5 Best Diet Hacks
People often ask me what I think the perfect diet is paleo, vegan, low carb, low fat… counting calories, cutting out entire food groups – it gets WAY TOO confusing to sort through all of the fact and fiction!
That’s why I want to share my top 5 best diet hacks – because what’s perfect for me, might not be perfect for you. We both have different needs, different goals, different situation… but there are 5 KEY elements that anyone can follow to design the perfect diet – for you! SO let’s dive into these tips!
Want more details? Download your FREE Meal Planning Calendar and Grocery Shopping List Below!
Best Diet Hack #1: Eat more greens.
You’ve likely heard this before maybe even you’re rolling your eyes and saying “Jolene – I KNOW this already!”. But let me ask you: Are you eating at LEAST 5 cups of veggies every single day? Even for myself as a nutritionist – I LOVE veggies, and some days don’t get enough… and then one day turns into two and before I know it I’m choosing pizza over salad multiple days in a row. It’s a slippery slope that the best of us can slide down! But that’s ok – it’s super easy to get back on track! Simply commit to getting in your 5 servings of veggies before you indulge in your favorite not-so-healthy food (My favorite indulgences are pizza and chocolate chip cookies!). If you focus on the 80/20 rule of MOSTLY eating healthy, and getting your veggies in no matter what, then you will have a little more freedom to enjoy any type of food you want.
Best Diet Hack #2: Drink water!
This is another tip that you’ve probably heard time and again – but you’d be surprised at how many people I talk to , that don’t even get 8 glasses of water a day! Water is essential to clean out your body, keep you hydrated, and get rid of cravings. Often if I feel hungry but I’v eaten within the last couple of hours, if I have a glass of water the ‘hunger’ goes away. Sometimes our body thinks it’s hungry when it’s actually just thirsty! One of my all time favorite drinks is soda water – the bubbles are so refreshing and satisfying.
Best Diet Hack #3: Skip Breakfast
Now this tip may surprise you – skip breakfast! If you wake up and you’r not hungry, then don’t eat! This is teaching your body to become more sensitive to when it’s actually hungry. Probably 5 days out of 7, I don’t eat breakfast. I will make some bulletproof coffee (coffee blended with coconut oil and butter), and the fats in that keep me in a fat burning zone all morning. Sometimes I will just eat breakfast later, like around 10:30am. If you can wait until you feel actual hunger – this is great! An easy thing to do, is to pack some hard boiled eggs, or an easy breakfast to go – and carry it with you. Once you feel hungry then eat – this is showing you what ‘intuitive eating is’. I actually carry snacks with me almost everywhere so that I never have the urge to eat when I’m not hungry. Knowing that food is always available turns off our ancestral urge to eat whatever is in front of us, because back in the day we didn’t know when we’d get our next meal!
Want more details? Download your FREE Meal Planning Calendar and Grocery Shopping List Below!
Best Diet Hack #4 – Don’t count calories
Another surprise right? Counting calories is old school! Our bodies burn the calories from fat differently than the calories from protein and also differently from the carb calories. They’re all necessary but a calorie is NOT a calorie. I like to focus on eating whole, natural foods. Even foods that are considered ‘bad’ for dieters like white potatoes and white rice – no one ever got fat eating too many potatoes. (Before you ask – french fries don’t count as healthy potatoes lol!) So eat what you want, as long as it is in the form of a whole food, and not a processed food out of a box!
Best Diet Hack #5 – Eat your carbs later at night.
This is another thing that you might be surprised about – by limiting carbs throughout the day, it keeps your insulin levels stable and helps you to have less cravings – bonus! Also consider your willpower – when you wake up first thing in the moring, ready to take on the day – you have all the willpower in the world to make healthy eating decisions! But what about during the day – every single decision you make, from what route to take to work, to meetings, to what to order for lunch – all of these small decisions add up and chip away at your willpower. By the time evening rolls around, your willpower is likely a lot lower than when you woke up. SO by allowing carbs later in the day, you still stay compliant with your ‘best diet plan’, AND you work in sync with your body’s biorhythms . When you do eat carbs later in the day, they help to relax your body for a good sleep. It’s a win in all ways!
You can see how you can put these 5 simple tricks together in a way that works for you – to create YOUR Best Diet. Give it a try – I’d love to hear in the comments below how it works for you!
So far this seems pretty simple right? And it is simple – it’s just knowing exactly WHAT to do and WHEN to do it! I’ve created a free meal planning calendar with shopping list to get you started – just download below!
Wow this is a great diet plan! I’ve just started work outs after ive have had a baby. I’m working out now to get back my figure. I find this useful to me.