Get Fit Slowly

Cooking your own meals is one of the best ways to eat healthier, and you’ll save yourself money in the process. The problem for the typical person trying to adopt healthier eating habits is finding the time to cook those meals. After a long day at work, it’s tempting to grab fast food or something premade from the store instead of getting a healthy dinner ready.

The secret to eating healthy for every meal is meal prep. The concept behind meal prepping is simple enough – instead of making your meals on the spot right before you eat them, you make a large batch of meals so that you’re set for the work week or at least a couple days.

Despite the simplicity of meal prepping, it still takes some time to learn how to get the most out of it. Here are key tips that will immediately make you a better meal prepper.

1. Get the Right Supplies

Some supplies are essential for meal prepping. Others will make it easier, but aren’t necessarily deal breakers if you don’t have them.

The most important items you need are enough containers to hold all your meals. Plastic containers are a durable option that are easy to carry around, but you can’t microwave them.

Pyrex containers are microwave-safe, but they’re a bit heavier and could break if you drop them, although they tend to be resistant to cracking.

If you’re going to be taking several meals with you per day, you may want to get a bag designed to hold all of them. There are also insulated bags that you can use if you need to keep foods cold.

Of course, you’ll need the right items in your kitchen to prep your meals. A cutting board and a sharp set of knives are a must for cutting up meats and vegetables. Measuring cups help you get your recipes right and control your portion sizes.

2. Make a Grocery List

Writing a grocery list may seem tedious, but you don’t want to get home and realize you forgot a key ingredient. The best way to write your list is by figuring out every meal you plan to eat and write down all the ingredients that you’ll need.

You can divide your grocery list into food categories to make sure that you’re eating a balanced diet with all the necessary nutrients. For example, you could have sections for meats, fruits, vegetables, seasonings and anything else you can think of.

Your grocery list can also help you avoid purchasing any junk food or other unhealthy items, provided you stick to the list and avoid impulse purchases. Remember that it’s much easier to eat right when you keep poor food choices out of your home entirely.

3. Cook as Much as You Can at the Same Time

Let’s say that your meal plan calls for skinless chicken breasts, potatoes and vegetables. You could cook all those items separately, but it’s much easier to give them each their own rack on the oven and cook them together. You’ll cut down on how long you’re in the kitchen and you’ll be using less electricity or gas in the process.

4. Ensure That Your Diet Has Some Variety

As long as you’re getting all the nutrients and vitamins your body needs, you could eat the same meals every day. But most people would find this boring, and when you’re bored with what you eat, you’re more likely to cheat on your diet. At a minimum, it’s a good idea to have two different lunches and dinners you prepare, that way you can alternate them each day.

You can also make batches of ingredients, and then mix and match them to create your meals. For example, you could have containers with strips of cut-up chicken breast, strips of steak, brown rice, white rice, and assorted vegetables. For each meal, you could grab one of the meats as the protein source and mix it with the rice and vegetables you want.

5. Try Slow Cooking

A handy tool for saving time on your meal prep and still getting the best flavors out of your ingredients is a slow cooker. There are all kinds of great slow cooker recipes, and all you need to do is put in the ingredients and set the time that you want. The slow cooker will do the rest, and because it’s cooking the food over a period of hours, it brings out the flavors.

If you get a large-enough slow cooker, you can have a batch of meals that will last you for an entire week or longer. Put the ones you plan to eat in the next few days in the fridge, and store the rest in the freezer.

6. Don’t Forget the Snacks

Having snacks on hand can keep your appetite in check between meals. If you want to keep it simple, a piece of fruit, such as an apple, banana or an orange, will work fine as a snack. If you want to have something a bit more exciting, you can make your own fruit cups with berries and sliced pieces of fruit.

Vegetables are also great as a snack because their high fiber content makes you feel full. If you don’t like eating vegetables raw, you can try a topping, such as hummus. For some quick extra protein, hard-boiled eggs work well and the prep is as easy as it gets.

7. Develop an Organizational System

When you’re prepping meals days ahead of time and freezing some items, it’s easy to lose track of things or forget to eat a meal before it goes bad. That’s why the more meals you make in advance, the better your organization needs to be.

The easiest way to keep track of your meals is to put labels on everything, whether it’s going in the fridge or the freezer. You should include the day you made the meal and an approximate expiration date, although expiration is less of an issue for meals that you freeze. You could also choose different color container and color coordinate based on the day of the week that you’ll eat the meal, or put the meals you plan to eat sooner closer to the front of the fridge.

Conclusion

Meal prepping is one of those tasks that takes some time to get used to. When you first start, you may be at the store a bit longer getting the right groceries and in the kitchen awhile to figure out how to cook everything in the most efficient way possible.

The good news is that meal prepping gets easier the more that you do it. After a couple weeks, you’ll be grabbing everything you need from the grocery store with barely any need to reference your list, and making meals will be a breeze.

The world is in the midst of a huge obesity epidemic. Although there are many contributing factors to this huge increase in obesity being seen across the globe—specifically poor diet and lack of exercise caused by our modern, fast-paced lifestyles—many people also connect their weight problems directly to their sugar intake.

As a result, many overweight and obese people turn to diet soda in an effort to decrease their sugar consumption and hopefully allow them to start shedding pounds. The problem is that there is a ton of evidence out there that suggests that drinking diet soda could actually be further harming your health instead of allowing you to get in better shape.

Numerous scientific studies have shown direct links between diet soda and an increased risk of developing a wide range of different health problems. Almost all evidence available points to the fact that drinking diet soda is bad for your health, but despite the overwhelming nature of this evidence, many people continue to reach for the Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi with the misguided notion that this is better for them that drinking regular soda.

Unfortunately, that diet soda could potentially be harming your health and putting you at an increased risk for a variety of serious health issues, which is why it’s essential that everyone understands the risks and dangers of diet soda.

The Link Between Diet Soda and Metabolic Syndrome

One of the biggest myths about diet soda is that it is somehow healthier than regular soda. The  fact that diet soda is either low in calories or completely calorie-free convinces many people that  it’s the better choice when looking to lose weight. In many ways, this belief makes total sense, as  one of the biggest factors in losing weight is cutting back on your total calorie intake.

Unfortunately, studies have repeatedly shown that drinking diet soda doesn’t make you more likely  to lose weight, and the truth is that weight loss involves a lot more than just counting calories.

The problem is that drinking diet soda has actually been shown to potentially make it even harder  for people to lose weight by increasing their risk for developing metabolic syndrome. One  particularly enlightening study from 2009 showed that drinking just one diet soda a day increased  the risk of metabolic syndrome by 36%. Even worse, the study showed that people who drink diet  soda have a 67% higher chance of developing type-2 diabetes.

People with metabolic syndrome already have a much greater risk of developing diabetes, and the  condition also raises the risk of stroke and heart disease. Furthermore, persons suffering from  metabolic syndrome also tend to have much more belly fat and higher levels of cholesterol. Based  on this evidence, it seems likely that drinking diet soda could potentially make it even harder for  you to lose weight instead of helping you to meet your weight-loss goals as you’d hoped.

Additional Health Problems Linked to Diet Soda Consumption

The problems with diet soda aren’t only related to weight loss. In fact, numerous studies have  shown links between diet soda and all of the following health problems.

Higher Risk of Dementia and Stroke. A study published in early 2017, which looked at the link  between diet soda consumption and the brain, concluded that people who drank one diet soda a  day were three times as likely to have a stroke or develop dementia as those who avoided diet  sodas altogether. Based on this evidence, the researchers concluded that artificially sweetened  beverages like diet soda are directly associated with a higher risk of certain brain disorders.

Increases Risk of Heart Problems. A Swedish study published in 2015 examined the links between  sweetened beverages and heart disease, and this study concluded that drinking two sodas a day  puts a person at a higher risk of heart failure and heart disease. Although this study did not make  a distinction between artificially sweetened drinks like diet soda and naturally sweetened drinks,  the fact remains that soda and other sweet drinks makes it more likely that a person will suffer  from heart problems.

Can Harm Normal Kidney Function

A 2009 study attempted to draw a link between drinking  artificially sweetened beverages and a decrease in kidney function, and again, the results weren’t  very positive for diet soda drinkers. In this study, researchers showed that drinking two diet sodas  a day was linked with a 30% decrease in normal kidney function.

Greater Risk of Depression. Although most people consider artificially sweetened drinks like diet  soda to be safe, the truth is that the artificial sweetener aspartame ranks incredibly high on the  EPA’s list of chemicals that directly contribute to neurotoxicity. In fact, aspartame only ranks  behind arsenic on the list.

With this in mind, the American Academy of Neurology examined the link between artificial  sweeteners and certain brain disorders and concluded that drinking diet soda increases a person’s  risk of depression by approximately 30%.

Expanding Waistline. Although many people drink diet soda to lose weight, studies have shown that  it may actually have the opposite effect and could potentially increase your waistline by three  inches or more. People who occasionally drink diet soda tend to have a 70% increase in the  circumference of their waistline compared to those who never drink diet soda, while those who  consume more than two diet sodas a day have a 500% increase in waistline circumference.

Conclusion

Based on the evidence, it would seem that drinking diet soda has the potential to negatively harm  your health in a number of different ways. Even if some these risks are the same for diet sodas as  they are for regular soda, the fact remains that drinking too many sweetened beverages is never  good for your health. That being said, the risks still seem to be higher for diet soda than for normal  soda, which means you should definitely think twice about reaching for that can of Diet Coke or  Diet Pepsi.

A Quick Look Into Processed Foods

While many people instinctively know that there is something unwholesome about processed foods, few people have the entire story as to why they aren’t the most healthy way to nourish your body. In this day and age, people looking for a healthier life are increasingly acknowledging the terrible truths about the processed foods that they’ve been eating for years.

Obviously we live in an era of abundance, especially in the western world. We have more food than ever, more people than ever, more resources than ever, just about more everything than ever before.

But at what cost? How do we account for all this abundance? Where does it come from. Mainly our food. We don’t really think about how are grocery stores just seem to be packed at all times with all of our favorite foods and goodies. Most of us either don’t know or don’t care that the majority of the food we eat is actually processed in a factory. Convenience comes at a price, at with food that price tends to be in the form of poor nutrition.

Addiction to Processed Foods

While cucumbers are delicious, no one has ever become addicted to them. That’s because whole foods in their natural state are correctly balanced for human nutrition. Processing foods strips away essential components of whole foods, such as fiber, and this changes the way the body digests and uses the foods.

Whole foods in their natural state contain carbohydrates. But they also come with a healthy balance of fiber, water, proteins and fats to provide perfect human nutrition. Processed foods are engineered to trigger a dopamine release, a “feel good” chemical in the brain that tricks your body into thinking it is satisfied even though the “food” is missing essential nutrients and/or fiber.

People can become addicted to this dopamine release, which in turn leads to overeating and uncontrollable food addiction.

Obesity Issues

You ever wonder why fat burners are so popular and all over the internet? Why there’s so many top fat burners lists on the internet? Processed foods add another whammy against human health by including a whole raft of additives that have been shown to promote obesity. The so-called “foods” available in most supermarkets today are heavily laced with cheap fillers and preservatives such as monosodium glutamate (MSG), artificial sweeteners, and high-fructose corn syrup.

Heavily processed grains that are designed to quickly convert to sugar are used to make breakfast cereals, pretzels, waffels, bagels and muffins.

Dosing the body with high levels of carbohydrates dramatically increases the body’s insulin levels. Over time, this leads to insulin resistance, which has been strongly connected to a whole host of illnesses and maladies, including significant weight gain.

Unnatural Combinations

Nutritionists and health experts agree that natural foods are designed to be eaten in certain combinations in order to work more efficiently with the human body’s digestive system.

Processed foods regularly combine starchy ingredients with proteins, which can work to block the digestive tract, raise blood acid levels, and provide a vector for pathogens to enter the intestinal tract.

Rocking the Inner Ecosystem Boat

Human beings have evolved an advanced relationship with microorganisms that live in the digestive system. Processed foods upset that balance, suppressing and killing off many helpful microorganisms, causing people to suffer from chronic digestive illnesses and unnatural cravings.

Whole, unprocessed foods, on the other hand, strongly support the natural beneficial microorganisms that live in the digestive tract.

Mood Killer

Many people have noted that eating a lot of heavily processed foods leads to memory problems, mood swings, and even clinical depression. Few people realize that serotonin, a natural body chemical that helps control mood and depression, is most abundant in the intestinal tract. Thus, the digestive system and brain work together, each reciprocating the other in stabilizing mood and emotional health.

Most health experts understand that diet has a major impact on mental health, and that eating a lot of processed foods can disturb the digestive system, thus leading to a greater risk of bad moods and depression.

Rushing Through Life at the Expense of Your Health

Processed foods come attractively-packaged, ready to be eaten “on the go”. Many people have come to depend on the convenience of processed foods to multi-task at work, commute or run errands in the car, or to consume quick meals while performing other things. Always eating in a rush disturbs the body’s natural rhythms, making it difficult for people to know when they’ve already eaten enough.

sources

http://www.cbn.com/tv/2533330727001

http://www.foodmatters.tv/articles-1/dirty-secrets-of-the-food-processing-industry