Share diet tips for overall health and a healthy weight

A healthy, nutritious diet can help improve one's overall quality of life (mentally, physically, etc.) and even help prevent or mitigate certain chronic diseases. According to the recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, Americans' eating patterns are improving in diet quality; however, approximately 75% of the US population's diet is low in vegetables and fruits, a majority of its population eats in excess added sugars and saturated fats, and approximately 39% of the US population is obese.

The challenging part is learning what nutritious foods should be in your diet (or what innutritious foods removed from diet), improving eating patterns, and sticking to a healthy diet.

Therefore, let's share some tips and advice you have to ensure your diet is nutritious and caloric appropriate!

I have tried to incorporate less inflammatory foods in my diet, which for the most part tend to be the foods that are quickly accessible (e.g. processed food, artificial fats/ingredients, etc.) When I removed food, I try to see how many body acts... does it lower my pain? increase my energy/over all well-being?

Since I am trying to eat more whole foods and fresh food (not processed), I try to do a lot of meal prep. I prep for 4 days... So cook Sunday for M - F for my lunches and dinners. I then eat breakfast (generally whole oat oatmeal), then I will eat my prepped lunch. Fridays I will generally cook something from scratch to switch it up.

For me, I have been working on my diet to eat a less calories than I did before so I can lose weight. However, I am only decreasing my calories slowly so to not affect my energy levels.

I recommend this to many to do some slow calorie reducing so you are able to stick to it.

I believe that Joel Fuhrman's books on diet make a lot of sense, and I lost a lot of weight on his diet.

If you're on medications, please ... you MUST talk to your doctor before going on his diet. You will be in serious danger of having low blood sugar otherwise.

The beauty of his diet is that you lose weight without ever feeling hungry. The premise is that vegetables and fruits are filled with micronutrients that keep you healthy, and the more you eat, the more goodness you get. So, if you have a meal and feel hungry, eat more. These foods are so low in calories (compared to meats and baked goods) that you will lose weight. Even though I wasn't perfect with this diet (I eat cheese and eggs, five minute oatmeal, whole grain breads, fish, meat maybe once a month), I lost 20 pounds and it stayed off.

One other thing. There's only one thing I drink 99% of the time ... water (or tea, no added cream or sugar). There's research that points to diet drinks messing up your body chemistry. And fruit juices have way too much sugar, without the fiber. Eat the whole fruit (I start every day eating an orange).

Say goodbye to the sugar, the wheat, and milk products and you're more than halfway there to getting healthy!

Lots and lots of water. It helps with everything including making you feel full. I’m a vegetarian so. Eat lots of greens and fruits and vegetables. Beans as well. 

@Jujubeaner It's really true what you say about drinking water. It makes you eat less and generally feel better. I try hard to get in 2 liters a day.

Just get on the ketogenic diet. Go to [link removed] and get all the information you need with meal plans and recipes and videos and medical research. They have a 30-day free trial you can do. It is very worth looking into.

@lori49‍ , 2 liters of water is great. You could increase it a little but not too much. It should be making you feel full depending on what time you are drinking. If you drink water before a meal then you will eat less. You should be proud that you are consuming the amount of water you are!