You Are What You Eat: Nutritional Basics

Nutrition is important for our daily lives. Nutrition requires us to think about what we eat and drink and how they will maximize our bodies to perform at their best each day under multiple conditions. The following article will give you nutrition tips to help your body perform at its maximum.

Eat your vegetables and your children will too. Children like to be like mom and dad which means that eating vegetables with meals, and more importantly as snacks, sets a standard with your children. They will learn to love them once they start eating them since you are eating them as well.

If you are travel a lot, you should carry snacks, like protein bars or something similar, in your laptop case. Finding a healthy meal in an airport can be hard. You may be hurrying through the security checkpoint, waiting at the terminal or flying on a route that does not offer food. If you keep a few energy bars on hand, they’ll tide you over til you get back on the ground.

You should write down everything you eat during the day. This helps make you accountable for what you have eaten. It also helps you to not “forget” about that latte you indulged in, or that candy bar you ate after lunch. Knowing what you have eaten already will help you make better decisions about what to eat at the next meal or snack time.

When considering a diet that provides an adequate nutrition level, be sure to include low fat milk. Milk provides many nutrients – including calcium and protein – that the body needs. Studies have shown that drinking milk does benefit both muscle growth, and also the body’s ability to maintain a healthy body fat content.

When you are craving a glass of fruit juice, you should consider having a small piece of fresh fruit instead. This will curb your craving and it will also keep you full for much longer. If you must drink fruit juice, try to drink a diet or 100 percent natural version.

Artificial sweeteners replacing all of your sugar intake is a good nutritional tip. Excessive sugar can result in many adverse health problems, like heart disease. For a healthy alternative to sugar, use all-natural Stevia. You will not notice anything different about the taste.

A good nutrition tip is to invest in a shaker bottle. Shaker bottles are a great way to transport protein shakes and they are invaluable for anyone that works out. They’re usually available at a cheap price and if taken care of, they can last a long time.

What you eat really does matter; good nutrition is essential to good health. When it is possible, you should choose items that are made with brown rice, barley, oats, or wheat. You should steer clear of white bread and flour products, whole wheat is really much better for you. Whole wheat provides more fiber and may potentially reduce the risk of cancer, diabetes, stroke, and heart disease.

Low fat energy bars are a great snack that you can choose before you go to work. They will supply you with the energy that you need, with very low fat and sugar content. These bars are also great to consume right before you go to the gym, to provide the energy necessary to perform your workout.

Although it seems counter-intuitive, not all fats are bad. “Friendly fats”, or unsaturated fats, are essential in the body. These fats, which include omega-3 fatty acids, perform an important service in the human body. Unsaturated fats, which are found in most fish, olives, cashews, avocados, and peanuts, are essential as part of a healthy cardiovascular system. Like all fats, however, they should be consumed in moderation.

Although most nutritionists agree that small, frequent meals and even the occasional scheduled snack is a highly effective plan for healthy eating, ALL agree that these snacks should be some approximation of nutritious. Some people mistakenly tell themselves that a small, unhealthy snack is preferable to simply going without food for extended periods of time, but this is dangerous thinking. Limit yourself to one or two nutrient-rich, healthy, filling snacks per day.

Stay away from snacks that have lots of saturated fats. Ingredients that include vegetable oil should be avoided as well. Often this includes fats and oils that are higher than animal-based products in saturated fat. Saturated fat can lead to elevated levels of fat in your body. Even products that say they do not contain cholesterol can elevate your cholesterol.

As stated before, nutrition is important for our lives. It helps our bodies perform at their absolute best under every day conditions by thinking about our food and drink intake. By using the nutrition tips from the article above, you can allow your body to perform at its best.