Wanna get trim? Put down that McDonalds and get your arse in a gym!
Emma Pope, creator of Pope’s Pantry, writes a few tips on how to eat healthy by eating right. She gives Her Campus an insight into our snacky foods and the benefits of protein in our eating habits. Don’t forget to check out and follow her instagram blog for tips, recipes and healthy ideas.
A little something to digest…
Today everyone is looking for a “quick fix” to living a healthy and happy lifestyle. Worldwide, obesity has nearly doubled since 1980. However there is a lack of awareness about processed and unhealthy food that is contributing to problems such as diabetes, tooth decay and obesity, all of which take an enormous toll on the already strained health service. According to the World Health Organisation, 1.7 million deaths worldwide are attributed to low fruit and vegetable consumption. 35% of adults aged 20 and over were overweight in 2008, and 11% were obese. In the UK, 29.2% of under-19s are classed as obese or overweight. Obesity is preventable through healthy eating and exercise! The British Public waste around £37 million a year on gym memberships because of lack of success and will power – I promise to you that this can be tackled through diet and nutrition.
Let’s eat healthy and stop with these FAD diets!!
Healthy Eating is a basic concept that we all fail with today. It is a concept that allows us to live longer and be happier… so why is it so hard? Our food market today is saturated with processed food, refined sugars, glucose and starchy products and they are not easy to quit! Encouraging a healthy diet which contains several different types of nutrients are vital to the processes in your body and encourages you to eat and not starve! A poor diet has been directly linked with diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and certain types of cancer. Trans and saturated fats are known to cause atherosclerosis, which is a major risk factor for heart attack and stroke. By slowly eliminating processed sugar from our diet we can remove our daily cravings for that 4pm ‘sugar fix’. Many of us come into contact with Protein based supplements without even knowing – the Slim Fast diet and The Cambridge Diet for example – women every day are conned into processed forms of protein to encourage ‘weight loss’!! These are not sustainable and eventually you will fall off the wagon and back into the chocolate factory (mmm…yes please!)
The Answer… Eat more protein
Protein has a bad reputation linked with bodybuilding and gym freaks – Protein is purely nutritional unlike steroids! Our body needs protein because our body can’t take on all the amino acids which are essential for our cells in our body. Taking supplements such as whey protein is efficient because it is absorbed faster than any other protein, making it ideal for fuelling muscle growth before and after training. It also boosts your immune system. Whey protein is derived from whey, which is a bi-product of cheese production. During cheese production milk is curdled and the solid curds removed. Liquid whey is what is left over. When we go to the gym, cells are torn and protein is essential for the rebuilding of these cells, and this can be done through our diet or with the help of a supplement (a protein shake or food). The use of whey protein as a source of amino acids (what our cells are made up of) and its effect on reducing the risks of diseases such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes is the focus of ongoing research. So if you want that peachy bum… eat some chicken and squat what ya momma gave ya!
Trials have shown to prove those who eat a high protein breakfast (such as eggs) are more likely to put down the pack of biscuits at 4pm. Protein leaves us satisfied for longer and can eliminate those sugar cravings. Protein does NOT increase muscle and will not make you ‘bigger’ – ladies fear not! It will also help optimize the results from a diet and exercise program by increasing fat loss. No Carbs before Marbs? Not exactly. Carbohydrates are equally important in our diet and we must focus on the good ones, like sweet potatoes, quinoa (however you wanna pronounce it), brown rice and more.
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Are you snacking right?
Cereal Bars – Cereal. Nuts. Seeds. Must be good for you, right? Wrong. In fact, nutritionist Penny Crowther warns that “most cereal bars are fat and sugar-laden”. The Tracker Breakfast Bar is made up of 43% fat, and a Strawberry and Yoghurt Alpen bar contains nearly 10g of sugar. We should be looking for healthy alternatives that leave us satisfied and remove those cravings…
Tip: READ THE LABEL! When choosing your healthy snack have a quick look at the label. There are countless manufactured bars that claim to be healthy, however these are sometimes the worst. Watch out for… Glucose syrup, fructose syrup, milk powders, flavourings, sorbitol, glycerol, citric acid, calcium carbonate, soy lecithin, emulsifier etc. These are all unnatural and processed and something our bodies find difficult to digest and therefore creating havoc with our bodies.
With numbers globally rising of people getting serious illnesses and terminal diseases, I am a strong believer in food being medicine! Nearly all of our shelves lashed with processed, man-made foods, it’s no wonder more and more of us are struggling to choose healthier clean options, along with sometimes misleading media telling us about what foods are healthy and which ones aren’t, but that’s just the start! If more of us entered a healthier way of thinking that is life-long rather than FAD, all of us would be in the shape we desire. It’s because we are so infatuated as a nation. We need to focus on what we don’t see sometimes and focus on what we are putting in to our body that can effect our emotions and moods.
Information overload?
To be honest it is pretty simply. None of us are perfect and we are all guilty to indulge at the weekend. However just remember to keep a balance, eat real food, drink lots of water, exercise and breathe!
For more tips and ideas, check out Emma’s blog.
(Photo credits to Emma Pope)