Three (easy) ways to improve your diet

When it comes to changing our diets, we tend to focus heavily on all the unhealthy things we should eliminate. It's just as important, if not more important, to focus on the healthy items that we need to add. Plus, focusing on what you get to add into your diet for better results and higher energy is a lot more empowering than focusing just on what you should to cut out. If your body is well fueled, chances are you'll naturally crave junky food less anyways. 

For this first post, I'll discuss three simple things that your should try adding into your diet on a daily basis.

Water
How it works: 

1. Boosts metabolism
2. Keeps the digestive system working efficiently.
3. Speeds muscle recovery after workouts.
4. Keeps you from snacking when you aren't actually hungry. 

You don't need to get too scientific about this, aim for 2.5-3.5 liters of water per day. Although this varies by body size, weather, and activity level, typically women's needs will be closer to 2.5 while men want to aim for 3.5. 

Try buying a 1-liter water bottle so you don't have to fill it often, drink 2-3 of these per day. 

Green tea
Lots of articles claim that green tea aids in fat loss and boosts metabolism. Although the results will probably be less dramatic than some articles suggest, it is true. Adding this in is pretty low risk and does have some benefits. 

How it works:

- Green tea stimulates fatty acid utilization, meaning it helps your body to burn fat as fuel. This isn't only relevant for fat loss, it also will help your body to perform well during endurance work (using fat as fuel ---> better endurance)

- All caffeinated beverages, including green tea, boost metabolism. 

- Antioxidants - everyone knows antioxidants are good, but I don't really think that many people know why. Antioxidants balance out oxidants (...anti....oxidants). Oxidants are free radicals both found in the environment (smoke, pollutants, etc) and produced by your body. Oxidants serve a purpose (to fight off viruses and bacteria), but an excess contributes to cell damage, and eventually to some cancers. Antioxidants balance this out so you don't have an excess of oxidants. 

(It is possible to have too many antioxidants, although this isn't a risk for most people.)

To get full benefits (daily intake):

4 cups of green tea
Green tea extract supplement
2-3 tsp pure matcha powder

Vegetables (especially green ones)

How they work - 

1. Vitamins/Micronutrients - you need vitamins to help your body work efficiently and fight off illness. Most of the vitamins we tend to be deficient in can be found in leafy green vegetables and/or fortified whole grains. 

2. Illness prevention and recovery - micronutrients and antioxidants (see green tea) help your body to stay healthy despite environmental factors (pollutants, etc). You'll feel more energetic if you have given your body the tools it needs to protect itself from these factors.

3. Skin - vegetables contain a lot of water, which helps your skin to stay hydrated. Vegetables like carrots and sweet potatoes (and other vegetables with beta carotene) act as a natural sunscreen.

4. Regular, healthy digestive tract. Vegetables contain a lot of healthy fiber, which helps waste to move through your body efficiently - your body will digest food properly and you'll feel less bloated. Fiber also helps with a feeling of fullness after a meal. 

Aim for about 3 cups of vegetables (cooked or raw) per day. 

Frozen vegetables are just as nutritious as fresh. However, canned vegetables and pre cut fresh vegetables are often lower in vitamins and nutrients.