If your diet has been bad for a long time, you might not even realise how awful you feel. If being tired and sluggish and generally a bit unwell has become your baseline, it might be that you’ve not felt well for so long you’ve forgotten what it’s like. If you’re fed up of feeling this way and ready to make a change, or maybe you’ve started on a healthy lifestyle plan already bit aren’t sure what to do next, here are some ideas.
Have a blood test and checkup
If you know you’ve not been eating right for a long time then there’s a good chance you’ve developed some deficiencies over the years. These can start off quite mild and and you might not notice at first, but they can affect everything over time. Your energy levels, metabolism, the way your body heals after injuries, all sorts. Deficiences over time can affect your immune system and leave you vulnerable to all kinds of chronic diseases. Having a simple blood test done can show you exactly what your body is missing, and from there youb can either take supplements or improve your diet to fix them. It means that you’re not just guessing and taking supplements you dont need or missing things that you do.
Start tracking what you eat
Even if you dont plan on doing it permanently (as it can be a pain to do this), tracking even for a while can really open your eyes to what you’re eating. A good calorie tracker will also track things like protein, fat, carbohydrates and salt so you can see exactly what your diet is made up of. If you’re someone that feels like they eat healthy but doesnt lose any weight, this can really highlight why. Things that you thought were low in calorie might be adding up, or it might be the sauces and dips and little extra things that are your downfall. Or it could be something you’re drinking rather than eating, but either way once you start tracking this will come to light.
Speak to a professional
If you dont have a huge understanding of nutrition and diet then getting help from a professional like those at JM Nutrition is money well spent. Even getting back to basics of what the different macro and micro nutrients do in the body and what foods contain them, and how much of them you need is always going to be useful. But a step more than that, a professional can help you tailor a diet plan to you and what you need. As your age, gender, activity level etc will all affect the balance that you need. It doesnt matter if you want to get healthier or lose weight or just to educate yourself, a professional will be able to guide you with what you need.
