THE 10 KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL HEALTHY NUTRITION AND 4TH ROUTINE

I'm sure you're starting to read this article with the same intention as the other hundreds of nutrition articles that appear every day, right? And in the end, they all tell you the same thing: stay away from ultra-processed foods, refined and added sugar, alcohol... We all know that no one becomes obese from eating carrots, or apples, or grilled turkey or chicken breast... but, when it comes down to it, it's so difficult to do so that we almost always fail. Not being a nutritionist, and despite having always been physically active, I've had my problems when it comes to keeping those extra kilos of fat at bay.

I have always been very clear about the guidelines for healthy eating , but when push came to shove, I often found it very difficult to stick to the plan. I think this happens to everyone to a greater or lesser extent. Everyone knows that an apple is better than a chocolate-filled bun, but it is so hard to choose the apple!

Well, in this article I just want to give you, from personal experience, some tips to make this process easier for you . That is, instead of telling you not to eat sugar or ultra-processed foods (our nutrition expert Agueda already does this in her articles on healthy nutrition ), I am going to give you some guidelines (we can call them tricks) that will help you follow these guidelines in a simpler way.

• Don't confuse healthy eating with being on a diet

When you give up that pizza at a family dinner, or you prefer to eat fresh tomato and cheese instead of chips for your pre-meal snack, or when you choose to drink water instead of the usual sugary soda, people often equate that behavior with being on a diet. And I ask , is not eating junk food being on a diet? It's not just aesthetics that's involved here anymore, it's your health!

• Keep track of everything you eat

Often, our perception is that we eat very well, so we invite you to move from subjectivity to objectivity. By writing down everything you eat , you will be able to be aware of whether you really have a healthy diet or not . Now you know what to eat and what to limit, and even if you think you have a fairly healthy diet, writing down everything you eat, for example for a week, will make you see, for real, whether this is true or not. Our personal advice: Write the truth or you will deceive yourself.

• Avoid temptation

This part is the hardest of all because, how to do it? It couldn't be easier: don't have it at home, stop buying it! Simply, don't feel obliged to choose between an apple and that bun . Refined sugar is more addictive than cocaine . This wouldn't be a problem if sugar had a high nutritional value (even if it had quite a few calories). The problem is that, despite its high caloric value, sugar has a very low (if not zero) nutritional value, which means that our body cannot use it to nourish itself, so that, if it is not used as a source of energy in some immediate process that requires it (taking a good dose of sugar can save you from a crash at the right time when you are competing in a marathon or similar), the only way out of sugar is to accumulate, after the appropriate transformations, in the form of fat in our body.

If you don't know which products contain added sugar and how much , we recommend you take a look at the website www.sinAzucar.org . You'll be surprised by all the added sugar we consume each year. You can and should also check the nutritional information on packaged foods .

• Make a nutritional plan for your entire family

This advice is directly related to the previous one. Don't fight against those children's biscuits that are right next to the nuts. Eating healthy, as we have already said, is not being on a diet, just as not drinking alcohol or not smoking is not. Would you give your children cocaine? And, assuming that the answer is a resounding NO! I continue: then, why do you give them (so much) sugar? Why can and should they eat biscuits, industrial pastries, sweets, cold cuts, chocolate milkshakes, packaged juices? Do you think it is good for them? Do you think they metabolize food differently than us adults?

Unlike strict or restrictive diets , which must always be prescribed by nutrition specialists and on an individual basis, a healthy nutritional plan is practically universal, unless there are allergies or intolerances that make it impossible to consume a food. Also unlike prescribed diets, a nutritional plan has no expiration date; it is a way of understanding food and can accompany you throughout your life.

Think about how many people you know who, after following any diet for 3 months, achieved their goals and, after abandoning the diet, maintained what they had achieved.

I assure you that since I changed my nutritional plan, I am more than satisfied with the effort/results ratio. And, what is better, these are maintained over time.

• Size does matter

Once again, I'm going to use the maxim that a picture is worth a thousand words. In this image you can see 4 plates of different sizes with the same amount of food on them. Is your perception different? A good trick to eat fewer calories is to choose smaller plates.

• Cook just right

Closely related to the previous advice, we will tell you that it is better to avoid leftovers, and to always cook just enough and eat what we have served on the plate from the start. Putting common plates in the centre of the table is fine for banquets and special occasions, but if you are a bit of a pushover, it is preferable that, in your daily life, you serve yourself your plate and eat only what is on it.

Leftovers are a dangerous temptation, and even more so when there is little left. Who hasn't said at some point, 'Well, if there's anything left, I'll finish it'? Well, pay attention to the following calculation.

Two fried croquettes (approx. 50 gr.) provide about 160 calories. If we eat the equivalent of these extra calories every day, we will be losing about 1120 calories a week, which translated into grams of fat (each gram of fat provides 9 calories) is 125 grams of fat. This is equivalent to more than 6 kg. of fat per year.

Think about this the next time you're eating your kids' leftovers.

• Within the range of raw materials, the diet must be as varied as possible, with no forbidden foods, but rather adequate quantities.

Once again we call for common sense. We know that olive oil is a very healthy food, but no one would think of drinking a glass of olive oil. In the attached image, you can see two dishes with almost the same ingredients but in different proportions.

Along these lines, when we cook a dish, we must take into account the recommendations of the famous Harvard Plate , which our nutritionist à gueda already told us about in an article at the beginning of the Challenge .

• Limit the consumption of fried foods, as they provide too many calories and make us feel heavy.

Look for healthier cooking options , such as grilled, baked, steamed, en papillon... In the following pair of images, the main ingredient that appears is chicken. Which do you think is healthier?

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• If you want to lose weight, don't skip meals

Although this idea of ​​eating 5 meals a day does not necessarily apply to all of us, it can often help us. For example, adults often skip snacks because we think two things:

1. Snack time is a child's thing
2. If I avoid eating, I will lose weight faster

Although it all depends on each person's schedule, let's say that a person eats at 1:30 p.m. and has dinner at 9:30 p.m., after having worked all afternoon. In this situation, it is more than likely that he or she will be ravenously hungry for dinner, so he or she will compulsively eat more than he or she needs. Among other things, the fact of eating more meals a day helps control our appetite, improves intestinal transit, helps us fall asleep...

• If you enjoy eating, your nutritional plan cannot be a torture

We should continue to enjoy eating, but doing it well , and often re-education is enough. We should not feel like we are making the sacrifice of following a strict diet in which we go hungry, or that we don't like half of the foods, and even less so when we know that this will be for life...

There is no need to try to radically change your habits and customs. It is not an all-or-nothing law. If you take it too seriously, you will end up giving up. In a nutritional plan like the one I follow, you also gain a few kilos at Christmas, but I soon lose them again, because I do not allow these excesses to become routine.

Likewise, if I go out with friends from time to time or there is a special celebration, I do not deprive myself or am I restrictive, since I still try to compensate and get back on the right path as soon as possible.

My advice is to not let an out-of-line meal become the norm for a longer period of time, and not lose sight of the path. This advice is summarized very well in the following image.

We hope that these guidelines and tips will help you to follow the advice and guidelines of our friend à gueda, a nutrition expert.

Now that we have some tips to help us with the process , we are going to present the fourth exercise routine of our #AnaissaHealthyLifeChallenge.

UPPER BODY STRENGTH IN 6 MINUTES AT HOME

4th EXERCISE ROUTINE #RetoVidaSaludableAnaissa

To do this exercise routine we want you to take into account the following aspects:

• The routine consists of 6 exercises , all of them focused on improving the strength of the main muscles of the upper body .
• Once again, we are going to use the timer to do the routine. We propose a ratio of 34' of exercise and 26' of active rest , during which you can do a cardio exercise that you already know, either jogging on the spot or Jumping Jacks . As you know, you can regulate the intensity of the training, increasing or reducing the work/active rest ratios or doing the active rest exercise with greater or lesser vigor.
• The challenge we are launching for you this week is to combine this routine with the ones you already know from previous weeks, creating the following ideal situation:
  • Each day, we did a 6-minute round of workout 3, which focused on the lower body, a 6-minute round of workout 4, which focused on the upper body, and a 6-minute round of workout 2, which focused on the core muscles. That's a total of 18 minutes of full-body strength training combined with a little bit of cardio. Can you think of a better way to spend 18 minutes?
• Remember to print this week's template to track your progress throughout the week. Since the challenge we've launched this week combines 3 different routines, we've prepared it for this specific challenge. If you don't know the other routines, click here .

Week 4 template

• If you haven't started our challenge yet, don't worry, you can start from the beginning at any time. Access all the information .

LET'S GET STARTED!

* IMPORTANT: Remember to do the exercises for 34' and then jog in place for 26' before starting the next exercise using your regular timer.

EXERCISE 1. FLOOR DIPS FOR PECTORALS

As we can see in the image, we must keep our body straight at all times. The ideal is to go down little by little, controlling the movement and going up more energetically.

If you're not strong enough to do them this way yet, don't worry, we have an easy version of the exercise. Do the same thing but supporting yourself on your knees instead of your feet, as you can see in the images below.

EXERCISE 2. BICEPS CURL

Standing with your back straight and your arms at your sides, hold the bottles with your palms facing forward. Lift the weight vigorously, trying to avoid arching your back, and lower it more slowly.

EXERCISE 3. PLANK POSITION FOR ABS

Supporting your forearms and the tips of your feet on the floor, you should maintain the position without arching your back or raising your buttocks. We know it's hard, but you'll see how, little by little, you'll be able to hold on for longer.

EXERCISE 4. TABLE ROW FOR THE BACK

Lying under a sturdy table that allows us to have our arms stretched out without our back touching the floor, we grab onto it and straighten our body so that it forms a straight line from head to toe, as seen in the first image.

From this position, we pull with our arms to bring our chest closer to the lower part of the table, as seen in the second image. The descent to the initial position should be done more slowly.

EXERCISE 5. DIPS BETWEEN CHAIRS FOR TRICEPS

We place our feet on a chair and, with our legs stretched out, we place our hands on the edge of another chair. From this position, we slowly lower our bottom in front of the chair on which we have placed our hands. When we reach the bottom, we return to the initial position in an energetic manner.

This exercise will probably be a bit difficult for you at first, but if you can't do it like this, check out the easier variation of this exercise in the following images. It is done with your feet on the ground.

EXERCISE 6. COMBO FOR SHOULDERS

We start from a standing position with the water bottles held with the palms of the hands facing the body (image 1).

From here, we raise our arms to a horizontal position with the palms of our hands facing downwards (image 2).

We move them forward in a horizontal sweep (image 3) and then slowly lower them to the front of the body (image 1).

Then we do the reverse movement, that is, we lift ourselves forward, sweep until we have our arms in a cross shape and slowly lower them until we have them in the initial position, with the water bottles attached to the sides of the body.

Here are the 6 exercises that make up our 4th routine of our #RetoVidaSaludableAnaissa . If you haven't signed up yet, don't wait any longer and start getting a healthier body and better physical condition now. It's never been so easy to start exercising, at any time, from the comfort of your home and without the need for specific equipment.

NOW, THE CHOICE IS YOURS: ASK YOURSELF IF WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO TODAY WILL BRING YOU CLOSER TO WHERE YOU WANT TO BE TOMORROW.

Jordi Martínez Belda. Membership number at COLEF CV: 56275

• Graduate in Physical Activity and Sports Sciences from the Catholic University of San Antonio de Murcia.
• National Athletics Coach for the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation.
• Higher Sports Technician in Bodybuilding, Muscle Building and Fitness from the Royal Spanish Weightlifting Federation.