5 Habits to Improve Your Nutrition in 2023
With 2023 edging closer, take some time to reflect on the fitness goals you made in January. Did you stick to that diet? Did you use that gym membership enough or even at all? Perhaps it was a good one, perhaps not.
But, now is the time to make a plan for your fitness goals for the upcoming year. It doesn't need to be complicated but it should be realistic and achievable. These goals can be as simple as becoming fit enough to play with your children. Whatever the reason, setting goals for the new year is a positive step towards a healthier lifestyle.
Information overload.
The world of social media is alive with self-proclaimed fitness gurus, endorsing exercise routines, diet plans, and fitness remedies without any real background or training in this field. But, surely what works for them will certainly work for you? Sadly no, it’s a double-edged sword. The information they offer may be correct, but it might not necessarily work for you and could be detrimental to your overall goals.
Keep it simple
One of the biggest mistakes people make when beginning a new diet or fitness regime is trying to overhaul everything at once. This will probably work for a couple of weeks and then usually ends in a glaze of sugar, junk food, and beer. This is why most dieters fail and most January gym goers cancel after a couple of months. They change too many things at once.
Our advice, keep it simple, especially when nutrition and fitness is concerned. We also recommend working with a coach (if you can) as these changes can be difficult to implement on your own. We have our own in-house expert Coach Paddy, you can email him here for more info.
The Habit-based Approach.
This is where the approach of "Habit base" comes into play. It is very effective at changing your habits and will set you up for long-term success. One week isn’t enough time to make a habit stick. It takes a minimum of 21 days to form a new habit so focus on one habit at a time. Make sure you track your progress.
After the three-week mark re-evaluate. If your completion rate was within 90 -100% you are ready to move on to the next habit. If it was below 90%, you can either repeat it for another three weeks or make the task easier.
If you are looking to improve your nutrition in the New Year. Try and adopt these five simple habits detailed below:
Habit 1: Eat until 80% full - It takes about 20 minutes for the stomach to communicate with the brain just how full it is. If we eat quickly, we’re likely to eat far too much in 20 minutes. So try and eat slowly until you are no longer hungry, instead of eating until you are full.
Habit 2: Eat protein with each meal. Satiety is the feeling of fullness after eating that suppresses the urge to eat for some time after a meal. Such feelings of fullness can play an important role in controlling how much we eat. Foods high in protein seem to make us feel fuller than foods high in fat or carbohydrate, so including some protein at every meal should help keep you satisfied.
Habit 3: Eat vegetables with each meal.
Have at least two servings of fruits and/or vegetables per meal.
Note that one, medium-sized fruit, 1⁄2 cup of raw chopped fruit or vegetables, and 1 cup of raw leafy vegetables each equal one serving.
8-10 servings of fruit and veg per day are ideal, build up to it if you struggle to achieve
Habit 4: For fat loss, eat a majority of carbohydrates after exercise. All carbohydrates are not evil despite all the anti-carb sentiment. A good place to start is by eliminating all processed carbs e.g. white bread, and white sugar. As Dr. John Berardi of Precision nutrition notes ‘, you want to completely avoid the carbohydrates that will shoot your blood sugar straight into a fat-storing mode which includes processed foods such as bread, pasta, pastries, cereal, and sugar. All of your carbohydrate sources should be from fruits, vegetables, or whole grains.
Habit 5: Eat healthy fats daily. Around 30% of the diet should come from fat. Eat healthy fats throughout the day. It is a balance between saturated, monounsaturated (from extra virgin olive oil, some nuts, and avocados), and polyunsaturated fats (from some nuts, some vegetable oils, and fish oil supplements).
People love to hear good news about their bad nutrition or exercise habits. Remember the solution is never a 21-day detox or exercise plan. The solution is not a quick fix, it takes time.
This year plan your goals. Create an action plan to keep you on track. Then every day, all 365 of them, make simple and consistent steps towards achieving your goals.
If this is not something you feel you can do on your own. Email us at Everyday Athlete gym. We offer memberships (in-person and online), personal training, and nutrition coaching.
