Yes, stop the diets! When it comes to food, there are tons of restrictions.
Don’t do that, put it down, stop this, that’s bad, have you read the labels, is that even food? I get asked daily, what’s the best diet. By March, about 80% of Americans have given up on their New Year’s resolution and the diets they started. It’s about time that we focus on what we can eat. Following are a list of dos that are basic building blocks of nutrition. You don’t have to starve yourself to achieve you weight goals. I say let’s eat!
Start your day off with a healthy breakfast. Either a protein packed omelet or a super food smoothie. Healthy breakfast will help keep you full and helps to keep your hands off those easy to grab donuts and bagels. Combine a good quality protein powder, coconut or almond milk, a hand full of berries, and blend it with some ice. Gear up with the power of protein by adding a spoonful of organic salsa for flavor and a handful of spinach to your omelet to pack in those natural vitamins.
Snacks! They are a must!! In snacking, “if you don’t plan, you plan to fail.” Here are a few items that can be easily packed and stored for a quick grab: raw carrots, boiled eggs, raw nuts, avocado, cheese, flax crackers, fresh broccoli florets, and organic fruits such as berries, apples and oranges. Here are some items that are almost calorie free (not that we are counting calories): celery, romaine lettuce, ½ cucumber, medium tomato, ½ cup of sugar snap peas, 1 peach, ½ grapefruit, 1 cup of strawberries, and 1 cup of watermelon.
A big salad with lean meats such as turkey, chicken or salmon in light olive oil dressing is a great choice for lunch. Turkey burgers with a side salad are good options. During lunch, think lean meats with veggies. Salad’s can be found even when you are eating out and it will help you avoid that “food coma” you enter into after lunch. You now have the power to end your work day with focus. Here are few of nature’s brain foods: super foods such as blue berries and avocados, wild caught salmon, nuts, and seeds. Pile these brain foods to your salads during lunch and perform to impress at work.
My reward for working hard all day is dinner. It’s my favorite meal of the day. Dine with natures finest. A palm size cut of meat with tons of vegetables. Some of my favorites: chicken vegetable stir-fry, butter chicken with quinoa, wild-caught fish with veggies or grass fed beef with garlic roasted smashed cauliflower. Eating activates your body’s parasympathetic system (rest and digest). Eat few hours before lying down to sleep to allow time for digestion.
Hydrate yourself with water, coconut water, white tea, and fruit infused water all day. Drink half your body weight in ounces daily, for example, if you weigh 160 lbs. then you should drink 80 ozs. of water each day. On the error of stating the obvious, other species avoid obesity by eating natural! Hope these tips will nourish and fuel your body. Nutrition is about what you can have and how you foster yourself. Bon appétit!
For your good health naturally,
Dr. Ida Abraham
Chiropractic Center of Lakeland
Next week…Should I take fish oil?
