You're a busy person with all sorts of things on your “to do list” that you are still working at getting done. With everything that you have on your plate, it's hard to make sure that you actually have time to, you know, fill your actual plate.
It's much easier to grab take out on the go, or pop a microwave dinner into your oven when you get home...you're thinking “who has time to eat healthy, anyway?” The answer to that question is: You do. At least, you should.
National Nutrition Week 16-22 October 2016
Eating healthy is much easier than you may be thinking, and with this week being the Australian National Nutrition Week, there's never been a better time to try, really.
If you're ready to take that plunge into a better lifestyle, here are some tips you can take with you to make things just a little easier. Thank me later :)
Eating variety is best
So, here is the nugget of nutritious living, variety is best.
If you are someone who eats nothing but apples and pears for a year, you're going to be just as unhealthy as someone who lives on fast food for the same amount of time – if not more so. You need to eat a diet that varies in its contents so that you can get all of the health benefits from the different food groups and make sure that you are getting them all in varying amounts and forms.
It may be tempting to just eat the same old food day in and day out, but you need to really stretch yourself and try to make your way around the colour wheel of fruit and vegetables so that you have a full palette of benefits waiting for you.
Embrace the rainbow
There's a logic to this, truly. In order to eat well with the variety that you're looking for, you need to make sure that you're taking on all parts of the world of fruits and vegetables. Therefore, it's a good idea to make sure that you track your progress and variety by using the different colours of the rainbow.
The best part is, it's all colour coded so it is quite easy for you to see which segments you are missing in your daily diet.
Match your health benefits to the colour
If you've been reading up on health and nutrition, or your doctor has told you that you need more of “this, that and the other thing”, you aren't alone. Take a look at the different colours and see just how much they are all going to help you in different ways.
You'll be able to really make sure that you are listening to the advice of your medical professional (or the internet) by matching the problem you are looking to solve with a colour. Let's take a look at it so we can understand it better.
QUICK DISCLAIMER: We love the work Integrative Nutrition do. Promoting health and wellness through nutrition. We also happen to like this image snippet of theirs. Hopefully they won't mind if we reference it here quickly. :)
Let's say that you know that you need more support in your heart, health-wise. You're going to want to try to bring in more foods from the red section of the rainbow such tomatoes, turnips, red capsicums. These kinds of foods are said to help strengthen your heart so that you are supporting your body where you need it most. You can target different areas with different colours, it's pretty simple, while at the same time you're reaping all the benefits to feel good overall.
You've got to admit, this is sounding better and better the more that you hear about it, right? I mean, it's so easy to do.
"We all know we should eat 5 serves of veg a day... But did you know the average person only eats half that?" -- Nutrition Australia
Take the pledge to eat more veg
With the National Nutrition Week and Try for 5 Challenge on now, use this as a motivator or event trigger to challenge yourself to eat 5 serves of vegetables every day during this National Nutrition Week! You can even join as a team with friends and colleagues and track your progress.
It's certainly a challenge if you are not used to eating in this way, but it's fun to do and you can find other people who are interested in eating healthy, too, and you'll have a team behind you, helping you make great choices.
No matter how busy you are, eating right doesn't have to be impossible. All you need to do is take a look at the colour of the rainbow, and make sure that you are putting food into your diet that spreads right across it. Before you know it, you'll be more energetic, healthier, and you won't even have to to take anything off of your “to do list”! It doesn't get much better than that!
Cover photo attribution: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nancydregan/5023325968/in/gallery-50241745@N05-72157624933219503/