Nutrition is a necessary part of living a healthy lifestyle. In this video, Dr Rangan Chatterjee has three easy tips for improving nutrition
‘Food is important not only for our physical health but also for our mental health, ’ says Dr Rangan Chatterjee, who appeared in BBC One series Doctor In The House and has released a new book, The Stress Solution: The 4 Steps to Reset Your Body, Mind, Relationships and Purpose.
We’re always looking for easier ways not just to lose weight, but to feel healthy in our day to day lives. A big key to that is what we eat, and even though a chocolate bar feels great in that moment, it never feels as good a few hours later.
So how can we all make sure that we’re getting the nutrition we need to be happy and healthy? Dr Rangan Chatterjee has three top tips on how to help improve your diet:
Nutrition tip #1: Eat all of your food within a 12 hour eating window
According to Dr Chatterjee, new research suggests that eating within a 12 hour window can really help your nutrition.
‘This may help us improve our energy, immune system function, control our blood sugar and even lower our weight,’ Dr Chatterjee says.
A study from the University of Illinois at Chicago found that daily fasting helped weight loss significantly in obese participants.
Between the hours of 10am and 6pm, the diet participants could eat whatever they chose in any quantity, but the rest of the time could only drink water or calorie-free beverages.
Eating within a 12 hour window can help improve energy, immune system function, control blood sugar and lower weight.
Compared to previous studies, those on this time-restricted eating schedule consumed fewer calories, lost weight, and lowered their blood sugar.
Studies like this show that there are dieting alternatives to calorie counting or eliminating certain foods. This certainly seems a little less stressful, doesn’t it?
‘These are very simple and easy to do,’ says Dr Chatterjee. ‘You can pick 7am to 7pm or 8am to 8pm or whatever suits your lifestyle.’
Nutrition tip #2: Eat the rainbow
It may sound a little silly, but having a variety of colours in your diet can actually improve how your gut feels.
‘We’re hearing a lot these days about our gut health,’ says Dr Chatterjee, ‘but one of the fastest ways to improve your gut health is to eat five different coloured vegetables every single day.’
Eat five different coloured vegetables every single day.
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine recommends a plant-based diet to improve your health and prevent disease. Fruits and veggies feed the good bacteria in your digestive tract and make your gut healthier.
We all know that you need plenty of servings of fruits and vegetables every day to stay healthy, and each individual food has its own unique health benefits. If you eat a rainbow’s variety of foods, you’re getting all kinds of different nutrients that you wouldn’t get if you just stuck to a few greens.
Nutrition tip #3: Control the environment that you can control
We all wish we had more control in our life, don’t we? Especially when it comes to what we eat and when. You know in your head that eating salad will help you in the long run, but sometimes you just can’t help yourself from grabbing something sweet instead.
‘These days we have to exercise willpower every single time we step out the front door. Don’t use it up at home,’ Dr Chatterjee says. ‘If you want to cut down on sugar and junk food, get it out of the house.’
Eating at home will improve your diet and save you money
Researchers from the University of Washington Health Sciences found that families who cook at home more often than they eat out are usually consuming healthier foods.
Eating at home – assuming you don’t bring home any junk food from your grocery shopping – will improve your diet and save you money. Home-cooked meals are associated with low calories, sugars and fats in your diet.
As long as you’re keeping that in mind when you’re picking out ingredients for dinner tonight, you can improve your diet and wallet at the same time by cooking at home.
Doctor Rangan Chatterjee‘s new book The Stress Solution: The 4 Steps to Reset Your Body, Mind, Relationships and Purpose is out now.
Follow Dr Rangan Chatterjee on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
More from Dr Chatterjee:
3 things this TV doctor wants you to know about decreasing stress
3 energy tips this TV doctor wants you to know
3 sleep tips this TV doctor wants you to try tonight
3 exercise tips this TV doctor wants you to know
3 things this TV doctor wants you to know about mood
3 things this TV doctor wants yo to know about healthy weight loss
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