3 Rules of Nutrition for Energy and Health (+audio)

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Unless you are (or planning to be) a professional athlete, proper nutrition shouldn’t be hard or complicated. In fact, sticking to healthy eating habits can be quite easy…

Follow these three simple healthy nutrition guidelines and you will be better off than most people when it comes to your energy level and your overall health:

1. Eat REAL food

Do your best to stay away as much as you can from processed food and in-nutritious junk…

Avoid caffeine, refined sugar and sweeteners, alcohol and nicotine - in other words reduce to a minimum your consumption of coffee, alcoholic drinks, soft drinks, sweats and sweat pastries, salty snacks, and of course – don’t smoke.

Eat real, whole food as it came from nature – fresh vegetables, fruits, beans, whole grains, nuts, seeds, herbs and spices, eggs, and lean animal protein like fish and chicken.

Eat raw food as much as possible. If you must - boil, cook, steam or grill it, but do your best to avoid deep-frying.

2. Eat lightly, but frequently

Instead of stuffing yourself at lunch and supper – have several small meals (optimally four) and a couple of healthy energizing snacks throughout the day. This will help keep your energy level high, and regulate your blood sugar levels to avoid spikes and dips.

Digestion takes a lot of energy, so try to stick to easily digested foods, don’t overeat and chew well.

3. Drink plenty of water

I’m not going to say 8-10 glasses or 2-3 litters…

You should drink a LOT of water throughout the day.

Most of the times that you feel like having coffee or soda, eating a snack or smoking it’s because you’re actually thirsty!

Bear in mind that alcohol, caffeine and sugar are dehydrating. They take more water OUT of your body than they put in…

So for every doze of coffee, regular tea, beer, coke and alike you should have at least one glass of water.

One Healthy Nutrition Habit at a Time…

As you can see these rules are simple, but not that easy to implement, mainly because of old habits and because of all the temptations around us.

So the trick is to pick one thing that you can easily start doing and do it until it becomes habit, then take the next step.

For example: One of the first healthy nutrition habits I added to my daily routine (a long time ago) is drinking at least half a liter of water first thing in the morning…

Yes, before breakfast. At first it wasn’t easy, but now I simply can’t start my day without it. I suggest that you try it.