Straightforward Ways to Improve Your Diet

While we are often taught about the importance of healthy eating, it is something which many adults across the country struggle with. For example, a recent study found that:

46% of people find that they cannot follow a healthy diet due to the costs associated with this.
Almost 25% of people say they do not have enough time to cook and prepare healthy meals on a regular basis.
20% of adults claim to not know how to cook healthy foods.

Fortunately, following a healthy diet is not as inaccessible as it may initially seem, especially if you introduce changes gradually over time. With that in mind, here are some simple and straightforward tips that you can follow to improve your diet (and your health).

Educate yourself.

The first step towards following a healthy diet is often education—both in terms of working to better understand the fundamentals of healthy eating and boosting your culinary skills. There are many online resources which can help with the former so that you know what kinds of foods you should be eating each day (and how much). However, you should ensure that they are from reputable websites, such as healthcare organisations.

Ditch the gluten.

While around 6% of the US population is gluten intolerant, there are many benefits tied to cutting down on your gluten intake. For example, reducing gluten consumption can help with bloating and fatigue. As a result, while you do not have to remove it from your diet entirely, try purchasing gluten-free alternatives to some of your pantry staples, such as bread and cereal. When dining out, consider ordering from the gluten free menu instead.

Try meal prepping.

If you believe that time is the biggest barrier you face when trying to follow a healthy, balanced diet, then meal prepping is a great way to combat this. After all, it means you’ll always have something to eat in the fridge when you return from a busy day at work. This means that the occasions when you order out due to not having anything in will become few and far between. Dedicating a few hours over the weekend to meal prepping will make a real difference. It also means that you will feel a little more in control over what you are eating. Alternatively, you could try cooking a few extra portions each time you are preparing a meal so that you can set them aside for another day or even freeze them.

Avoid fad diets.

Almost every day, a new fad diet appears online, promising to solve all your problems. However, the truth is that they are rarely effective in the long term, as they encourage restrictive behaviors that could become harmful. This means that the majority of those who participate in them end up returning to their pre-diet weight shortly after stopping.

Beyond this, they can also damage your relationship with food. Therefore, instead of jumping onto the latest fad diet, focus instead on making sustainable changes to the way you approach food.