Your weight loss journey should be flexible, keep you motivated and allow you to feel at ease with eating. In other words, eating should not feel laborious – like a chore.
You’ll slim down faster if your eating style becomes effortless and almost routine.
Instead of making junk food or ‘strict diet foods’ your eating routine, allow yourself to become accustomed to consuming liquids and foods in a relaxing, almost unself-conscious manner.
When something becomes a habit, especially one where your body has becomes reprogrammed to it, it’s much easier to stick with it. Leaving out the hassle of making it ‘official’ (read: I’m on a weight loss diet!)
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What are 5 practical tips to stay healthy on a weight loss journey?
The power of Hydration
If you’re unmotivated by plain water, try fruit, herb, or spice-infused water. Ginger in particular is anti-inflammatory so it’s great for bloating effect.
Fruit-infused waters are amazing in that they provide so many macro and micronutrients in a single portion and they taste delicious.
You can also get a high intake of water, and stay hydrated by eating fruits that are naturally high in water.
Watermelon, as per its name, contains 92% water. Cucumbers, tomatoes, watercress, apples, celery, lettuce, and peaches, all contain so much that you can swap it out for drinking water to keep things interesting.
Sugar-free teas
Turmeric, Lemon, and ginger bombs in freshly boiled water is great to enjoy as a craving replacement.
They are so much fun to meal prep — a simple chop, blend, pour, and freeze process. Best of all, they’re appetite-suppressing.
It will take your mind off sugary and salty cravings throughout the day. Once your pallet adjusts to the herbal flavours and invigorating aromas, you’ll be hooked.
Weight loss snacks
Snack on crispy homemade (preservative-free) crisps/chips to ward off the potato chips (salty) craving. It’ll convert you to healthy eating so quickly because it tricks your mind into forgetting about old cravings.
How about a healthy smoothie drink instead of one loaded with dairy milk and refined white sugar?
The ones that make you fall off the ‘wagon’ of dieting.
Lemon Juicer
Always keep a container filled with freshly squeezed lemon juice in the fridge. It saves you time and effort when you need it for nutritional cooking. Instead of squeezing by hand, you simply squeeze and rotate. I use this version at home and I promise you don’t need a fancy mechanical one as this one works perfectly!
Vegetable Spiraliser
This gadget helped me ditch gluten-loaded pasta. It’s so easy to create vegetable spaghetti (zucchini) and it’s really changed my life. It also does so much more – see the features for spiralising cucumber, onions, cabbage, carrots and beetroot.
The benefits of choosing low GI foods
Eat lots of foods with a low Glycaemic index as these create the feeling of satiety and are excellent for blood sugar regulation. So you stave off the energy crash and the sugar/salt cravings that immediately follow.
These foods include and are not limited to high fibre foods like carrots, kale, red cabbage, and many more.
You can even include oats and granola here. They’re high in calories, but contain the right kind of fibre that staves off your appetite due to their low GI qualities. So, the trick is to consume it in the right quantity ie. a palm-sized serving will see you through to your next meal.
Make sure you’re eating homemade granola though, that way you can control how the sugar and salt content.
Check out this homemade granola recipe formula. It’s fuss-free and cheap to make.
Weight loss food philosophy
Think about your daily eating style. Build your exercise regimen around the way you eat and what times of the day are your best times for fuelling up.
If you’re not a 5:30 am workout type, then that’s ok. Perhaps you’re someone that prefers a quiet wake-up call and an easy breakfast.
This is a great alternative as you can load up on healthy foods because you’re taking your time. This can prepare you for exercise later in the morning when you don’t have to worry about eating very early, or hurriedly and then have to carb-load immediately after exercise.
We’re all different and our attitudes toward staying fit and getting enough heart-healthy cardio have changed.
Listen to your body and your nutritional needs, then allow your weight loss journey to work around that.
Conclusion
Don’t make weight loss an addictive or obsessive process. It all comes down to food choices and physical activity – not even fitness. A simple brisk walk every day already contributes to lowering cortisol which is linked to weight gain.
Adopt a long-term slimming-down approach to the perfect weight for your BMI.
Aim to use the right health-building and healing foods to get to the goal without the pressure. This type of eating style has longevity and that’s what you should go after.
When you find yourself craving a flavor or texture, there’s no better opportunity to make a healthy swap. Download my FREE Guide for Healthy Craving Swaps, it’ll inspire you.
If you liked this recipe post, you’ll love this article which also uses recipe formulas to make healthy meals.
Would you like to see more salad recipes? They’re great as weight loss meals and you can eat as many of them as you like because most of the ingredients are low-fat and sugar-free.
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*cravenutritionalcooking.com does not give medical advice. Where there is reference to it, the phrasing is merely used to illustrate a point or give context to food and cooking for nutrition information. It is not related to a specific condition or to any specific individual. Always consult your healthcare professional for medical and dietetic advice before embarking on any type of eating plan or ingesting nutritional supplements.
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