Our Top 12 Nutrition Hacks For Real Life

Let’s talk about nutrition! This one is always a hot topic in our Facebook Group.

How many times have you tried to figure out a better way to fuel your body? We’ve got some ideas – gained from many years of trying things out and lots of experience – and we want to share them with you!

Please keep in mind that nutrition is always going to be highly individual. Try things out, find what works for you and hold onto it. If you find yourself frustrated with a nutrition strategy and it’s not working for you – it’s okay to let that one go. These ideas are meant to be guidelines; try them out, put your own spin on them and make them your own.

1) Eat a veggie with every meal. No exceptions. Even on your pizza nights. Make a vegetable to go along. It can be as easy as throwing together a quick salad or steaming some broccoli. We know this one can be especially tricky at breakfast – but yes, you can (and should!) eat vegetables at breakfast.

2) Start walking after dinner. Start tonight. It doesn’t need to be a long walk, or a fast walk. Round up the family, clean up the dishes (or let them sit until you’re back), and head out the front door for a walk. This will help you decide that the meal is over, and it will help you not sit around and fill up with a sugary dessert. Bonus points if you can manage to leave your phones behind and actually talk to each other!

3) Make your own cookbook and reference it often. Information overload is real, y’all. If you have too many options and too many ideas it can be hard to choose which healthy option to go with. Do your future, hungry self a favor and limit the difficult decisions you’ll have to make. Load it up with recipes that are easy and that you know your family enjoys. Being prepared with go-to recipes increases the likelihood that you’ll make dinner (and decreases the likelihood that you’ll order out).

4) Eat a non-liquid breakfast every day. Yes – we mean actual food. Not a protein shake. Not a smoothie. It should have nutrition, calories, and it should help you feel full. We recognize that not everyone is ready to eat first thing in the morning – but getting used to eating a morning meal can save you from stuffing yourself with a huge lunch later on when you’re starving. You don’t have to get up super early. Try making something quick and easy (with a vegetable) in advance so you can just grab and go.

5) Do not eat food out of its own container. No exceptions. Serve the chips in a smaller dish. Scoop ice cream into a bowl. And then (this part is really important) put the container away! Create a clear end point for that food. Once they’re done, they’re done.

6) Don’t put all your junk food in one place. Put your less nutritious foods next to your healthier options – give yourself an opportunity to make good choices. For example, put your chocolate in your fridge, right next to your fresh berries. That way when you’ve got that late night chocolate craving (we’ve all been there) you can see the option to grab some fruit, too.

7) Go to frickin’ bed. Speaking of late-night food cravings – if this is something you struggle with, maybe just try going to bed earlier! If you crave ice cream every night at 9pm, try going to bed ahead of that. If you’re asleep, it’s a lot harder to eat ice cream. Sleep is one of the most important and under-estimated factors in our day-to-day health, and it also helps your body lose fat and recover from your hard workouts.

8) Limit caffeine 8 hours before you go to bed. We all know that person who swears up and down that they can drink a cup of coffee right before bed and still sleep through the night. That may be the case, but study after study shows that they’re probably not getting that most important REM sleep that really helps your body recover and prepare for the next day. A lot of times people think they need caffeine when what they actually need is nutrition or rest. Try replacing your afternoon caffeine pick-me-up with something nutritious, like a piece of fruit or a handful of almonds.

9) Drink a full glass of water with every meal, but especially your nighttime meal. And no, this is not “fill yourself up with water so you’ll eat less” – we don’t believe in eating less, we believe in eating better! This is all about making sure your body is properly hydrated. Often, when we feel hungry what our body is actually telling us is that we need more water. Give it both food and water and your body will have everything it needs.

10) Brush your teeth after you’re done eating. For one, it’s just super important to brush your teeth (and for the full 2 minutes – no cheating!) But this also has the added benefit of signaling to yourself that you’re done eating for the day. What are you gonna do, brush your teeth all over again? Besides, food tastes bad after your brush, anyway.

11) Keep snacks in your car. When you’re busy and you’re running from place to place, sometimes hunger will sneak up on you and it can be hard to resist all of the fast and cheap drive through options. We don’t want fast and cheap, though, we want nutritious. Try a few bags of raisins, nuts, or other dried fruits or foods that won’t go bad. This is especially important for commuters! Keep your car stocked with healthy options.

12) If you have to end your nighttime meal with a sweet treat, add a nutritious choice. You gotta have a piece of dark chocolate at the end of the day? Totally fine. Have some cherries along with it! The two were made to go together, anyway. Fruit is always a great option for something to go along with your nightly cookie, chocolate, or scoop of ice cream.

Now, we know some of these might seem like small habits or routines, but that’s actually the whole point! We want changes to be manageable and easy to work into your everyday life. Nutrition routines are important, and we don’t want to be making huge, drastic changes. Drastic often also means unsustainable. Start small, and watch how small, consistent changes add up to become healthy habits over time.

Do you have healthy nutrition hacks? The more the merrier! Come and share them with the community in our facebook group!