If you want to stay slim and healthy, you have to exercise and watch what you eat. Yet for many people, eating healthily is a struggle. The problem is that there are lots of delicious tasting calorific treats available for purchase, so resisting temptation can be really difficult.
It’s not easy to stay slim when donuts and croissants are calling out to you from the supermarket shelves. What can you do to avoid succumbing to the enticement of unhealthy goodies and pastries?
1. Understand Cravings
When you have craving for a carbohydrate-laden treat, your body is simply asking for more fuel and nutrients to nourish the cells of your body. If you succumb to the temptation of eating a sugary processed treat, it will only satiate you for a short while because you haven’t given your body what it really wanted.
Sugary treats contain a lot of empty calories. In other words, sugary snacks will give you a quick energy boost, but they have no nutritional value. Eating sugary treats can also cause a slump in vitality and mood after the initial energy boost is over.
Filling up on fruit when you have a craving for something sugary is much better for your health. Fruit is not laden with empty calories, so eating it will not cause weight gain or spoil your dinner. Fruit will give the energy boost your body is asking for and provide many of the vitamins and minerals needed to nourish and replenish your cells.
2. Vitamins & Minerals
If you were to make a habit of eating fruit in place of sugary snacks, you might never need to take vitamin or mineral supplements again. For example, consider the nutritional value of a single apple.
Apples contain the minerals potassium, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, manganese, iron, sodium, copper, and zinc. Eating an apple also provides your body with several vitamins including vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, B vitamins, pantothenic acid, and niacin. When you compare the nutritional value of an apple with that of a donut, it’s obvious that fruit is the healthier choice.
3. Shopping & Willpower
Fruit is definitely nutritionally valuable. Yet if given the choice between a banana and a Danish pastry, most people would choose the latter. The truth is that eating fruit instead of sugary treats takes lots of willpower.
That’s why it is important to be strict with yourself when you go grocery shopping. Make sure you eat something before you shop for groceries. If you shop for food when you are hungry, it can be difficult to resist making poor choices.
Once you get to the supermarket, make most of your shopping choices in the produce section and avoid the areas where they stock sugary or fatty snacks. If you avoid buying unhealthy processed foods while you are out shopping for groceries, you will not take them home with you. It’s impossible to succumb to temptation and eat a Twinkie if you don’t have any at home.1