5 Interesting Nutrition Techniques That Will Dominate 2020

Replace your usual snacks

Many of us live on snacks. It’s often hard to break away from all the things we have to do long enough to sit down to a meal, so those in-between mini-meals are what keep us going. Whether it’s work or family, something else always needs our attention. While this is definitely not a healthy habit, some of us don’t have another option, but we can still change the way we snack to get in added nutrition. When we supply our bodies with more vitamins and nutrients, we feel more energized and are able to process foods easier. Some easy ways to do this is to pinpoint our snack cravings and use that information to make better food choices. I tend to like sweet things, so fruit and veggies that are high in natural sugars work well for me. A nice summer treat is frozen grapes. When you freeze these, they are almost like biting into a super thick smoothie. Another way to trick ourselves into eating better is to thinly slice carrots and eat them like chips. If you’re the type of preparing your snacks ahead of time, you can make chips at home. You can control how much salt is added this way, and you can also substitute regular potatoes with more nutritious options like sweet potatoes or even kale. A small handful of almonds can also be a surprisingly filling option.

Don’t wait until you’re starving

We’ve all been there. You’re at work, counting down until you can get home and are able to eat dinner. Maybe you had an unusually light lunch or had to stay longer than usual. Maybe this is a daily occurrence for you. Whatever the case, waiting until you’re starving increases the chances of you grabbing a quicker and usually less nutritious option, or fixing more than you would normally eat. When you know you’re going to have to wait before your next meal, try to plan accordingly. Snack on something healthy at your desk if you’re allowed. If you’re not allowed to do this at work or it was something you weren’t able to plan for, simply keeping in mind your normal portion sizes and sticking to it will help. It’s hard not to pile the food on your plate when you’re really hungry, but remember, you can always get more later on. For some of us, our brains want to convince us that food is scarce, so we have to remind ourselves that we don’t need to prepare for hibernation. To help stave off grabbing something fast and not very good for you, you can prepare some freezer meals. These are pre-cooked meals that you store in your freezer for reheating. This can be anything from soups to casseroles. There are tons of recipes online, and all can be altered to fit your tastes and needs.

Use leftovers more

One of the biggest stumbling blocks, when we try eating healthy diets, is that fast food does not fit good nutrition standards. Even their ‘healthy’ options are usually not, though they are tasty, convenient, and fast. Making lunches at home is sometimes time-consuming and easy to forget when you have a million and one things to do for your family, so one of the easiest ways to combat the fast food habit is to use those dinner leftovers. Take it to work with you for lunch instead of buying out, so you’re not eating the greasy and high in fat food. Also, if you made the effort of making a nutritious dinner one night, why let what’s left go to waste? It will cut down on meal costs by reducing how much food you have to throw out from dinners and keep you from needing to buy something while out, which may seem cheap, but adds up quickly. If it’s not enough for a whole lunch, you can easily add an apple or one of your healthy snack options to make it a delicious and filling midday meal. There are so many benefits to eating all your leftovers that it’s surprising more people don’t take advantage of this option. It will also give you more control of what you use as fuel for your body. To make it easier, when you’re putting away the leftovers after dinner go ahead and pack it like you would a lunch. Then it’s ready to go the next day, and you’re not using some of your morning time packing something.

Try new things

Something that can’t be overlooked when trying to improve your nutrition habits is the willingness to try new foods. Yes, many of those new ‘superfoods’ are anything but super; however, there are a lot of really healthy and delicious options that many of us have never tried simply because we stick to what we know. There could be something out there that is exactly what you’re looking for, and you would never know if you don’t try it. Let’s be realistic; many were raised on prepackaged food and quick meal options because healthy diets were not always as stressed as they are now. We need to be open to new taste experiences in order to know what we truly like and how to best use it. For an example of a surprisingly healthy food, look at the dragon fruit. It’s definitely a unique looking fruit, but just in a one-cup serving it has 7 grams of fiber and 3 grams of protein. It’s also high in vitamin C and vitamin E. While it almost looks like a pink-loving little girl’s rendition of a pine cone and has white flesh with black seeds, adding to its strange appearance, it’s sweet and healthy. There are many things like that, but you have to try them to know.

Add some color to your diet

When you hear that you should be adding color to your diet, it doesn’t mean Skittles. It means that you shouldn’t stick with one type of lettuce and call it a salad. Throw in more leafy varieties and even add other fruit or veggies for a more interesting taste. If you’re making something like macaroni and cheese, add some broccoli. If you’re making a sandwich, why not add a slice of tomato or onions. Simply adding more healthy ingredients will improve the flavor and increase the nutritional benefits. Experiment and get comfortable with making your meals more rounded and don’t limit yourself to boring menus. Often we focus too much on the fact that eating healthier means eating less of certain things, and we forget that it also means adding more of other things. Don’t resign yourself to boring food when there is so much that is healthy and delicious available. Adding good food to your diet will help to decrease how much of those unhealthier options you consume as well by making you feel more full and energized. When you fill your body with foods high in nutrition, it will help you feel more satisfied with your healthy diets.

We often grow discouraged when we’re trying to improve our diets, but that’s because we focus on the negative side. We only consider the outlook of denying ourselves wonderful tastes and the experiences related to dining. Much of our culture and modern influences don’t help with this pessimistic view. However, if we can change the way we think to focus on all the good things that come out of healthy eating, we will enjoy making minor changes in our lives that we can stick to and develop into healthier habits and techniques. We can still go out with friends and have those family dinners. We don’t have to deny ourselves the joy that goes along with eating. We just have to shape our thinking to make healthier choices. Maintaining healthy diets will give us energy, improve our overall moods, and allow us to deal with all the hectic and stressful situations the world tends to throw our way. As women, we have a mountain on our shoulders. Developing better habits for taking care of ourselves will help us carry the load and help us shape our lives into what we want them to be.