It’s the afternoon, you need a little pick-me-up, so you grab a donut and follow it with a latte. And for about 15 minutes after you’re done, you feel ah-mazing. Your sugar craving is satisfied, and you’re energetic. And then… Then it all comes crashing down.
You start to feel lethargic, sluggish, and, worst of all, you want more sugar.
Now compare that with the way you feel after you’ve had grilled salmon, quinoa, a salad, and an avocado for lunch. This kind of energy is much, much different because it’s calm and steady. There are no frantic peaks and crashes, just a sustained flow of energy.
How can there be such a dramatic difference?
The answer is in the nutritional concept. A donut, delicious as it is, is just empty calories, and all you get from it is short-term satisfaction. The other, healthier option, will fuel your body in the long run.
This article won’t try to make you go on a diet, but help you understand how food truly functions as fuel.
The Difference Between Fuel and Filler
Your body is a high-performance engine, and unless you feed it quality fuel, it won’t run as well as it could. And that right there is the core difference between fuel and filler.
On one hand, you have leafy greens, berries, salmon, and lentils packed with nutrients and minerals your body needs to thrive. When you eat any of these, your body gets the best fuel imaginable that provides you with steady energy and keeps you full and satisfied.
On the other hand, you also have a lot of calorie impostors to choose from, like chips, candy, and soda. All of this is mostly filler and, instead of being packed with the good stuff, it’s packed with calories from added sugars and unhealthy fats that have hardly any nutritional value.
You might get a quick burst of energy from them, but you’ll always crash soon after that and end up feeling sluggish and hungry.
How to Make Smarter Food Choices
The first step to making healthier choices is knowing the difference between filler and fuel, which you now do.
Next, you need to put that knowledge into practice.
Learn to Read the Label
The nutrition facts panel and ingredient list are how you figure out what’s in those packaged foods. Ignore the marketing hype on the front, like ‘low-fat’ or ‘natural’, and go straight to what’s on the back.
Even if you’re buying nutritious dried fruit snacks or protein bars, you still need to check the ingredients.
Ingredients are listed in order of quantity, so if some form of sugar, refined flour, or unhealthy oil is one of the first three items, that’s a red flag. Syrup, nectar, fruit juice concentrate, and anything that ends in -ose means this is something to avoid.
Also, check the numbers. You want foods with more fiber (3 grams per serving and above) and protein to stay full, and less added sugars and sodium.
Make Your Plate Better
Your own plate is all you need to eat better. If it’s beige, it’s no good.
Fill half of it with colorful vegetables (the more colors, the better), then a quarter with lean protein sources such as chicken, fish, beans, or tofu, and the final quarter with complex carbohydrates. This would be something like quinoa or brown rice, even sweet potatoes. This will give you sustained energy.
For the proverbial cherry on top, add avocado, nuts, seeds, or drizzle olive oil to get healthy fats.
These help your body absorb all those fantastic vitamins, so they’re really important.
Up Your Grocery Game
Eating healthy starts at the grocery store.
Rule number one – don’t go grocery shopping while you’re hungry.
Rule number two – shop the perimeter. This is where you’ll usually find whole, fresh foods like vegetables, fruits, meat, and dairy. If you do go into the inner aisles, pay attention to the frozen section because frozen fruits and vegetables are frozen at the peak of freshness, so they’re basically perfect.
Plus, they’re often cheaper, and they’ll last you longer than anything you buy fresh.
But the most important change might be the one in your mindset.
Your focus shouldn’t be on restrictions but on adding more good stuff to your diet. If you love smoothies, that’s okay, but why not add spinach to them? If you’re making sauce, why not add extra veggies to it?
If you want a snack, get an apple and peanut butter instead of cookies.
Conclusion
Eating healthy doesn’t mean never having another Snickers.
It means eating mostly healthy, nutritious food and making a conscious choice every day instead of giving in to cravings.If you’ve been eating great for a few days, reward yourself with a few Oreos; there’s nothing wrong with that.
Just don’t let those Oreos become 80% of your diet; that’s when problems start.
