10 Ways to Improve Your Diet

With life, work, and studies getting in the way, it can be incredibly difficult at times to get all of the nutrition you need from the food you eat. Oftentimes, it can be easier to get a bar of chocolate or a takeaway when you’re too tired to cook or snack on anything healthy, and counting calories can sometimes be more hassle than you need in your life. If you are a person who finds these things happening often, then check out these ten tips for improving your diet in a way that works around your life!

1. Drink More Water

This is the simplest way to improve your diet — drink more water on a daily basis! As humans, water is one of the main parts of our biological makeup. Every day, we sweat away a lot of our body’s water supply, so the first way to get more nutrition into your diet is to drink plenty of water. Take a bottle of water with you if you’re out and about and sip on it during the day, filling it up when it empties. Not only will this make you feel more refreshed and ready for the day, it will also save you money as water is usually cheaper than buying carbonated drinks.

2. Pre-Pack Snacks for the Day

Over time, almost everyone will be guilty of just turning to the snack machines and grabbing a bar of chocolate when you’re feeling hungry. The best way to combat this is to bring plenty of snacks with you if you have to spend a day out of the house. Cutting up simple fruits such as apples and pre-packing them into a tub allows you to transport them with you wherever you go. If you get hungry, just munch on the apple instead of turning to the machines!

3. Cook Simple Meals From Scratch

Nowadays, ready-meals have a lot of sugar, salt, and other unhealthy things in them. Yes, they are extremely handy if you’re too tired to cook, but they aren’t exactly the most nutritious meals! An easy way to ensure that you know what’s going into your body is to cook your meals from scratch. You don’t have to be a kitchen goddess or have all of the time in the world to do this either — simple meals such as mac ’n’ cheese are easy and take under 15 minutes to cook from scratch! Check out simple recipes on the internet and let your inner cook out. Your body will thank you for it in the long run.

4. Eat Breakfast

For some, a busy lifestyle doesn’t allow for eating breakfast. This can be awful for your diet, as breakfast is supposed to set you up for the day. Without breakfast, you can be left feeling lethargic and more likely to head to the snack machines. So even if you have to grab a slice of toast on the way out of the door, ensure that you eat something for breakfast!

5. Try and Eat Varied Fruits / Vegetables

Doctors recommend that we should have five portions of fruits and vegetables per day in order to lead a healthy lifestyle. As much as this is paraded around, especially by parents, it is an essential part of maintaining a healthy diet. So during the day, snack on some fruits and try and add as many fruits and vegetables into your main meals as you can. If you don’t like the texture of vegetables or fruits, a great way to get around it is to add them to soups and blend them, or create smoothies.

6. Have a Glass of Fruit Juice a Day

This is actually a trick that my mother used to use when me and my siblings were younger and didn’t want to eat fruit — she would give us fruit juices. Some fruit juices have so much fruit packed into the carton that they count as one of your five-a-day and guess what? They’re super tasty too! So if you’re not a huge fan of eating fruit, grab a carton of low-sugar fruit drink.

7. Try and Avoid Salt

Too much salt isn’t good for your body. If you’re incredibly prone to adding salt to your fries, or putting too much salt in things that you cook, then try and pull back! If you simply cannot live without adding salt into recipes, try substituting it for an alternative, such as cinnamon, which will be healthier.

8. Make Smaller Portions

Sometimes, people do make way too much food. This can cause an ‘eyes-bigger-than-your-belly’ scenario, where you eat more than you should because it has been sat down in front of you. An easy way to combat this is to make a smaller portion of your food. Instead of cooking a lot and putting a lot on your plate, refrigerate leftovers if you have any. Reduce the amount of food that you eat, because if you’re eating too much food at meals then you’re not doing your body any favours.

9. Eat More Slowly

Another way to ensure that you eat smaller portions is to sit down and enjoy your food! If you eat too quickly, your stomach does not have the time to register that it is full. This can lead to over-eating. The simplest way to combat this is to sit down and have a meal with someone, take a drink of something with your dinner or just to simply savour every mouthful! This can be more difficult to do on a timescale, but even if you just sit down once and week and enjoy a good meal, it will help.

10. Allow Yourself Treats

Many people believe that simply cutting out fatty / unhealthy foods altogether is a perfect way to diet. However, this leaves you with foods that are out of bounds and more alluring. Setting your favourite chocolate bar as a treat and not as something you can’t ever eat will mean that you’ll not feel as bad if you eat one of them. Allow room in your diet for small treats every now and then. After all, we all deserve something sweet once in a while!

Although these are all helpful tips, it is also important to remember that a healthy lifestyle is also incredibly important! Eating healthily will not help on its own -- you also need to remember to get enough sleep and exercise.

Special thanks to silent hearts. and losing control. for editing.