Healthy eating starts with your goal. And yet many people start a diet without any idea of what they want to achieve. However, this approach is like travelling without planning your trip. There’s a high possibility that you’ll wander around aimlessly. Perhaps you’ll even get lost. The same can be said of healthy eating. If you don’t know why you want to shake up your diet, then you may start eating the wrong foods. This approach then makes achieving your goal challenging, which can result in disappointment and lost motivation to continue. Let’s look at why this is important to make your goal achievable and how you can get started.
Healthy Eating Starts With Your Goal #1 Why Should Your Eating Start With A Goal?
Your goal may be to lose weight or to improve your health, or to become a professional bodybuilder. Each of these goals will require different key nutritional changes so they make your goal achievable. If you style your nutrition around your fitness goal and make crucial tweaks to your food intake, then you’ll set yourself up for failure.
Once you’ve established your goal, then it’s time to look at the amount of calories that you need to consume daily based on your goal. For instance, if your goal is to lose 10 kilograms (22 pounds) then you need to make this goal SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timed). A SMART weight lose goal is to lose 10 kilograms over 10 weeks by eating healthy and burning 500 to 1000 calories more a day. This goal is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic , and timed, plus it takes your body’s needs and your health into consideration.
As a general rule of thumb it is healthy to lose up to 1 kilogram a week or 2 pounds a week. Any more than this and you can put your body under too much stress and make it difficult for it to adapt to the changes that are occurring. For example, your skin will shrink to fit your body size if you give it time to make the necessary changes. But if you rush the process then you may be left with excess skin.
Health Eating Starts With Your Goal #2 Where Should You Start When it Comes to Nutrition?
A healthy diet is a type of diet that is nutritionally balanced and provides the body with essential vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients. This diet should cater to your food likes so that you look forward to eating your meals. Also, it should provide you with adequate nutrition to meet your daily calorie requirements based on your goal. For instance, if you wish to lose weight and improve your physical appearance–less wrinkles, better skin tone, a healthier glow, and lean muscle, then you’ll need to eat a healthy and balanced diet.
There are many benefits to having a healthy diet. A healthy diet can improve your physical appearance by giving you more energy and making your skin look healthier. It can also help you feel better by reducing stress and anxiety levels. It can be as simple as adding in a health pre workout before you hit the gym or improving your vegetable intake. It’s all about what works for you. So, don’t be afraid to experiment and try new routines or even foods.
Different Diets
There are many different diets that people follow to maintain a healthy lifestyle. One of the most common is the paleo diet. This type of diet consists of eating foods that were available to humans during the Paleo era such as meat, fish, vegetables, eggs and nuts. A positive aspect of this diet is it provides adequate protein and omega 3 fatty acids. This type of diet also eliminates sugar and processed food which can be harmful to your health over time.
Another type of diet is the Mediterranean, which consists of clean eating, where natural foods–those grown in a garden or caught in an ocean–are eaten, instead of processed foods–those manufactured by man.
There are many more types of diets that you can consider. Alternatively, you can contact a nutritional advisor and have them design a heathy eating plan specifically for you and your goals. This approach lets you eat what you enjoy in the right quantities to achieve your goals and to provide your body with the appropriate levels of protein, vitamins and minerals.
Health Eating Starts With Your Goal #3 What Should Your Diet Include?
Your diet should include a number of essentials. These are as follows:
- Vegetables: Vegetables are rich in fiber, vitamins and minerals. They are also low in calories which makes them a perfect choice for weight loss.
- Fruits: Fruits are good for your health because they contain natural sugars which provide energy to the body. They also have antioxidants that protect against chronic diseases like cancer and heart disease.
- Healthy Proteins: Healthy proteins are essential for a person’s diet because they provide the necessary amino acids to the body and help with muscle growth.
- Healthy Fats: Healthy fats can help with weight loss because they make you feel full, slow down digestion, and boost your metabolism.
Health Eating Starts With Your Goal #4 How Do You Keep Motivated?
The key to success is to keep up the momentum. You just have to do a little a lot by taking baby steps daily towards your goal. Sure, it can be hard to stay motivated when you’re trying to change your lifestyle. But if you make small changes daily and remain consistent you will reach your goal. Plus, you’ll find that the longer you work towards your goal, your daily changes will become lifestyle habits.
Healthy Eating Starts With Your Goal Key Takeaways
A goal gives you direction and helps you to work out a pathway to success. To eat healthy you need to have a goal that you can work towards as this lets you acheive sustainable habits.
Just to recap, to achieve healthy eating you need to:
- Start your healthy eating with a goal.
- Have adequate nutrition to meet your daily calorie requirements.
- Experiement with different diets and if you’re not sure, then consult a nutritional advisor.
- Include the essential factors in your diet to improve your health overtime and give yourself the best chance to achieve your goals.
- Keep motivated to drive momentum so you reach your goal and create new lifestyle habits.
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