5 Easy ways to improve your health from the inside
Our health is our wealth and in these times, we need to focus on staying healthy and strong more than ever. Here are our top five super easy (and sometimes surprising) ways to improve your health from the inside this year.
1 . Juice daily
A juice or smoothie is a brilliant way to cram loads of vitamins and minerals into your daily diet so get into a routine of making a juice or smoothie first thing every day.
You don’t have to plan much (or at all). Just throw in whichever fruit or veg you have handy. Add a chunk of ginger or fresh root turmeric for added immunity boost.
I started off with a cheap smoothie maker from Amazon. There are loads out there and they all do a great job. Now I’m addicted, I’ve upgraded to the Fridja cold pressed juicer. Whatever your budget and space, it doesn’t make much difference. As long as you drink the results!
And to those diets and meal plans that tell you to restrict your fruit intake… ignore them.
Fructose (the sugar naturally found in fruit) is different from the refined sugar we put in our coffee and add to cakes. Fructose is a natural sugar. Natural sugars are digested more slowly by the body and help us feel fuller for longer. Fructose also helps to keep the metabolism stable and can help prevent disease.
You don’t need recipes but if you are looking for inspiration, I love Jason Vale’s juicy concoctions.
2. Swap crisps and chocolate for nuts
Nuts (and seeds) are SO good for us. They are packed with all sorts of goodies such as proteins, fibre, vitamins, minerals and essential (good) fats.
A tiny portion of nuts delivers a super-fast hit of energy and nutrition.
In a nutshell (hehe), nuts are good for; the skin and hair, heart health, thyroid function, keeping us looking younger, preventing memory loss and diabetes, keeping our energy levels high, increasing serotonin levels and preventing anxiety and depression (studies have found that eating two handfuls of cashews is equivalent to taking a prescription dose of the popular antidepressant Prozac!).
A study by Harvard University also found that people who ate nuts every day lived longer.
Every type of nut has a different compound of fibres, vitamins and minerals so it’s a good idea to eat a mixture of nuts. You only need a handful a day to reap the benefits. I keep a little cup of nuts on the kitchen counter so I can reach for them easily when I feel a snack-attack coming on.
3. Drink full fat
Drinking the tasty stuff might actually be better for you. Dairy contains a multitude of nutrients - including amino acids, Vitamin K, B12, magnesium, protein and iodine (which most women are low on) as well as the well-known Calcium.
Some people are dairy intolerant but for those of us who aren’t, taking full fat milk in our tea or even cream in our coffee will do us good.
Worried about putting on weight with full fat dairy? Don’t be. There are plenty of studies to show that people who eat full or whole fat dairy are actually slimmer than those who don’t.
A study of over 18,000 American women found that those eating the highest amount of full fat dairy were the least likely to gain weight over an 11 year period. In addition, a 2018 study in Canada of 136,000 people from 21 countries found that the people consuming three servings of full fat dairy a day were less likely to experience heart disease than those who had only half a serving a day.
There is relatively little fat in full fat milk and the benefits of full fat far outweigh the negatives. The nutrients stripped from dairy when making it semi-skimmed or skimmed mean we are missing out on vital health boosting goodness.
4. Don’t diet - eat good stuff & enjoy it
Don’t diet. You will fail. Perhaps after one week, one month or one year, but you will fail. Not because you’re weak, but because diets are unsustainable.
Here are some more reasons not to diet:
Depression and anxiety
Low energy
Mood swings
Slowed metabolism
Thyroid dysfunction
Irritable bowel syndrome
Thinning hair and sallow skin
Can lead to brittle bones and osteoporosis
Thinking about what to eat all the time is exhausting!
Fact: 95% of dieters regain their weight and more within five years.
Food = Energy. When we diet we don’t give our bodies enough energy, forcing the body into starvation mode. By storing food rather than metabolizing it fully, we actually slow our metabolisms down, making weight loss harder. The opposite of this, eating regularly, allows our metabolism to work properly and maintain a steady metabolic rate for the long term.
If you eat well, you won’t need to diet. Try and keep your meals healthy and packed with veg and protein to keep you full and provide your energy with all the energy it needs. Add exercise to your routine to make sure you are metabolising at a high rate - and you can forget about diets forever. There are plenty of people in the world who don’t diet and who aren’t fat to prove this point.
At uni, I was friends with a girl who was training to be an olympic swimmer. She swam a whopping 90 lengths at a time - and fast! One evening she invited three of us over for dinner. She served up one tray of lasagne for her three guests to share, and one tray of lasagne for herself. We sat wide eyed as she ate her entire tray of lasagne in one sitting - plus a garlic bread stick. When she finished, she simply said ‘I burn a lot of energy. I need to refuel properly’ She was right. Quite simply, food = energy.
5. Chew
Chewing is something we do instinctively and it’s really good for us.
When we chew, we release nutrients in the food - kick-starting the digestive process and allowing the nutrients to begin to be utilized by the body.
More chewing equals easier digestion, which means more available energy and less bloating. Chewing also starts hormonal responses in our body, letting it know that we are getting full, which leads to less snacking later on.
So this year, let’s all make an effort to be healthier from the inside out. Eat more fruit, veg and nuts, chew and enjoy the food. A little bit of everything will do us good :)
Don’t forget to keep your body healthy with exercise too. Check out our online ballet fitness classes for full body and mind health.