You may not want to lose weight. To get beach body, you may just need to tone up and get firmer. Exercise helps with that, but so does food. It’s time to make a few changes to your diet to help you get the beach body of your dreams. Here are six foods you need to add to your shopping list right now.
Lean Meats for the Protein
You muscles need protein. This food group helps to build, repair and tone the shape of the muscles, as well as create a stronger body for you.
Protein comes from meat, but you need to think about the type of meat you eat. Lean cuts are the best because they have less fat. Focus on poultry for lower calorie options.
Mackerel, Salmon and Tuna for Omega 3
You may have heard a lot lately about Omega 3 rich foods. Oily fish is a great source of this mineral, and that includes the likes of tuna, mackerel and salmon.
These fishes are also full of vitamin B12, A, K and C, along with many other minerals that your body needs to help tone and shape it. You just need one portion of one of these a week and you will be on your way to a beach body.
Prawns to Clear Your Skin
Not everyone likes the idea of eating prawns, but if you’re not bothered by them then it’s time to add them to your weekly shopping list. Prawns offer many of the same benefits as salmon and tuna, but they are also full of selenium.
This mineral helps to boost the immune system, while improving the look of your skin. It’s time to get the glowing skin that your firmer beach body deserves.
Cottage Cheese for Low-Calorie Calcium
Your body needs calcium and vitamin D. Both of these come from dairy products that are known for being high in calories. This is where cottage cheese is your best friend.
It is low in calories, while being high in calcium and vitamin D. When you give your body all the nutrients it needs, the metabolism works at its optimum level, so you get the amazing beach body.
Kale and Spinach for Collagen Boosts
Kale, spinach and other dark leafy greens are a must for any diet, but will really help with your beach body.
They are full of so many minerals, including iron and magnesium. The minerals also help to boost the amount of collagen being produced, which helps to prevent your skin from tearing. This reduces the change of stretch marks and cellulite!
Any Red Vegetable, Including Beetroot
Red vegetables are a must for the diet. They’re full of lycopene, which is an antioxidant that the skin needs. This antioxidant like dark leafy greens helps to boost the amount of collagen being produce in the skin.
Your skin will become more flexible and no longer break when it stretches. They’re also full of fibre, which helps your body digest food properly instead of clinging onto it and being bloated.
The Paleo diet is also commonly referred to as the Caveman diet. The idea is to only eat the food that would have been around in the time of the cavemen, which means cutting out refined foods and sugars. However, like other diets this is not something everyone will be able to follow. Here are six reasons the paleo diet may not be for you.
The Focus on Protein
There is a huge focus on eating protein, especially meat. This is not something for vegetarians or vegans, but can also lead to other health issues for meat-eaters.
You need to think carefully about the type of meat you do eat (avoiding the fatty types) but you still run the risk of high cholesterol levels. The protein is also harder to break down. While that is good for feeling fuller, it can cause havoc on the digestive system.
Lots of Nuts
Nuts and seeds are an important part of the diet to gain variety in the diet. The problem is that nuts are full of fibre. They can lead to constipation and other digestive problems.
It takes time to recover from the pain that nuts can cause on the digestive system. You can avoid all nuts and nut-based products, but then your diet will be very monotone and difficult to stick to.
It Means a Lot of Fruit
Fruit and vegetables are on the list for the Paleo diet. However, fruit doesn’t digest well for everyone.
It is also important to think about the natural sugars in the fruits. While in moderation these natural sugars are going to do little harm, if your diet is mostly made up of the fruit you could end up with other health problems. It’s still important to balance all your food groups out.
High Levels of Fat
It’s not the fact that it is fat that is a problem. The diet is full of healthy fats, which is a good thing. However, any type of fat can be difficult to digest. Remember that you’re eating a lot of nuts, which are full of healthy fats.
You could find your body really struggle to digest the fatty substances, which can cause other bowel issues. It’s important to trial a few things to find out how your stomach takes to it.
Extremely Restrictive
The whole diet is extremely restrictive. This can be a problem for some people. You may want to eat cake, biscuits and anything that gives you a quick energy boost for your snacks.
These are strictly off limits. There are some recipes for Paleo versions of your favourites, but they don’t taste great for everyone and you need to find the time to make them.
Difficult to Stick To
People find the diet difficult to stick to. This is mainly due to the restrictiveness of the diet, as it is very difficult just to get on with life.
Alcohol is off limits, along with many foods that are enjoyed when eating out. It makes it difficult to plan things and enjoy days or nights out with friends.
Think about your digestion!
In winter, a lot of people prefer fatty meat dishes or high-carb pasta. These are completely unnecessary.
We don’t say that you most forget bacon and sausages if you like them, but reducing the consumption of processed or fatty meat products is good for your health – especially those who have a sedentary lifestyle.
Your digestion and health are burdened if you eat too much meat. Such a diet contains far too much saturated fatty acids, when more fiber and unsaturated fatty acids would be needed, besides vitamins and minerals as well.
Unhealthy food choices not only threaten with obesity, but with various diseases and decreased immune activity, too.
Take some probiotics!
In winter, our body often has to cope with challenges, which require immaculate intestinal flora as a base of the immunity. You should replenish your antibiotics storages from natural sources or with the help of some pills.
In fact, everybody should eat at least one low-fat yogurt a day. Besides this, there are various OTC products or even medical mushrooms to do something about your beneficial bacteria.
A high-fiber diet with fruits, vegetables and whole grains are also good for your intestines, as well as proper fluid consumption.
More vegetables needed
Unfortunately, they move into the background in our diet when we really need them. Winter provides a modest selection of vegetables, so you may easily disregard the fiber-rich delicacies.
The winter season is perfect for hot vegetable dishes and salads. French salad, corn salad, potato salad, tuna salad and pickles will do the trick!
Let’s eat fruit!
In addition to the vegetables you need fruits as well, but they can be much easier marginalized than vegetables in winter. You should rely on the blender in the kitchen, so freshly frozen fruits rich in vitamins can be easily prepared and consumed.
Don’t underestimate home-canned jams as far as their vitamin contents are concerned, but beware of the sugar.
Hot drinks and soups
Winter is the perfect time for hot beverages and delicious soups, as they mean great help to body and soul. The spicy broth with lots of greens is a real home remedy, just like our grandmothers said.
The benefits of green tea come as a relief in the winter, so consider drinking that! Occasionally, mulled wine and coffee can be beneficial as well, but be careful with their caffeine, alcohol and sugar content.
Vitamin supplements
Despite paying great attention to your diet, there is always a chance that you need extra help with some vitamins and minerals to knock down diseases. You do not have to spend much on a multivitamin, considering a price of a few doses of antibiotics.
Mood, energy levels and entire wellbeing could be lifted with vital elements.
]]>More fruit and vegetables
One of the biggest problems regarding our nutrition is that we eat too much sweets and fatty foods, while fruits and vegetables remain in the background.
So you should primarily concentrate on these, even if you can’t reach the recommended five servings a day yet.
Fruit and vegetable soups are highly recommended, as well as dried fruits (even dipped in dark chocolate), freshly squeezed juices, or pickles and salads – just to name a few to choose from.
Less meat
Some women can’t imagine that there is life without meat, and keep stuffing their bellies with it.
Animal meat is essential for the body because of its nutrients, vitamins and protein content. But excessive consumption could lead to elevated cholesterol levels, therefore to cardiovascular problems.
At times, feel free to swap out the red meat to white! Chicken and fish are good for your health.
Snacking in moderation
Not only large portions during the main meals make people fat, but the extra calories of snacking as well. All-day snacking often represents one or maybe two main meals in the evening!
Especially the evening chocolate or chips can lead to tire floating on your stomach. Drinks also deserve a few words, as many of these calories are not taken into account.
Not only the sodas and alcohol are fattening, but fruit juices and energy drinks too.
Adequate fluid intake
The importance of adequate fluid intake is enormous, and not only in the long run. Too little fluid can trigger headaches, associated with thicker blood, and even amplifies the signs of aging.
Most coffee and alcoholic drink have also a diuretic effect, so if you need a regular dose, make quality a priority instead of quantity.
Give up smoking and alcohol!
Another pivotal point, which is the source of the bunch of problems. Smoking and alcohol consumption are the most frequent forms of addiction.
Whatever you consume of these harmful agents, you should know that the slight reduction is still far better than nothing, especially when looking at the average annual intake.
The best thing would be to give up smoking and drinking totally, but it’s also great if you manage to proceed step by step.
A bit more exercise
Reforming your meals is not sufficient to achieve weight loss. To gain a spectacular and healthy body, you have to move it!
20 minutes aerobic a day or two gyms per week are perfect to start with. Let’s just count what it means in annual average! See?
A nice class with friends at the local gym, walking with your dog, hiking with your partner… You have a plenty of opportunities to move your body.
]]>Use Healthier Meat:
Some people love to make their stuffing with meat, but the kind of meat can make a difference. If beef is used for the stuffing, then ground turkey can make a healthier alternative.
If ground turkey is used, it can be seasoned just like hamburger, and no one will be able to tell the difference.
Stay Away From Mercury:
Mercury can cause a baby’s central nervous system to not develop properly. The food that have a lot of mercury in them is seafood. Fish like shark, swordfish, and mackerel contain a lot of mercury.
The seafood that has very little mercury, which is considered safe for a pregnant woman to eat, is shrimp, crab, salmon, tilapia, cod, catfish, and tuna.
Stay Away From Raw Seafood:
Some women may love to eat raw oysters on the half shell. However, a pregnant woman who loves raw oysters has to wait until her baby is born before she can eat them again.
Raw shellfish can contain bacteria or viruses that can make an expectant woman very sick.
Stay Away From Undercooked Meat:
A pregnant woman is more susceptible to becoming sick over anything she eats. Rare steak can be a delicacy, but an undercooked steak can really make an expectant mother sick.
A steak needs to be cooked well done until after the baby is born.
Stay Away From Undercooked Eggs:
An egg cooked for only three minutes is what some women have for breakfast. However, cooking an egg for three minutes is not enough to thoroughly cook it, which means there may be bacteria in the white or yolk.
Raw eggs can give a pregnant woman food poisoning, and should be avoided until after the baby is born.
Avoid Soft Cheeses:
Soft cheeses like Brie, Feta, Blue Cheese, and Camembert are all made with milk. However, soft cheeses can be made with milk that has not been pasteurized.
Unpasteurized dairy products can contain bacteria that can make a woman sick. Soft cheeses should be avoided unless there the packaging is clearly marked that the cheese is made with pasteurized milk.
Stay Away From Raw Vegetables:
Some women love to eat a salad with alfalfa sprouts, clover, and radishes, but those raw vegetables can actually contain harmful bacteria.
Avoid Excess Caffeine:
Coffee and soda contain a lot of caffeine, which is something a pregnant woman should avoid. Caffeine can cause the mother’s blood pressure to rise, and also make the baby’s heart beat faster.
A pregnant woman can drink one to two cups of coffee or tea a day. Studies have shown that too much caffeine can cause a woman to miscarry or cause birth defects to the baby. If a woman wants more coffee, than she can enjoy a cup of decaffeinated coffee, or a cup of decaffeinated tea.
A woman has to be careful of the foods she eats because it is not just her health she needs to worry about, but the health of her baby as well.
A woman has to eat for two, but she has to make sure she is eating foods that will not make her sick or cause harm to her baby.
]]>Make Your Own Hair Gel
With a little water and gelatine, you could have your own hair gel. You can make it smell nice with a little essential oil. It works just as good as the stuff you buy from the shop but is so much cheaper.
In fact, you could spend just a few pennies for a whole tub compared to the pounds that you spend in store.
Reuse Your Clothing
If you have items of clothes that don’t fit or you don’t want to wear, it is time to recycle them. This doesn’t mean taking them to the skip! You can use them for other items around the house.
In fact, t-shirts can become bags or you can use items for arts and craft material. This helps to save money on the items that you could buy in a specialist store!
Buy in Bulk
It may sound expensive upfront but you will often find that buying in bulk is cheaper. This is great for non-perishable items, such as baby’s nappies and wipes and cleaning products.
There are some wholesalers who will sell to customers if they want to buy in bulk and you could always join in with a friend to keep the costs down.
Make Your Own Flavoured Water
Don’t bother buying the supermarket prices for the bottled flavoured water. You can make your own naturally and it will be healthier for you.
Just add a few of the ingredients that you want the water to taste like into a large jug. There are plenty of ideas, including strawberries, raspberries and even just cooling cucumbers!
Swap Your Clothes
This is a big thing at the moment and known as “shwapping”. It is when you find someone to swap clothes with so you have a whole new wardrobe.
There are places online to swap with people in your local area but you could also opt for a swapping party with your friends. Get everyone to bring an item or two that they’d like to get rid of and have some fun.
Keep Your Raw Ingredients Fresh
Thinks like pasta, sugar and flour tend to go off when stored for a long period of time. This is because of the oxygen in the air.
You can help prevent this by storing them in airtight containers. You can buy plastic and glass ones easily.
Separate Your Meat
If you buy large selections of meat for the family or yourself, separate it before you freeze it.
You can cut it down into the portion sizes that you will eat and soon find that three packs of meat last three or four times longer than they initially would (depending on your family size).
However, if you are a woman, than the B complex family of vitamins is especially important to you. Here is more information on the B complex vitamins and what they can do for you if you are a woman.
A lot of vitamins do occur naturally in the body, but the B complex family is not one of them. The B vitamins are in foods such as potatoes and lentils. Without this family of vitamins, your body is not going to function as properly as it should.
When you feel tired, you may think that it is because you did not get enough sleep, but the truth is that a lack of energy may come from a lack of the B complex family of vitamins. The members of the B family that help with your energy levels are B1, B2, B3, and B7. If you are going to go to the store to get some B vitamins, then you need to make sure that all of the B vitamins are listed on the label, especially the ones that deal with energy.
One of the biggest benefits to the B family of vitamins is the prevention of colon cancer. Colon cancer is a deadly form of cancer, and one way to prevent it is to take a multivitamin that includes every available B vitamin.
A good source of B vitamins is orange juice, and one glass of orange juice a day can keep your body healthy and cancer-free because of the folic acid. A study of women who drank orange juice regularly showed that their percentage of getting colon cancer was a lot lower than women who did not drink orange juice.
B vitamins can also help before, during, and after a woman gets pregnant. Folic acid is important for the development of a baby, and many of the other B vitamins can also make sure that the baby develops properly and also keeps the mother healthy. After the baby is born, B12 can help make sure that a woman makes enough milk if she is breastfeeding.
B12 is especially important if a woman is a vegetarian because B12 is mostly found in meat, and vegetarians can often end up becoming deficient if they do not take a separate B12 supplement.
The B complex family of vitamins is made up of eight specific B vitamins. These 8 B vitamins are important to the health of a woman. Whether she is breastfeeding, trying to get pregnant, or recovering from pregnancy, the B complex family is going to keep both her and her baby healthy.
If you are taking a multivitamin, check the label to make sure that there are eight B vitamins listed because these eight are very important to your overall health. One B complex vitamin a day can keep more than the doctor away when it comes to having a healthy body.
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