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By Emily Hochman, Wellory CEO and Certified Health Coach
Original post, published here.
When it comes to health and weight loss, there’s no such thing as “one-diet-fits-all.” We all come from different backgrounds, react to foods differently and have diverse body compositions. And with this uniqueness comes the opportunity to figure out what works specifically for you.
At Wellory, we focus on helping you become the healthiest version of yourself by providing you with text-enabled personalized nutrition advice, accountability and support. Our job is to track, analyze and keep you accountable to making good, healthy choices that transform your life. To kick-start the transformation, here are seven simple tips to help you start prioritizing your health.
1. Eat Breakfast! Seriously, don’t skip out on breakfast. Skipping this important meal is a common trend we see, but it can do more harm than good. Eating breakfast helps boost your metabolism, jumpstart your day, improve memory, increase mental clarity and keep you fuller longer. So what’s this all boil down to? With higher productivity levels and sustained energy, you can perform at your best and refrain from overeating later in the day.
2. Drink Half Your Weight in Ounces of Water Up to 60% of the human adult body is made up of water, yet 75% of the American population doesn’t drink enough of it. Have you ever felt hungry after eating a full meal, but unsure why? It’s likely your body wasn’t actually hungry — it was thirsty. So, before your next snack, think to yourself, “Have I had enough water today?” And to help you measure, here’s your water rule of thumb: Drink half your body weight in ounces of water every day. This will help increase brain productivity, energy levels and boost your skin health.
3. Get an Accountabila-Buddy! You are 95% more likely to hit a goal if you’ve committed it to someone else. Think of a past goal you reached. Were there people in your life keeping you accountable to finishing a project, reaching a professional or personal goal? Humans are social creatures and we perform our best when we have other people keeping us accountable to our goals.
4. Lighten Up Your Salad Dressing with Lemon Juice Have you ever looked at the ingredients in your favorite bottled salad dressing? Even if it’s from a healthy lunchtime salad bar, many dressings are filled with sugar, unhealthy oils and cream, quickly upping your caloric intake. To help keep your salad as nutritious as possible, thin out your go-to dressing with fresh lemon juice. We recommend keeping bottled lemon juice handy and mixing one part dressing to one part lemon juice. You’ll still get the taste you want while saving yourself from unnecessary saturated fats, sugar and sodium.
5. Take Pictures of Your Food In the age of Instagram, photos dominate our daily lives. We take photos of our friends, family, vacation, workouts and meals. So why not become strategic about your food photography? Take a picture of every meal to start becoming educated about what you eat, when you eat it and how you can improve your overall nutrition. After one full week, you may notice you don’t eat enough greens, your meals lack protein or you’re eating more sugar than you realized.
6. Watch Your Sodium Intake Is salt good for you? It can be — but only with the right daily dose. So start to pay attention to your sodium intake, especially when consuming packaged goods. Too much sodium can have serious health implications that build over time. A good rule of thumb? Take a look at your labels and avoid anything that has 200+ mg of sodium per serving.
7. Consistency is Key Change doesn’t happen overnight. Real change happens after a series of small changes you commit to, and staying consistent in making these changes is what leads to real impact. So if you’re starting to add vegetables to your diet or reducing your sugar intake, start slowly but stay consistent to those small changes. In just a short time, these will no longer seem like changes, but instead, they’ll quickly become a part of your daily routine.