Eat at the right time
When you eat can be just as crucial as what you eat. “Eating in tune with your circadian rhythms—aka your body’s inner clock that guides you to wake and sleep—automatically helps your health. You are getting fuel when you can actually use it and allowing your body to rest when it needs to,” Michael Roizen, MD, chief wellness officer of the Cleveland Clinic and coauthor of What to Eat When previously told Health. That means eating during daylight hours (or, at least in a 12-hour window—say 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.—during those winter days when there’s not as many hours of sunlight).
Your resistance to insulin is highest at night, when you’re less active and your body thinks it should be resting, meaning most of the calories you consume in the evening tend to be stored as fat. Late-night noshing has been linked to several bad health effects, including increased risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease. “Ideally, you’ll consume about 75% of your calories by 4 p.m.,” Tamara Duker Freuman, RD, author of The Bloated Belly Whisperer, previously told Health.
Always have a plan
It’s easy to get sucked into the lure of the restaurant menu when you’re hungry and everything looks good. But eating healthily doesn’t always mean having to order the plain grilled chicken breast with steamed veggies. Order what you’d like, but balance the meal out with the rest of the day, author Elisa Zied, who had an over-20-year career as a registered dietitian, tells Health. If you know you’re going out for a steak and potatoes dinner, go easy on the meat and starch at lunch. Make sure you’re also fitting in healthy fare like whole grains, fruit, veggies, and nuts and seeds in the other meals and snacks that day. That way a hunk of steak won’t derail your healthy eating streak, and you’ll leave happy.
