The fitness industry is full of fad-diets, false promises that will change your entire life in a month, or that will make you look like your favorite Holywood movie-start for just 99$ in a couple of weeks. While we should acknowledge that there are so many quacks and people making to make a quick buck, there are actually many trainers and nutritionists who know what are they doing, and who is scientific data to back up their rich knowledge on the subjects. Here is the most solid advice, that is plain and simple, and will help get you results if you really stick to it.
You know that diet is an important component of your health and overall wellbeing. What you eat also drastically affects the result you see from working out, how much muscle you can pack on, how you lose fat (or not) and how your body feels in general. Quality food can actually do wonders to boost your memory, alertness, and overall productivity. The way you eat also affects your hormones to a great extent. To get a grip on how things work here is a great article on MenHonor.com about the muscle-building male(and female) hormone testosterone.
In this post, we are discussing the most important thing you can do to enhance your health, and get the most out of your eating habits.
Up Your Veggies Intake
Yep, your grandma always told you, eat your vegetable. Whether your goal is to lose weight or feel and exercise better, vegetables will help you a lot. The modern diet is lacking in many nutrients, vitamins, and other components of healthy foods such as fiber, antioxidants, and phytochemicals, which vegetables are full of! Essentially all popular veggies are good for you, despite whatever the local news are trying to tell you( yes, carrots are not going to kill you, but do the opposite). Raw, cooked, canned, you name it. There are many types of vegetables, local or imported, and you can buy them in almost any store or supermarket. You can definitely find those that you prefer, and eat them in moderate quantities. Your diet doesn’t have to be all veggies as some vegans would state, but moderate consumption of 2-4 servings a day is a fine place to start.
Variety is key here. Every vegetable is healthy, but to get the most out of them, eat the rainbow. The red tomatoes, the green broccoli, the orange sweet potato, all have different perks to offer for you! Some are very good for your heart, some do wonder to your arteries, but quite frankly any vegetable is a good addition to your diet. Vegetables are usually low in calories( which means that it is hard to eat an excess of energy with them), and very high in volume (unlike potato chips, you probably can’t eat a full bag of broccoli). Kudos to you if you can. Because of these two factors, vegetables are great to lose weight sustainably. You can eat as many as you like, and you will feel full very soon, for a long time. To summarize, vegetables are very high in vitamins that your body is craving(yes, many have way more Vitamin C than an orange/apple), are great for your overall health. To specify, this is how your vegetable intake influences your body:
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Vegetables help you stay hydrated because they are full of water. One of the perks of this is they are also very filling.
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Another thing that prevents you from eating too many, is the fiber content. There are two main fiber types, soluble and insoluble. Both are very important. They feed your healthy gut bacteria, heal and keep your gastrointestinal tract running smoothly, prevent your sugar from rising too much too quickly, and take a lot of cholesterol and fats out of the equation, to keep your arteries clean and unclogged.
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Vitamins and micronutrients are required by your body to function the way it was designed. Vitamins affect your immune system, your ability to prevent and recover from the disease. Many are responsible for all kinds of different functions: your vision(yes, carrots are actually great for your eyesight), skin’s elasticity, joints feeling great, and a lot more.
Some folks are really unwilling to eat their veggies, and that’s a pity. There would be way fewer visits to the doctor in general, and the obesity crisis probably wouldn’t be that big as it is today. Many people just didn’t eat any greens since their childhood, because of availability issues or taste preferences. While economic concerns should be considered, vegetables are mainly cheap and affordable food, and they cost you way less if you consider the impact they have on your health. Taste preferences can actually be changed because the taste buds and pallets of your tongue adapt in a spout of just thirty days. And there are many simple and quick ways to make that broccoli stand out! This infographic will help you cook the most delicious and healthy vegetables you can think of.