[Tips/Remarks] Feeling/living healthy in thirty steps

[diet_time_again]

Thirty tips to feel better, eat healthier and do an intelligent diet.

Water:


• "There is a Chinese theory that in order to rapidly hydrate us after a night of sleep, our first glass of water must be at our body’s temperature (30-40 degrees Celsius).[...] Being a doctor, she recognized that more and more French opt for the warm water, especially first thing in the morning, as it awakes the digestive system and may make it easier to assimilate breakfast thirty minutes later."
  Mireille Guiliano
• While sleeping, the body lose a lot of water: drink a glass of water before going to bed and another one after getting up. As well as helping your body hydrate and control your weight, it will help you have a good skin and good hair.
• When you feel hungry, drink a glass of water. Most of the time, you won't feel the hunger anymore, and it's way heathier than any snack.
• Don't drink water too much while eating. One glass or two is enough. Drink half an hour before and after but not during: you will slow down the digestion. See this.
• If you don't want to bother with glasses, you can also keep a 50 cl water bottle next to you and take a sip now an then. You will finish it without even realizing it! Refill it four times during the day, and there you are, you drank 2 L of water!
• Add 5 to 10 cl of lemon juice (or less) in a 50 cl water bottle in the morning and drink it over the course of the morning, it will help you digest, it will give you a lot of vitamin C (great to help start the day), it improves the quality and circulation of blood in your body, ... Don't abuse it, or you will do more harm than good!

Sleep:


• Sleep! Sleep correctly. If you are tired, you will eat to compensate, and you will eat more and with more calories to have more energy. You need to have a good sleep pattern: at least nine hours sleep per night and if you can, keep regular hours.

Food/Meals:


• You don't need to add salt to your food. Most alimentts are already salted and the extra salt will force your body to stock the water you drink and you will weigh that much more!
• Eat smaller portions! Most portions are roughly the size of your fist. For the meat and fish, take a checkbook or an eyeglass case as reference.
• Cut your food in bite size. Even the fruits. Don't cut it all at once. Take your time: cut a piece, chew several times, swallow. Don't mix foods on your fork, you won't be able to taste it. Take your time to taste and savor each bite. You will digest much better, you will take much more pleasure in eating and you will allow your brain to catch up with your stomach. When your brain tells you your full, stop eating! You don't need to absolutely clean your plate.
• Buy smaller plates/bowls: you will feel like you are eating more.
• Most people say not to eat while watching the TV or reading. If you're alone, eating by yourself at the big kitchen table is very lonely and boring. Choose an documentary/TV show/article on the web/fanfiction/... that would take twenty to thirty minutes to read/watch and for which you don't need to concentrate that much. Eat during that time. Don't forget to pay attention to your plate, chew properly and eat slowly. A meal should take thirty minutes, if you're finished before the end of your distraction, then you need to eat more slowly to help digest.
• Don't wait more than four to five hours between meals, or you will be too hungry and will eat too much.
• Vary your food! If you always eat the same thing, you will lose all pleasure in your meals and sooner or later you will give up your whole diet and/or break down and stuff yourself with the first chocolate bar you will come across.
• Vary your food! Or you will risk nutritional deficiencies.
• Vary your food! If you don't like to cook, then keep it simple. Use a rice cooker with a basket to steam the food. You can cook all kind of food in it by just putting water in the cooker, putting your vegetables/rice/whatever in the basket and simply waiting. For your meat and fish and even vegetables, use an electric indoor grill: the fat will be drained and you can add spices to the food and olive oil to keep your meat from being to dry/hard.
• Vary your food! Try new flavors/foods, buy things in season: they will be cheaper and teastier than food off-season.
• Don't buy all your food for the month in one go. Buy enough for two/three days: that way you will be able to buy more fresh foods. As well, don't buy large amount of the same thing (if your alone, buy a few small cans rather a big one): it will stay fresh longer and you can vary more easily your meals, without needing to eat the same thing during two or three meals consecutive.
• Don't buy prepared foods. Most of them aren't healthy/too salted/contain to much fat/... Most of the time, prepared foods are easy foods: so why not make them yourself?
• If you know you won't be able to resist, don't stock it! Better buy a small chocolate bar that will cost as much as a whole block and give yourself a small treat from time to time, than buying a cheap pack that you will finish in an hour. Plus, most of the time, when small amounts are expensive, it means that they taste better!
• Following the same idea, if you can't stop yourself from entering the cake shop you walk by every day, then change your route!
• If you like sweets and/or desserts, do them yourself. You can find dozens of low calories recipes with internet, use the occasion to try new ones! That way you can reduce the number of calories and cook the appropriate portion. Every time you feel hungry while cooking, drink a glass of water: it will help you not help yourself during the preparation and when the time to eat will come, you won't be so hungry/crave it so much that you will stuff your face without tasting it!
• To better resist the temptation, make yourself a good meal once a week. No need to stuff yourself, but rather make an healthy and really tasty meal with foods you love: chocolate cake, steak with French fries,... Don't drown it in fat and make small portions: you will savored it that much more. If you know a restaurant where you are sure they don't use fat as a basic food and make tasty meals, then why not enjoy a meal there! Don't be afraid if your scale tells you that you gained some weight the next day: if you eat reasonable amounts/foods, you shouldn't have taken more than a pound really. Don't feel guilty: a pound won't set back your diet and you need to please yourself sometimes or you will crack! A few minutes of exercice the day of your reward will help keeping your weight in tracks. Plus you can "use" your weekly meal for when you are invited somewhere or need to eat outside for whatever reason.
• Portions in restaurants are often way too larges: if you need/feel like eating out, then do so, but intelligently: don't deprive yourself even though you can see and smell every food which are making you hungrier than ever and risk making you lose control. Eat of everything, but in small portions! Eat slowly and taste your food. Even if it's in a McDonald's: chose the smaller meal, no need to finish all your French fries, take small bites of you sandwich and enjoy every ingredients that make it. If you want a dessert, prefer a fruit to a sundae. Before eating your Big Mac and fries, eat a small salad that will kill your hunger and let you savor the rest of your meal. You did a high calories day: so what? The next day, you will compensate, that's all!

Misc:


• Take a walk after your meal to help digest, but not right away. Wait ten to twenty minutes after, so as not to feel overly heavy. No need to race for an hour: a fifteen minutes to half an hour walk is enough.
• Coffee dehydrate and excite: don't drink to much, especially in the evening.
• Every time you can, walk! Go to work/school/the movie theater/... on foot. Don't take your car for short distances, if you need, take your bike. Take the stairs every time you can. Get some exercice! To stay healthy, your body needs at least thirty minutes of exercice every day. Walk while getting your dog out, go to work on foot, buy a treadmill and set yourself some time aside every day to walk, get yourself subscription at a fitness club maybe with a few friends,...
  
  Diets:
  
  
• Before going on a diet, acknowledge your body! Take photos, write down your weight, measurements,... Everything and anything! When you feel down, look back on your notes and you will feel much better in comparison. If you keep a food diary, you will probably be able to spot your problem if you have stopped losing weight.
• Set yourself at least two goals in weight loss: an ultimate one, which you won't reach for a while and another, realistic and easy with a time limit. These small challenges will help you stay motivated!
• Either weigh yourself once a week on the same day, same hour, or do it every day on the same hour. Most people will tell you not to do it every day. The problem is that a woman gains weight by water retention, so if you drank a lot the day before climbing on your scale, it can simply be that. On internet, you can find websites where you can record your weight day to day (for example with a simple Ticker) and take into account the curve of your weight loss rather than the numbers. The curve will tell you that you are losing weight, even if you gain some from time to time!

That's it for now ^^ What was to be a 5/6 steps article grew on me without me realizing so you've got now a whole report XD .
Since I'm French, there are probably quite a few mistakes scattered in this text in English. If you spot them, please leave me a word so I can correct them! ^__^