- 1. Make your own food
- 3. Always have fruits and vegetables at home
- 2. Always have water or tea nearby
- 3. Avoid buying sweets and cookies
- 5. Snack mid-morning and mid-afternoon
- 6. Make delicious desserts only on special occasions
- 7. Include the family in changing eating habits
Keeping the diet as a housewife can seem complicated because there is always the option of snacking while preparing meals and eating sweets and treats that are kept in the pantry, but working at home and getting organized to prepare your own meals can be a great advantage for those who want to lose weight and keep health up to date.
So, to get the best out of your routine, here are 7 simple tips that will help to improve food planning at home and facilitate weight loss.
1. Make your own food
Making your own food helps to control the quality and quantity of meals, as well as helping to save money. In general, when buying food away from home, the preparations have more salt, bad fats, fried foods and sugar, which impairs the diet.
So, prefer to prepare your own meals, choosing fresh and seasonal fruits and vegetables, avoiding using excess fries and oils, and preferring to season the dishes with aromatic herbs such as garlic, basil and pepper, instead of cubes of meat or vegetables, which they are rich in salt, bad fats and chemical additives.
3. Always have fruits and vegetables at home
Fruits and vegetables are rich in vitamins, minerals and fiber, important nutrients to maintain the proper functioning of the body and avoid hunger and cravings for sweets.
Fruits can be used as snacks between main meals, with the addition of seeds such as chia or flaxseed, or with chestnuts, which are rich in good fats like omega-3, which help control cholesterol and blood pressure.
2. Always have water or tea nearby
Always having water or teas nearby helps maintain hydration and increase the feeling of satiety, avoiding snacking on sweets or other foods in between meals. This is because often the feeling of thirst is often confused with hunger, which leads to an unnecessary increase in calorie consumption.
In addition, taking teas such as green tea, white tea and mate tea helps to speed up the metabolism and stimulate the burning of fats, contributing to weight control. A good strategy is to add cinnamon and ginger to teas, as they have a thermogenic effect. See more examples in 5 Teas to lose weight.
3. Avoid buying sweets and cookies
Avoiding caloric foods at home, such as sweets, cookies and chips, helps to avoid excessive consumption of sugar and fat even when the desire arises. When you have these products in the pantry or in the cupboard, the frequency of consumption is much higher, and not including them in market purchases helps to control the calories of the diet and increase the quality of food in general.
In addition, always having sweets at home influences children to like foods high in sugar, and their excessive consumption can impair the proper development of their bodies and increase the risk of problems such as excess weight and high cholesterol.
5. Snack mid-morning and mid-afternoon
Snacking between main meals helps to reduce hunger and the desire to eat, and also reduces the habit of tasting food while eating lunch and dinner meals.
For snacks, prefer to consume foods such as natural yoghurts shaken with fruit, sandwiches with whole wheat bread and cheese, fruit salad with chia, flaxseed or oats or a small tapioca with egg and coffee, preferably without sugar. See examples of Healthy Afternoon Snack Options.
6. Make delicious desserts only on special occasions
Preparing delicious desserts only on special occasions and not as a routine helps to reduce the consumption of sweets and high-calorie foods such as chocolates and sour cream. In addition, avoiding sweets on a daily basis also makes the palate get used to more bitter or sour foods, contributing to reduce sugar addiction and prevent diseases linked to its excessive consumption, such as high cholesterol, diabetes and overweight.
To use as a routine, the ideal is to consume only 1 fruit for dessert, as they reduce the desire for sweets and are rich in fibers that increase satiety, in addition to having vitamin C, a nutrient that increases the absorption of iron in the intestine, helping to prevent problems like anemia.
7. Include the family in changing eating habits
Preparing healthier meals for the whole family makes it easier to follow the diet and make everyone enter the process of changing eating habits. Including preparations with salads, fruits, olive oil, seeds, yogurts, cheeses and whole grain breads in the home routine will make the whole family learn to like these foods and include them in their normal routine, making everyone feel the health benefits.
Improving your diet should not only be an obligation for those who want to lose weight, but something necessary for everyone and at all ages, because only in this way is it possible to maintain the proper functioning of the body, preventing diseases and controlling better weight.
In addition to these tips for doing at home, it is also important to take the time to do some physical activity and take care of the skin, nails and hair. Self-esteem and a sense of well-being motivate you to lose weight and maintain healthy lifestyle habits.
See other 5 simple tips to lose weight and lose belly.
