Unlock Your Best Self: Top Food and Fitness Tips for a Healthier, Happier You!

In the United States, many individuals need to increase their intake of essential nutrients like dietary fiber, calcium, vitamin D, and potassium. Simultaneously, reducing the consumption of added sugar, saturated fat, and sodium is crucial. A healthy diet is essential for good health and nutrition, protecting against chronic noncommunicable diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

The Importance of a Balanced Diet

Good nutrition involves consistently choosing healthy foods and beverages. A healthy eating pattern emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, dairy, and protein. Dairy recommendations include low-fat or fat-free milk, lactose-free milk, and fortified soy beverages, as other plant-based beverages may lack the same nutritional properties. A healthy diet comprises a combination of different foods, including staples like cereals (wheat, barley, rye, maize, or rice) or starchy tubers or roots (potato, yam, taro, or cassava), legumes (lentils and beans), fruits and vegetables, and foods from animal sources (meat, fish, eggs, and milk).

Key Nutrients and Their Benefits

Fiber: Helps maintain digestive health, promotes a feeling of fullness, controls blood sugar, and lowers cholesterol levels.
Calcium and Vitamin D: Work together to promote optimal bone health. While our bodies can produce vitamin D from sunshine, some individuals may need fortified foods or beverages to meet their needs.
Potassium: Helps the kidneys, heart, muscles, and nerves function properly.

Limiting Harmful Substances

Added Sugar: Excessive intake can contribute to weight gain, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.
Saturated Fat: Replacing saturated fat with healthier unsaturated fats can help protect your heart.
Sodium: Eating too much sodium can raise your risk of high blood pressure, heart attack, and stroke. More than 70% of the sodium Americans consume comes from packaged and prepared foods.

Practical Tips for Healthy Eating

Embrace Variety: Aim for a variety of colors on your plate to ensure a wide range of nutrients.
Breastfeed Babies and Young Children: Breastfeeding fosters healthy growth and may have longer-term health benefits, such as reducing the risk of becoming overweight or obese and developing noncommunicable diseases later in life. Feeding babies exclusively with breast milk from birth to 6 months of life is important for a healthy diet. It is also important to introduce a variety of safe and nutritious complementary foods at 6 months of age, while continuing to breastfeed until your child is two years old and beyond.
Eat Plenty of Vegetables and Fruit: They are important sources of vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber, plant protein, and antioxidants. People with diets rich in vegetables and fruit have a significantly lower risk of obesity, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and certain types of cancer.
Eat Less Fat: Fats and oils and concentrated sources of energy. Eating too much, particularly the wrong kinds of fat, like saturated and industrially produced trans-fat, can increase the risk of heart disease and stroke. Using unsaturated vegetable oils (olive, soy, sunflower, or corn oil) rather than animal fats or oils high in saturated fats (butter, ghee, lard, coconut and palm oil) will help consume healthier fats. To avoid unhealthy weight gain, consumption of total fat should not exceed 30% of a person's overall energy intake.
Limit Intake of Sugars: For a healthy diet, sugars should represent less than 10% of your total energy intake.
Use the Healthy Eating Plate: The Healthy Eating Plate can guide you in creating healthy, balanced meals-whether served at the table or packed in a lunch box. Use healthy oils (like olive and canola oil) for cooking, on salad, and at the table. Limit butter. Drink water, tea, or coffee (with little or no sugar). Limit milk/dairy (1-2 servings/day) and juice (1 small glass/day). The more veggies - and the greater the variety - the better. Eat a variety of whole grains (like whole-wheat bread, whole-grain pasta, and brown rice).
Protein Power: Fish, poultry, beans, and nuts are all healthy, versatile protein sources-they can be mixed into salads, and pair well with vegetables on a plate.
Healthy Plant Oils: Choose healthy vegetable oils like olive, canola, soy, corn, sunflower, peanut, and others, and avoid partially hydrogenated oils, which contain unhealthy trans fats.

Exercise and Nutrition: Maximizing Your Workouts

Knowing when and what to eat can make a difference in your workouts. Eating and exercise go together. When and what you eat can be important to how you feel when you exercise. And it's important to think about what you eat when you exercise, whether you're doing a casual workout or training for a competition. If you’re trying to lose weight, it’s important to make sure you aren’t consuming additional calories your body doesn’t need. That means trying to time your meals or snacks around your workouts so you aren’t eating extra snacks for the sake of the workout.

Pre-Workout Nutrition

Time Your Meals: If you exercise in the morning, get up early enough to finish breakfast at least one hour before your workout. Studies suggest that eating or drinking carbohydrates before exercise can help you do better during your workout. And the carbohydrates may allow you to work out for a longer time or at a higher intensity. If you plan to exercise within an hour after breakfast, eat a light meal. Or have a sports drink. And remember, if you usually have coffee in the morning, it's probably OK to have a cup before your workout.
Exercising on an Empty Stomach: Exercising on an empty stomach can help you burn more body fat for fuel. When you eat right before exercising, your body is going to first use the calories you just consumed for fuel. By exercising when it’s been about three to four hours since you last ate, your body is more able to burn fat for fuel because other easier methods of fuel aren’t available. Remember, before exercising, check your glucose levels to make sure you’re within a safe range to do so-about 100 to 180 mg/dL. This can be a very helpful weight-loss tool because regardless of how many calories you burn during your workout, you’re ensuring that you’re burning more body fat for fuel.
Small Meals or Snacks: Be careful not to overdo it when it comes to how much you eat before exercise. Eating too much before you exercise can leave you feeling slow-moving. Most people can eat small snacks right before and during exercise. The key is how you feel. Do what works best for you. Snacks eaten soon before exercise probably won't give you added energy if your workout lasts less than 60 minutes. If your workout is longer than 60 minutes, it may help to have a carbohydrate-rich food or drink during the workout.
Choose a Small Snack or Light Meal: If exercising on an empty stomach isn’t a great fit for you, you can avoid consuming extra calories by simply timing your workout right after a small snack or a light meal. What should you eat? Stick with real food. It doesn’t need to be complicated. Often, combining a carbohydrate source with a protein source is recommended. Some examples include: Fruit + protein (examples: apple with a tablespoon of peanut butter, berries, and a few slices of turkey or nuts)Starch + protein (examples: whole grain crackers and cheese or 1/2 sandwich)Light yogurtOr a lighter snack of veggies and hummus, dip, or string cheese may be desired. Real food. Keep it simple.

Post-Workout Nutrition

Meal Composition: Eat a meal that has both carbohydrates and protein in it within two hours of your workout if possible. Eating after you work out can help muscles recover and replace their glycogen stores. Think about having a snack if your meal is more than two hours away.
Hydration: Don't forget to drink fluids. Drink about 1/2 to 1 cup (118 to 237 milliliters) of water every 15 to 20 minutes during your workout. Water is generally the best way to replace lost fluids. But if you're exercising for more than 60 minutes, try a sports drink. Sports drinks can help keep your body's electrolyte balance.
Don’t force yourself to eat a “post workout meal” for low-intensity exercise: If you’re trying to lose weight and your workouts are lower in intensity (like power walking, jogging, or cycling less than an hour at a time) then you likely do not need an intentional “post-workout meal”. Instead, strive to eat mostly whole foods every four to five hours throughout the day to support your calorie needs while also getting daily exercise.
When You Really Should Eat After Your Workout: For some types of exercise, it’s important to eat a meal (or a protein shake) within the hour after your workout. Types of exercise that might call for an immediate post-workout protein shake or meal include: Weight-lifting, High intensity interval training, Endurance training (long-distance running, cycling, etc.), Any intense exercise over 60 minutes, High-intensity competitive sports (soccer, tennis, racquet ball, etc.)
If you don’t eat a substantial meal or post-workout protein shake after high intensity exercise, a few issues are of concern: You’re depriving your muscles of the amino acids they need to rebuild and recover. You’re not replenishing the stored glucose (glycogen) in your muscles which can lead to further muscle breakdown. You’ll get hungry a few hours later and likely overeat at that later meal.

Considerations for Individuals Taking Insulin

If you take mealtime insulin or other medications that can cause low blood glucose levels, you’ll need to plan the timing of your meals and your exercise more carefully. If you’ve just eaten a meal and taken your full dose of insulin, exercising in the three hours afterwards can lead to low blood glucose (hypoglycemia). This is because exercise causes your muscles to use the glucose in your bloodstream faster. This means you’d need less insulin to manage your goal blood glucose levels after a meal.

Timing Your Meals, Insulin Needs, and Exercise: Reduce the amount of insulin you take for that meal. If you know you’re going to exercise immediately after eating, you can talk to your doctor about reducing your mealtime insulin dose. The type of exercise you choose (walking or jogging vs. lifting weights), the duration (15 minutes vs. 45 minutes), and the intensity can impact just how much less insulin you need with that meal. Depending on the intensity of your workout (like a rigorous weightlifting session), you may find that you need to reduce your insulin dose for the meal you eat in the few hours after exercising. Still, your insulin needs for exercise can depend on other various factors. Consult your health care provider to determine how and if you should adjust insulin doses before and after exercise.
Exercise before eating and taking mealtime insulin. By exercising before you eat and taking your mealtime insulin, you reduce your risk of low blood glucose. This can hugely simplify your ability to exercise without low blood glucose. This can also help prevent the need to eat extra carbs during exercise to prevent/manage low blood glucose. Keep in mind that if you experience a low blood glucose even without rapid-acting mealtime insulin in your system, this is a sign that your other insulin/medication dosages may be too high.
Be sure to check your blood glucose before you exercise and carry fast-acting carbohydrates with you (like glucose tablets, gummy candy, or juice) whenever exercising in case you experience low blood glucose.

Natural and Home Remedies to Boost Your Health

Limit Sugary Drinks: Avoid sodas, fruit juices, and sweetened teas, which are primary sources of added sugar. Healthier alternatives include water, unsweetened teas, sparkling water, and coffee.
Eat Nuts and Seeds: They are packed with protein, fiber, and a variety of vitamins and minerals.
Minimize Ultra-Processed Foods (UPFs): These foods often contain additives like added sugar, highly refined oil, salt, preservatives, artificial sweeteners, colors, and flavors.
Drink Coffee (in Moderation): It’s rich in antioxidants and has been linked to longevity and a reduced risk of various illnesses.
Eat Fatty Fish: Fatty fish, such as salmon, is loaded with anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids and various other nutrients.
Get Enough Sleep: Poor sleep can drive insulin resistance, disrupt your appetite hormones, and reduce your physical and mental performance.
Take Care of Your Gut Health: Good ways to improve gut health include eating fermented foods like yogurt and sauerkraut, taking probiotic supplements - when indicated - and eating plenty of fiber.
Stay Hydrated: Drinking water is the best way to stay hydrated, as it’s free of calories, sugar, and additives.
Avoid Burning Meat: Limit your consumption of red and processed meats like lunch meats and bacon as these are linked to overall cancer risk and colon cancer risk.
Reduce Blue Light Exposure: This can help your body better produce melatonin naturally as evening progresses, helping you sleep better.
Optimize Vitamin D Levels: If you do not spend a lot of time in the sunlight, your vitamin D levels may be low.
Eat Vegetables and Fruits: Studies show that people who eat more vegetables and fruits tend to live longer and have a lower risk for heart disease, obesity, and other illnesses.
Eat Enough Protein: High protein intake may boost your metabolic rate - or calorie burn - while making you feel full. It may also reduce cravings and your desire to snack late at night.
Do Cardio: According to the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, we should strive for at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity each week.
Avoid Smoking, Harmful Use of Drugs, and Alcohol Abuse: There are resources available online - and likely in your local community, as well - to help with this. Talk with your doctor to learn more about accessing resources.
Use Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Extra virgin olive oil may benefit heart health, as people who consume it have a lower risk for dying from heart attacks and strokes according to some evidence.
Limit Added Sugar: The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend keeping added sugar intake below 10% of your daily calorie intake, while the World Health Organization recommends slashing added sugars to 5% or less of your daily calories for optimal health.
Avoid Refined Carbs: Studies show that a diet high in refined carbs may be linked to overeating, weight gain, and chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Do Strength Training: The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommends resistance training twice per week.
Avoid Artificial Trans Fats: Avoiding them should be much easier now that they have been completely banned in the United States and many other countries.
Use Herbs and Spices: Due to their powerful potential health benefits, you should aim to include a wide variety of herbs and spices in your diet.
Nurture Social Relationships: Studies show that people who have close friends and family are healthier and live much longer than those who do not.
Track Your Food Intake (with Caution): Tracking can also provide insights into your protein, fiber, and micronutrient intake. Always speak with a doctor before using this strategy.
Reduce Belly Fat: Reducing refined carbs, eating more protein and fiber, and reducing stress (which can reduce cortisol, a stress hormone that triggers abdominal fat deposition) are all strategies that may help you get rid of belly fat.
Avoid Dieting: Instead of dieting, try adopting a healthier lifestyle. Focus on nourishing your body instead of depriving it.
Enjoy Eggs: Studies show that they have minimal effect on blood cholesterol in the majority of people, and they’re a great source of protein and nutrients.
Manage Stress: Meditation is one such way, and it has some scientific evidence to support its use for stress management and improving health.

Read also: Healthy Eating on the Run

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