I’m a total blog junkie. I have a bunch bookmarked, mostly healthy food sites, but I’m always open to meet newbies. My newest find is Clean Wellness by nutritionist Allison Day. Full of inspiration to eat healthy, from tips to recipes (like Dark Chocolate Truffles and Quinoa Granola Bars). Here, Allison shares her top tips for detoxing, banishing belly bloat, increasing energy and losing weight…
18 Ways to Boost Nutrition for Better Health & Weight Loss By Allison Day
1. Your new morning ritual: Begin every day with ¼ – ½ fresh lemon squeezed into room temperature water. This helps to detoxify the liver, aid in digestion, boost immunity and sets the tone for a healthy day.
2. Drink water 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after you meal, not during: Drinking with a meal dilutes you digestive enzymes that are needed to break down protein properly. Undigested or partially digested proteins can lead to candida and leaky gut syndrome.
3. Chew, chew, chew! Chew your food until liquefied. Digestion starts in the mouth. Be sure to swish your smoothies or fresh juices in your mouth to aid in digestion and avoid “water belly.”
4. Eat in a calm environment: Stress diverts energy from the digestive tract, leading to indigestion and poor nutrient assimilation.
5. Don’t eat when stressed, anxious or upset: Your body’s fight or flight reaction impedes digestion, leaving you with partially digested food, leading to indigestion, gas, bloating and other unpleasant stomach discomforts.
6. Eat at a table, free of distractions, allowing yourself to focus on each bite: Mindful eating allows you to tune in to your hunger cues.
7. Stop before you’re full: It takes upwards of 20 minutes for your brain to understand you’ve had enough food.
8. Lower the heat: Don’t heat coconut oil, olive oil or a ground nut or seed oil past 325°F as this causes the oils to oxidize, leading to free radical damage in your body.
9. Eating raw, sautéing, roasting and steaming will retain the most nutrition from your vegetables: Boiling leaches out the vitamins and minerals from your vegetables, which you will toss down the drain.
10. Keep it balanced: Vitamin C is destroyed easily by heat along with the B-vitamins. Aim for 50% raw and 50% cooked vegetables and fruits.
11. Try one new vegetable or fruit per week: More variety in your diet, means more nutrition (and you avert food boredom).
12. Look for local produce: The nutrients within produce quickly dissipate the longer the time from harvest to table.
13. Purchase organic fruits, vegetables and meats whenever possible: Many organic fruits and vegetables are grown in nutrient-rich soil unlike conventional soil which is stripped of nearly all of its minerals. Healthier soil = healthier produce. Organically-raised meats are free of hormones, antibiotics and are generally fed a non-GMO diet. Organic meats are also higher minerals and omega-3 fatty acids due to being pasture-raised on grass.
14. Look for canned food products such as tomatoes and beans in glass jars or BPA-free cans: BPA is an endocrine (hormone) disruptor and obesogen (foreign chemical) that can contribute to weight gain.
15. Skip the anti-nutrients: Refined sugar, caffeine, white flours, fast food, preservatives, additives, food colorings and all other highly refined food products. These foods severely deplete your vitamin and mineral stores, immune system, probiotics, and contribute to weight gain and candida. They can also lead to brain fog, fatigue, erratic mood and behavioral issues in children (food coloring is a nervous-system disruptor).
16. Eat sea veggies: Add kelp flakes or crumble Nori sheets onto salads or add to soups, stews and cereals. Sea vegetables are high in iodine which is essential for proper thyroid function, helping to regulate many metabolic functions within the body.
17. Add spinach to your smoothie for a taste-free boost of greens, vitamin A, iron, folate and fibre: You won’t taste it, and you’ll easily increase your daily greens intake.
18. Get juicy! Try juicing: Juicing concentrates the nutrients and takes away the fiber of vegetables and fruits for easy transport into your cells.
What are your favorite tips for healthy living?
