Keeping focused at work, getting healthy plus enjoy the bonus of losing weight! A true win-win-(win) solution!
Most people start the new week, a new month or a new year with a commitment to eating healthier and losing weight. The unfortunate reality is, however, that after a few days many give up, thinking its’ too darn difficult! Eating healthy doesn’t just mean a trim waist, it also means life longevity and also remaining focused throughout the day. Feeling vitalised and full of energy!
It is, however, possible to improve your health, lose weight and do it easily. By incorporating the following 5 tips into your daily lifestyle, you WILL manage to stay focused, you WILL improve your health and you WILL lose weight. Give it a try and feel the benefits.
Easy hack 1 – kick start your metabolism before meals.
Take a small shot of apple cider vinegar, diluted with a glass of water, 15 minutes before each meal. Drinking vinegar has a number of benefits – some of which have been recognized since the time of the ancient Greeks.
Modern studies have shown that magical vinegar shot could speed up your metabolism, make you feel more full and even help counter obesity – a triple win!
Another great benefit is that apple cider vinegar shots have also been shown to improveyour blood sugar and insulin levels. If taken daily, they can lower glucose levels by as much as 6%. Vinegar is also laced with polyphenols – powerful antioxidants that can help curb the cell damage that causes cancer.
If that wasn’t enough goodness for you, the acetic acid in the vinegar can also potentially reduce high blood pressure.
By taking a shot of vinegar before eating, you will be able to digest far more nutrients from your food, than you would normally. This will enable your body to work to its FULL POTENTIAL
Look for the vinegar that has a sediment at the bottom – this is the ‘mother’ and means you are buying a vinegar that hasn’t been pasteurized and robbed of its best qualities –it’s naturally fermented, it will be rich in vitamins, has beneficial enzymes and also amino acids. So potentially lose weight and keep diseases at bay? What’s not to like?
Easy hack 2 – get some vegetable vitality
Make at least one meal a day plant based and whole food. Many studies have shown that fruits, whole grains and vegetables can help reduce your risks of heart disease, cancer and type 2 diabetes. A plant-based diet can also lower your blood pressure and cholesterol.
This means using nothing processed (bread, pasta or ready made meals) and everything in the meal has come from a plant. This obviously includes vegetables and fruit, but also nuts, legumes (lentils, split peas etc) and seeds. When you eat whole foods you’re getting all the ingredients intact – along with all their vitamins, minerals and other nutrients.
Famous nutritionist Dr. Colin T Campbell of Cornell University has carried out many,many studies on the benefits of a whole food plant based diet over the past 30 years, and his research shows that this is without doubt the best ‘diet’ to follow for health.
And no cheating! Vitamin pills aren’t as good – there is more nutrition in your food than there are in a multi vitamin pill and the ‘whole’ package will enable your body to absorb the goodness more effectively.
For those that want to lose weight, incorporating a whole food plant based diet (or at least one meal a day ) will help to lose weight naturally as you will consume more fibre and you will be less likely to overeat. Try a spicy black bean stew packed with fresh veggies (Full of fibre and buzzing with good nutrients). If the health and the trim body isn’t enough to sway you, you will also find it is a cheaper way to eat too! Or check out this fantastic recipe for healthy Indian Potato & Lentil Cakes
Hack 3 – make a smart soda swap!
Swap any sodas (such as coca cola) for either kombucha, kefir, plain soda water (maybe with a squeeze of fresh lemon) or just plain water.
Kombucha and kefir based drinks have probiotics (like the apple cider vinegar), they are tasty, come with ‘fizz’ and should have little sugar (and calories) in them compared to the regular sodas on the market.
Including healthy probiotics into your diet will feed your gut with millions of good bacteria and these good bacteria will help you digest your food better and can also help you lose weight.bFor more information on the detriments of soda drinks click here.
Hack 4 – keep away from cold
Don’t drink cold drinks 20 minutes before, during or 20 minutes after eating. Your body’s digestive system is designed to work at around 100 F – all those ‘good’ bacteria thrive in that environment – mess them up with your own climate change? They won’t be as happy, or as good at extracting nutrients.
If you’re going to eat kale, at least make sure that you get all the benefits you can from it!
Hack 5 – an apple a day… (No! Really!)
Go back to the basics – an apple a day keeps the doctor away – swap your usual midmorning snack for an apple. Apples have been used in traditional ayurvedic medicine for over 1,500 years – a bit longer than the fidget spinner craze so there must be something in it.
Apples are cheap, portable, tasty and fill you up. They are also rich in important antioxidants, flavonoids and fibre. The phytonutrients and antioxidants in apples could help reduce the risk of developing cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease.
Make sure you eat the peel too as that has most of the fibre and antioxidants in. However, give the ‘pips’ a miss as they contain cyanide!
Apples are an ‘easy’ snack, that if you eat mid morning, can stop you overeating at lunchtime. There are loads of different varieties so mix it up and add some variety.
That’s it – 5 incredibly simple steps to boost your nutrition levels and help with weight, cut cancer risk and improve blood sugar levels. Start today with these and reap the benefits – they’re SO easy and in a week you’ll be pleased you started when you did.
