Expensive, hungry, tasteless: 8 myths that prevent you from switching to proper nutrition
'06.04.2021'
Source: Life hacker
Rumor has it that only food bloggers from Instagram and the son of my mother’s girlfriend can eat properly. But in reality, everything is not so scary. Lifehacker offers to deal with the main concerns.
I want to follow the diet and be in shape. Have to squeeze yourself in everything and give up the most delicious?
Not at all. On the contrary, this is not necessary. To wither over a leaf of lettuce is just as harmful as to overeat pastry buns. Abuse of food leads to some health problems (diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, obesity), and malnutrition leads to others (lack of vitamins, hormonal disorders, rapid aging).
Proper nutrition is not a hunger strike, but a conscious approach to food. You have to give up only on what prevents you from being slimmer, healthier and stronger. Here are some things to fight:
- Food "garbage". Food that fills your stomach but does not nourish your body - like fast food hamburgers.
- Jamming emotions. They got nervous and quietly “persuaded” a kilogram of sweets. Fond of the series and ate a huge pack of chips.
- Food "for the company." Such thoughts are familiar: “I don’t want to, but don’t just sit there while everyone around us is eating something”?
- Tinkering. Passed by the refrigerator and hooked a sandwich. And so eighteen times.
- The habit of eating up everything. You are already full, but the thought "I will not leave food!" Leave it. Even if the grandmother said that at the bottom of the plate - beauty and strength.
But you can definitely forget about sweets and pastries?
And again no! Of course, a whipped cream shop cake is not healthy food. But not the only dessert option. The main harm of sweets in industrial quantities of white sugar that they contain. It is he who leads to health problems and weight gain. Other slightly useful ingredients are white flour, preservatives, dyes, trans fats. If you replace them with healthier counterparts, you can enjoy sweets without harming the body.
A few examples:
- Chocolate → natural cocoa powder.
- Sugar → stevia, maple syrup, honey.
- White wheat flour → whole grain, coconut, rice flour.
- Meringues, meringues, marzipan → fruits and berries.
- Custard, condensed milk → natural or Greek yogurt.
You can make many different desserts from healthy ingredients - smoothie-balls with berries, fruit crostats, chocolate brownies. They will be tasty, but will not be deposited (literally) on your figure.
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The whole salary will go for healthy food, isn't it?
Not at all necessary. Farm meat, quinoa straight from South America and other products from the Bio department of the fashion supermarket are not the only healthy foods. Healthy food will not cost you more than usual, if you are guided by some tricks.
First, instead of trendy superfoods, take a look at budget counterparts. For example, flax seeds are cheaper than chia. But at the same time they are not inferior to them in nutritional value: flax contains useful amino acids and omega-3. After eating 100 grams of ordinary buckwheat porridge, you get about 13 grams of protein and a lot of B vitamins. 100 grams of imported quinoa is only 1 gram more protein, while cereals are 4 times more expensive.
Secondly, in the summer, buy local seasonal fruits. In a period of abundance, they are cheap. In winter, buy frozen berries instead of imported kiwi and pineapple. Vitamins in them are stored even at subzero temperatures. And perhaps they will be even more useful. After all, they are frozen at the peak of maturity, immediately after assembly and are not driven green through half the world.
Thirdly, plan your diet, budget for it and adhere to this framework. Proper nutrition is a systemic thing, and therefore more predictable. If you refuse unplanned snacks, spontaneous dinners in cafes and junk food, the part of the budget that was spent on them will be freed.
Does it have to spend several hours a day cooking?
It all depends on you. If you like to conjure in the kitchen, switching to proper nutrition, you can experiment a lot and try new things. But if you don’t want to play the chef, this is not necessary. Cooking healthy food is not at all longer than usual. And sometimes, on the contrary, faster and easier.
For example, boiling and steaming are common ways to cook healthy dishes. And they practically do not require your participation in the process, unlike frying in oil. Cut a salad of vegetables no longer than cook a pack of harmful dumplings.
To diet, you need iron willpower. Should I even start without her?
Sure! Proper nutrition is not a one-time promotion, but a way of life to which you need to adapt. Our habits are sequences of neural connections in the brain. By around the age of 25, the main behavioral patterns have already been recorded in your head. To format them, you need to systematically and regularly repeat new actions. Ignoring the fact that the brain will resist and try to follow the beaten paths (for example, to intercept a cookie).
But the good news is that over time, it will be easier and easier for you to stick to new habits. And at the same time, it is impossible to train willpower if you avoid any challenges. Moreover, if you were once seduced by pizza at the birthday of a colleague or did not resist a piece of homemade cake - that's okay. This does not invalidate your progress and does not mean that you are an undisciplined glutton and all this is not for you. Forgive yourself, leave the overeating episode behind, and continue to eat right.
But after 18:00 you have to starve?
No, it is not. No one remembers exactly where the rule “want to be slim - no food after 18:00” came from, but many still continue to believe in it. In fact, this is something else: do not go to bed with a full stomach. After eating, blood levels of insulin and sugar increase - this prevents your body from fully recovering.
The last meal should occur 3 hours before bedtime. Therefore, if you go to bed before 21:00, you really should not eat after 6 pm. For other cases, the time is calculated individually. Another thing is important: dinner should not be heavy, otherwise the calories will remain with you in the form of fat reserves.
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But surely you can’t do without dietary supplements on proper nutrition?
No, that doesn't work like that. Proper nutrition is the control of the diet, and not cutting yourself in food and, accordingly, in important vitamins and minerals. With any change in nutrition, you need to monitor your condition. If you observe lethargy, lack of energy, sleep problems, weight loss, mood swings, hair loss, or any other strange symptoms - consult a doctor and have a blood test for micronutrients. Supplements, herbs and vitamins have a powerful effect on our body, so you should take them only when you are sure that we are talking about a lack of a specific substance.
A balanced diet will provide your body with all the necessary substances, so the transition to proper nutrition is not an indication for taking supplements. Better concentrate on making the diet varied and healthy.
Will it be necessary to lean on protein and refuse carbohydrates to the maximum?
Not really. There is a stereotype that during a diet you need to reduce carbohydrate intake: it is allegedly they that make us gain weight. But in fact, you need to remember that carbohydrates take different forms: sugar, starch and fiber. And if the amount of sugar really needs to be reduced, then starchy foods (rice, potatoes, pasta) and fiber (fresh vegetables) should occupy 2/3 of your diet, as nutritionists say. The reason is simple: carbohydrates are the main source of energy for the body.
The protein intake that doctors agree on is 0,8 grams per kilogram of your weight. If you greatly exceed this value, you can get an upset stomach, weight gain, loss of calcium, worsening of bones and other health problems. In addition, as a rule, it is foods that are high in carbohydrates (cereals, vegetables, cereals) that contain the most vitamins and amino acids. So completely abandoning them in favor of protein is the same as depriving yourself of beneficial substances.
