-
Eat Fermented Foods
- The process of fermentation can transform ordinary vegetables into superfoods, a "secret" that has been embraced by many cultures for thousands of years. The culturing process increases the presence of beneficial microbes that are extremely important for human health as they help balance your intestinal flora, thereby boosting overall immunity. Your gut literally serves as your second brain, and even produces more of the neurotransmitter serotonin — known to have a beneficial influence on your mood — than your brain does, so maintaining a healthy gut will benefit your mind as well as your body.
-
Include Sprouts in Your Diet
- Sprouts are another superfood that can contain up to 30 times more vital nutrients than even raw organic vegetables. When seeds are sprouted, the protein and fiber content increases, as does the content of vitamins and essential fatty acids. Minerals such as calcium and magnesium also become more bioavailable. Sprouts are incredibly easy and inexpensive to grow at home, making them a nutritional powerhouse that virtually everyone can enjoy.
-
Rethink Your Breakfast
- If you're still eating a sugar-filled, grain-heavy breakfast (bagels, pancakes, toast, cereal) this is among the worst choices for the morning. A recent study found that eating a breakfast high in protein, such as eggs and meat, makes you less likely to binge on junk foods later that night, but even this may not be the best breakfast choice. Omitting breakfast entirely, as part of an intermittent fasting schedule, can actually have a number of phenomenal health benefits, from improving insulin sensitivity to shifting your body into burning more fat instead of sugar for fuel.
-
Intermittent Fasting May Help You Achieve
Optimal Health
- Intermittent fasting, also known as “scheduled eating,” refers to limiting your eating to a narrow window of time each day. Ideally, you’ll want to limit your eating to a window of about 6-8 hours each day (say from noon to 6 p.m.), which means you’re fasting daily for 16-18 hours. This is enough to get your body to shift into fat-burning mode. Once you shift to fat-burning mode, modern research has confirmed numerous benefits to your health, including lessening free radical damage and slowing the aging process.
-
Take Time to Chew Your Food
- A good portion of your digestive enzymes are actually produced in your mouth, not in your stomach. Digestion actually begins in your mouth, and chewing your food longer allows the food to be broken down better. As you chew, enzymes from the salivary glands also begin chemically breaking down food molecules into a size your body can absorb. If you often find your stomach feels like a big knot after you've eaten, you're probably swallowing your food in pieces that are far too large.
-
Eat Locally Grown and Organic Food as Much
as Possible
- There are a number of reasons why eating locally grown organic is better for you and the environment. Organic foods expose you to fewer pesticides -- about 30 percent on average while organic meats also reduce your risk of antibiotic-resistant bacteria by an average of 33 percent. Plus, research has shown that organic fruits and veggies can be more nutritious and better at fighting off diseases like cancer. Another major benefit of organically grown foods is the reduction in your toxic load through reduced exposure to agricultural chemicals.
-
Your Diet Can Dictate Your Mood
- You may turn to junk food when you're feeling stressed out, bored or lonely, but doing so is likely to make your bad mood worse. Sugar is one of the worst offenders, and is known to suppress activity of a key hormone called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is critically low in depressed patients. It also promotes chronic inflammation, which is thought to be a primary cause of depression. The secret to improving your mood is also in your gut; the greatest concentration of serotonin, which is involved in mood control, depression and aggression, is found in your intestines, not your brain!
-
Too Much Alcohol Can Make You Fat
- Alcohol is high in empty calories, of course, but it can add extra inches to your waistline through another mechanism as well. When you drink alcohol, your body stops burning fat and calories in order to break down the alcohol first. This means that what you ate recently is likely to be stored as fat. Drinking alcohol also impairs your prefrontal cortex, which is related to impulsivity, making you more likely to binge on unhealthy foods.