Eating habits have a very real impact on your weight and overall health. They say you are what you eat, and that is a very true statement. Most people don’t pay attention to what they eat, when they eat, and how often they eat. This kind of negligent thinking puts your body at risk in more than one way, and may lead to further complications down the line.
Free Report: 9 Healthy Things You Can Do To Help You Live LongerWhen Do You Eat?
If you eat several small meals throughout the day your body’s metabolism will be stimulated enough to burn calories effectively and keep a supply of energy available when you need it.
On the other hand if you eat only around noon, and then late at night, your body is robbed of that much needed energy, and is in turn overloaded with food at a time when your metabolism is slowing down. If we take this kind of eating habit as an example, we’ll find that the efficiency with which your body is turning food into energy is very low, and most of those calories end up as fat.
While most of us eat when we are hungry, your daily eating schedule should be optimized in a way that allows your metabolism to function at the best possible efficiency. Everyone’s metabolism is slightly different, but there are ways you can learn how your own metabolism works.
What Do You Eat?
What we eat also plays a role in our overall health and weight management. By now, it’s common knowledge that diets, which consist of fast food and sugary beverages, are definitely not healthy, and can lead to various cardiovascular complications down the line.
Portion control is also a critical aspect of healthy weight loss that can also be maintained for the long term. It may actually be one of the most important, if not the most important eating habits that needs to be addressed in order to lose the weight and keep it off.
One of the best aspects of mastering portion control is that you will not have to deprive yourself of the occasional not so healthy favorites, which is the highlight of moderation.
Identifying Your Eating Habits
Eating habits are not something we usually think about unless we’re trying to lose weight or gain muscle mass. For example, chances are you regularly grab something to eat when you sit down to watch TV or play video games. These are known as triggers – events and actions that prompt your brain to seek food even though your body doesn’t necessarily need it.
Recognizing the bad effects of your eating habits such as these triggers is the first step you can make towards changing your eating habits. It will take both time and discipline to eliminate these detrimental eating habits, but you’ll feel better for it.
In order to achieve this, and reduce any bad habits to a minimum, you need to find out what your eating habits are. You can do this by keeping a journal where you will write down what you eat, and when you eat. Write down what actions make you want to eat even though you are not hungry, and what you can do to suppress these needs.
Track your diet for several days and you’ll start to see a pattern. Once you have a somewhat clear picture of your eating habits, you can change whatever you need in order to align your eating habits with your personal goals, whether they are focused on weight loss or overall fitness.
Changing Your Eating Habits
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it’s important to introduce any changes gradually so that you have enough time to adjust mentally to the new schedule. The last thing you want is to push yourself too far and rebound to your old ways. This can be especially irritating if you’re on a weight loss plan.
Just take your time and do things slowly. Keep in mind that the eating habits you’re trying to alter have been there for a while, usually since early childhood, and they’re not something you can just change overnight.
Free Report: 9 Things To Help You Live Longer
You probably already know that the way you choose to live your life has some effect on how long you’ll live. But, believe it or not, we do actually have some degree of control over our life expectancy! If you want to know exactly where you should be focusing your efforts to live a healthier lifestyle check out my free report Top 9 Things You Can Do For Your Health To Help You Live Longer. The choices you make about your lifestyle don’t mean that you and your loved ones have to live shorter lives.
