NUTRITION GAL
Signs of a Healthy Diet

By Naomi Yane | April 6, 2011 | Fitness

When it comes to your diet, do you think you’re on the right track? Sure, you’ve been trying to make better choices with your eating and changing some of those diehard bad habits. But how can you really tell all the effort you’re making is really working? Nutrition Gal gives you three surefire ways to tell if your diet is working for you, or if you need a major overhaul.

1. Your skin. How has the quality of your skin been lately? Has it been breaking out more, been really dry or itchy, or just looks dull? Your skin quality is an excellent way to tell if what you are eating is right for you. All too often, when people notice problems with their skin, they immediately blame what they are putting on their body as oppose to in their body. While sleep and water are extremely important for good skin quality, it is proven that vitamins A, C, and E are also necessary to keep your skin young and supple. Two other important things that you want to be sure you’re getting enough of: Omega-3 fatty acids and protein. Omega-3, found naturally in oily fish such as salmon, herring, mackerel, anchovies and sardines, combats itchiness and inflammation while diets with adequate high quality protein have decreased amounts of acne.

2. Your energy level. Feel like you can go forever (sans caffeine of course), or feel like you are in a listless slump for no reason? Chances are, you might be eating something that slows you down or doesnΓÇÖt work well for your system. There’s only way to really tell: Do a food experiment! For one week, write down everything you eat and how you feel in the hours after ingestion. It will be easy to see a pattern and you can determine what foods work best with your system, and which donΓÇÖt.

3. Your sleep. How are you sleeping lately? Are you having trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or just not feeling rested? Besides the obvious things like getting enough hours for sleep and going to bed at a decent hour, your diet could be preventing you from getting your much deserved rest. A likely culprit: refined sugar. Unfortunately, refined sugar is in so many foods nowadays (even the ΓÇ£healthyΓÇ¥ ones!) and it is hidden under many different names. The easiest thing to do is stay away from anything packaged and satisfy your sweet cravings with sweet vegetables like sweet potatoes, and low sugar fruits like berries.

photo credit: Filomena Scalise/FDP.net