New Year Nutrition Tips for an Easy Boost in Overall Health
Nutrition can be a challenging habit, especially with fad diets, misinformation, and contradicting opinions out there. Plus, every person’s body is different, making it a hard topic to generalize. These new year nutrition tips are simple, yet highly effective ways to boost overall health.
Nutrition fuels your body to do everything it does. Check out these nutrition tips you can take with you into the new year for great benefits to wellbeing.
What Exactly is Nutrition?
Nutrition encompasses eating and digesting food and converting it into energy to survive. The main types of nutrition are protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, water and fiber.
All of these components come together and serve a vital role in the body. Certain nutrients promote healing, some help provide energy, and some are needed for basic survival.
New Year Nutrition Tips and Habits to Pick Up Today!
Here are the best new year nutrition tips and habits you need to try! Nutrition, while often generalized, can vary from person to person. These are basic habits that should help anyone who wants a wellness boost for the new year!
1. Eat More Fermented Foods
Fermented foods are essential to health. They benefit your gut microbiota, a colony of beneficial bacteria in the gut. Fermented foods increase gut health, improve the immune system, and boost metabolism.
They are antioxidants, anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, and antimicrobial. Fermented foods also alleviate digestive issues and regulate digestive health.
2. Drink Tea
Tea has a lot of benefits. Many studies have shown that they can boost immune health, reduce inflammation, and even lower the risk of cardiovascular disease. Tea can also provide a good dose of hydration for the body and can help reduce coffee consumption.
3. Look for Local Honey
Honey is a great substitute for regular sugar. While it still has a high glycemic impact and will raise blood sugar, it’s a source of sweet energy that has many trace vitamins and minerals.
There is a big difference in honey qualities out there. Local raw honey is much healthier than store-bought honey since store-bought usually means it has been treated and processed. Try to look for local sources and save the bees!
4. Eat More Complex Carbs
Carbohydrates provide good doses of energy for our bodies to thrive. While simple carbohydrates like white rice and white bread are tasty, it’s important to snack on complex carbohydrates.
These are the carbs found in grains, legumes, brown rice, and whole wheat foods. They provide more stable energy and keep you satisfied for longer. Plus, they usually have more vitamins and minerals and regular carbs, which is a big plus!
5. Eat Complete Protein
Protein provides the building blocks for healing the body, especially after strenuous activity like a workout. What is vital though is eating all the amino acids the body needs. There are 20 amino acids in total, but the body cannot produce 9 of them, therefore we have to eat it.
Complete proteins, like eggs, have all of these essential amino acids. If you are a vegan or vegetarian, you can get these proteins from something like beans, squash, and corn. Eating these three foods will give you the amino acids your body cannot produce while filling you up and providing the body with other essential nutrients.
6. Drink Water More
Water is often called the number one nutrition category. We can survive weeks without food but only a few short days without water. Boost hydration when you can as a new year nutrition resolution!
Even mild dehydration can have consequences, such as headaches, fatigue, dizziness, and lack of energy. Drink a glass of water as soon as you wake up since we lose a good amount of water in our sleep. That way, you’re starting the day with great hydration.
7. Use Sea Salt
Salt is salt, right? Well, some studies have found benefits to replacing regular salt with sea salt. Regular table salt is a combination of sodium and chloride. It has been processed and put together as such. Usually, it’s iodized.
The benefits come from the trace minerals that sea salt maintains. Those trace minerals have a positive effect on the body. One thing to note, however, is that if you do substitute your salt for sea salt, make sure you’re getting your iodine from somewhere else!!
8. Eat Until 80
This is a new year nutrition tip that can fix problems of overeating and binging. Eating until 80 means that you should eat until you are about 80% full. There is a deal between you eating and your brain receiving signals of being full. Eating until 80 can make sure you don’t overeat, keeping the body comfortable and satisfied.
9. Balance
Nutrition is all about balance. Any food, even fast food, dessert, and chips, can fit into a healthy lifestyle as long as there is balance.
In fact, if you try to avoid these “unhealthy” foods, chances are you’ll overeat them the next time you get the chance. If you limit them to less than 20% of your overall diet, you can still enjoy them every so often.
10. Mindful Meals
Mindful meals simply relate to what you do when you eat your food. Are you someone who likes to watch a TV show or movie? Do you scroll through your phone endlessly? If you do, you may want to try a mindful meal habit.
This means you ditch the tech and try to be present for mealtime. Enjoy the look, taste, and smell, and truly be present in the moment for your meal. This can improve digestion, help you stop when you’re full, and increase the overall joy of a meal!
The Takeaway
New year nutrition habits can help improve health and wellbeing. Add as many as you want, since most of these are very easy to do and not time-consuming.
Remember that health comes from within. Eat well, move your body daily, and care for your mental health. Daily habits are the building blocks for emotional, mental, and physical health. Take care of your gut health too! Learn everything you need to know about gut microbiota today for free here.
