A New Year a New You
Many of us use the start of a New Year to make some
changes in our life, particularly with our diet, whether it be to lose weight,
eat more healthily or try some new foods. So if you have decided to take the
plunge and make some dietary changes, but are not sure where to start, why not
glean some inspiration here and get the year off to a tasty, but healthy start!
The New Year
Fitness Regime
If one of your
new year’s resolutions is to acquaint yourself with the gym, then you need to
make sure your body is prepared for all the extra hard work you will be
inflicting on it. Remember food is the body’s fuel, the better quality of fuel
you put in, the better performance you get out of it! Any athlete will tell
you, that protein is a sport person’s best friend and is an essential component
of a healthy diet. If
you are have started a new fitness regime this year and are working those
muscles like never before, then its good quality protein that you need to
repair and rebuild muscle tissue.
Almond and rice
milk are both very low in protein and provide a poor source of it. If
you are a vegetarian, eating good quality protein is even more important
as many vegetarian diets lack
good, ‘complete protein’ foods. A great source of protein for vegetarians is
pulses such as pinto beans, chickpeas, navy beans and kidney beans.
Another food
that should be on your menu if you are exercising, training or hitting the gym
more, is quinoa. This is a gluten free grain, so suitable for those with
coeliac disease or gluten intolerance, and is a high source of both protein and
carbohydrate. The Incas used to feed it to their warriors to improve stamina,
so it is great for those people competing in endurance sports such as marathon
running or even just to help you jog round the block! If it was good enough for
Inca Warriors, it’s good for you too!
To help give you
an extra bit of ‘go’ in your new fitness endeavours, then try increasing your
consumption of beetroot and watermelon, not necessarily at the same time though
as they don’t necessarily complement each other taste wise! Both beetroot and
watermelon have been shown to have a vasodilating effect on the blood vessels,
which means that your blood vessels expand and get bigger, which results in
increased blood flow and thus increased oxygen to muscles and tissues in the
body. This is particularly beneficial during exercise and sporting activities.
Once the hard
work is over and you are recovering whilst slumped in a chair, there are foods
that can help the recovery process. Coconut water contains the electrolytes
sodium and potassium, which are essential for vital bodily processes. These
electrolytes are lost during sweating and need to be replenished after a
workout, so drinking coconut water can help with this. Make sure you choose a
brand that is 100% coconut water though and not one with added sugar. If those
muscles are feeling a little sore, pomegranates can also be your new best friend
as these are high in polyphenols, which can help reduce muscle soreness as well
as offering anti-inflammatory properties that will help the post workout pain.
The New Year Weight
Loss Resolution
If you are one of the thousands of people who are on
a mission to lose weight this year, it can feel daunting knowing what you
should and shouldn’t be eating. The ongoing craze of smoothie making is still
going strong and I’m sure Santa delivered many a ‘smoothie making machine’ down
a few chimneys at Christmas. Smoothies are healthy in moderation and as an
addition to a healthy diet, but this also depends on exactly what they are made
from.
All fruit smoothies are very high in sugar and
because you are consuming this in liquid, rather than the solid fruit form, the
sugar is available to the body very quickly. This can lead to spikes in blood
sugar levels, which is not good for those people with diabetes, those wanting
to lose weight and also those with low energy levels. Smoothies made with
vegetables don’t contain as much sugar, but will not keep you full in the same
way as eating those same vegetables in their solid state. Liquids leave your
stomach far sooner than solid foods and once food has left your stomach that is
when you start to feel hungry again. This can often cause you to reach for other
foods to satisfy your hunger, meaning that drinking smoothies can often result
in more calories being consumed over the course of a day than would otherwise be
the case had you used those same ingredients in their whole form. If you are
hooked on your smoothies, as long as you have them in moderation, then they can
be a tasty way get some goodness when time is short.
When it comes to
weight loss, one easy addition you can make to your diet is by including foods
that naturally increase your body’s metabolism. By increasing your body’s
metabolism, your body will burn more calories and so a faster metabolism
results in greater weight loss. There are foods and certain eating behaviours
that have been shown to have a natural influence on increasing metabolism.
Fresh red or green chillies are not only packed with vitamin C, but they are
also high in a compound called Capsaicin. It is this little ingredient that can
really give metabolism a boost in the right direction. You can add Chillies to
almost anything, including soups, casseroles, salads and dips. Green tea also
contains active compounds that helps speed up metabolic rate, so why not
increase your fluid intake and start drinking 2-4cups of green tea every day.
This is particularly important, because if you don’t drink enough, as many of
us don’t, dehydration reduces metabolic rate so will not stand you in good
stead when you are on a weight loss mission.
Eating a good
amount of protein in your diet is also very important for those wanting to lose
weight. Foods high in protein, both animal and plant sources, take more
breaking down by the digestive system. This breaking down of foods requires
energy, so the harder it is for the body to break a food down, the more
calories the body burns trying to do it, which is good news for you and bad
news for your fat!
The New Year Improvement of Your Mental
health
Sometimes a New Year can prompt people to become more
focused on their mental health, which can be an easy area of health to neglect,
especially at this time of the year when most media attention focuses on
physical health as a main priority. We have all heard the expression ‘A healthy
mind, a healthy body’ and there is a lot of truth in this statement. If your
New Year’s goal is to improve your mental health by reducing stress levels and
providing more ‘you time’, then make sure you focus on your diet too, as
nutrition greatly influences a person’s mental state. Research shows that a
deficiency in certain vitamins and minerals, including selenium, magnesium and
B6, increases the prevalence of depression and low mood. Many foods contain
these such as spinach, bananas, dates, beans, nuts, seeds and avocado.
If reducing stress levels is the key to improving
your mental health this year, then there are definitely some foods that are
best avoided, especially those that act as neuro-stimulators, which can
aggravate stress levels further. Alcohol, and beverages containing caffeine
such as tea, coffee and energy drinks are all neuro-stimulators and can
adversely affect stress levels and stress hormones in the body. Foods high in
Omega 3 fatty acids should certainly be eaten daily if possible, as these have
a very positive impact on mental health including improving mood, reducing
depressive symptoms and reducing anxiety. Best sources of Omega 3s are found in
wild salmon, sardines, flax seeds and walnuts.
Achievable
Goals
Improving
your health should never just be a New Year goal that is often forgotten by
March, if not sooner. Making changes should be gradual and incorporated into an
ongoing lifestyle change. In this way, the changes you make will be far more
sustainable over the long term. Set yourself achievable goals that you reevaluate
regularly and that become a natural part of daily routine rather than an
unobtainable mission.
RESOURCES:
·
Effects of Differing Dosages of Pomegranate Juice
Supplementation after Eccentric Exercise, 2014. Physiology Journal
·
The health benefits of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids: a review of the
evidence, 2004. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics
·
Selenium content and distribution of human, cow and goat
milk, 1987.The Journal of Nutrition
·
The effects of
green tea on weight loss and weight maintenance: a meta-analysis, 2009.The
International Journal of Obesity.