To avoid weight gain and boost your health, you need to adopt smart eating habits. Of course, what you eat is important, but how you eat is also a vital piece of the healthy eating puzzle.
Eating the right way can help you get more of the stuff you need into your diet while getting rid of the junk that you don’t need. Therefore, here are 3 healthy eating habits you need to cultivate so you can enjoy optimum health without much hassle.
Always eat breakfast
The common thread that runs through all healthy eating habits is having the most important meal of the day: Breakfast. Countless studies have shown that people who make breakfast a priority on their daily eating menu have achieved and maintained a healthy weight, along with other health benefits, such as productivity and other good things that come along with eating breakfast. Not only that, breakfast eaters consume more vitamins and minerals and eat fewer calories from fat.
Most people who struggle with diet issues, such as overeating and unhealthy snacking, are those who under eat during the first part of the day, especially the breakfast skippers. Eating a healthy and nutritious breakfast reduces hunger throughout the rest of the day, thus taming unhealthy snaking and reducing the chances of overeating at lunch.
Take a seat
You might be running a busy life schedule, and eating on the move is your only viable option. But that’s not the way to go. In fact, people who ate on the move consume more calories and it can lead to unhealthy food choices since they are not paying attention to what’s being eaten after all. Distraction is healthy eating enemy number one. Therefore, make sure to take your time by eating your food sitting down at a table.
Stop eating in the bus, train, car, on your work desk or on the move. Not only eating at a table will help you eat more slowly and less food, but you will also help you enjoy the eating experience. Eating with attention leads to greater satisfaction, for both your stomach and the rest of your senses.
Eat slowly, chew the food
When it comes to savoring the experience of eating and getting the most out of it, eating slowly is the way to go. Not only that, slow eaters tend to be thinner and healthier. Slowing down your eating pace leads to less calorie consumption, according to research by the North American Association for the Study of Obesity. When you are eating too fast, you take in too many calories before you realize that you have eaten enough.
It takes about 20 minutes from the time you start eating for your brain to receive the signal “That’s enough mate!” from your stomach. Therefore, prolonging that eating period helps you take advantage of that naturally occurring process.
