gradually rather than just ingesting large quantities of the natural sugar.

Finally…

Whilst these changes are designed to be small and easy to handle, they might not work for everyone.

If they don’t work for you, then that’s okay! It’s still an achievement that you tried, so don’t consider it a failure by any means.

If you do find success with these methods, then don’t rush to try others. Make sure these changes become second nature beforehand, that way more changes won’t be quite as big a shock to the system.