Changing your diet can have different goals. You may want to eat healthier or lose or gain weight. Here, you can learn how to analyze your diet and make long-term changes. The key is never to give up and to stay disciplined, as when performing at 22Bet.
Step 1 To Changing Your Diet: Register
Before you change your diet, you should get an overview of your eating habits. One helpful method is to keep a food diary.
Write down your meals every day in it: Write down which foods you consume, how often, and at what times you eat. You should also record how you feel after each meal: you may feel tired after certain foods or feel particularly alert and energetic.
How long you observe yourself and your eating plan depends on you. For a comprehensive picture, however, you should keep the food diary for at least a week.
Step 2: Analysis And Changes
Don’t get confused by diets and trends when changing your diet. Your food diary shows you can now analyze which foods you eat frequently. You can also see when and how often you eat your meals. If certain foods cause discomfort, such as digestive problems or sluggishness, you should avoid them for a while. If the symptoms are even more severe, an intolerance could be the reason. In this case, you should speak to a doctor.
Keep your goal in mind: you want to change your diet to feel more alert and strong, to do something good for your health or the environment. Or do you want to lose or gain weight? These goals will influence the focus you set for your dietary change.
Now you can make changes to your diet – but which ones? Given the many dietary trends, this decision is tough. Various diets such as paleo, low-carb, high-carb, or raw vegan promise to optimize your body. However, it’s best to personalize your diet.
Individual Dietary Changes Instead Of Trend Diets
Trend diets are usually designed for a short period, during which you are supposed to lose pounds quickly. This can work. However, after one or two weeks of dieting, many people don’t know how to eat and fall back into old habits. Too significant a calorie deficit during the diet can also cause cravings and a yo-yo effect.
Instead of following a particular trend, you should listen to your body and tailor your diet to your individual needs. Set yourself the goal of a long-term change in diet. You can structure this in such a way that you achieve your personal goals. For example, if you want to eat healthier, you can follow scientifically based guidelines such as the ten rules of the DGE.
Healthy Eating: The Rules Of The DGE
According to the DGE, fruit and vegetables should comprise most of your diet. If a healthy diet is the goal of your dietary change, the following rules from the German Nutrition Society can help you. The DGE updates them regularly.
The rules include the following tips:
- Eat as varied as possible. This way, you consume many different nutrients and prevent deficiencies. The DGE recommends a predominantly plant-based diet consisting mainly of vegetables, fruit, cereals, and nuts.
- Include enough fruit and vegetables in your diet. For example, follow the rule of thumb: “five a day” and eat three portions of vegetables and two portions of fruit every day. One portion is roughly equivalent to the amount that fits in one hand. The DGE also points out that vegetables and fruit should make up most of your diet. The DGE also includes pulses, nuts, seeds, and dried fruit in this group. In these cases, however, the portion size is smaller due to the higher calorie density.
- Eat whole grain products. This is because whole grain cereal products such as bread, rice, or pasta have a higher fiber density, vitamins, and mineral density than white flour products. Fiber keeps you full longer and strengthens the colon.
- Eat no more than 300 to 600 grams of meat per week, and avoid red meat. Otherwise, according to the DGE, the risk of bowel cancer may increase.
- Eat healthy fats. The critical and healthy unsaturated fatty acids are found in many vegetable oils, nuts, and seeds. You should consume these every day. Saturated fatty acids, on the other hand, should be avoided. They are found in animal products, in particular, as well as coconut and palm fat.