6 diet mistakes that you need to avoid in 2021, according to a nutritionist

When we think of diet mistakes, we often tend to focus on unhealthy foods. And while they are the biggest enemies of your resolution to eat clean in 2021, there are plenty of other mistakes that you could be committing. Wondering what they are? Well then, keep reading:

1. Missing meals

Missing your meals might be one of the worst decisions you can make throughout the day. Not only will you miss out on essential nutrients, but it may also lead to tiredness, dizziness, low blood pressure, decreased blood flow to the brain, and might make you feel off-balance round the clock.

Missing meals is not the solution to weight loss! In fact, the easiest way out is reducing the amount of calories you’re consuming and increasing the amount of calories you’re burning through exercise. Three meals a day keeps you full and reduces hunger helping you lose weight.

2. Peeling fruits and veggies without washing

All vegetable and fruit skins contain germs. They also come with high levels of chemicals and pesticides which protect them from insects and pests. These pesticides pose a threat to human health by damaging the nervous and reproductive systems, disrupting the immune system, and even leading to cancer in some cases. These harmful bacteria are easily transferable if you do not wash them before peeling and cutting. These risk factors make it necessary to wash vegetables in the right way to stay safe from diseases.

3. Smelling or tasting food to see if it is still good

You cannot taste, smell or see germs on the food with the naked eye. Tasting even a small amount can make you fall sick. It is important to keep a check on the storage time charts to see for how long is the food safe for consumption.

4. Consuming fruits before going to bed

Eating fruits just before going to bed can interfere with digestion and a comfortable sleep. So it’s best that you:

• Avoid high-acid fruits like oranges, mango, dragonfruit, and tomatoes to reduce enamel erosion caused by the acids as you sleep.
• Similarly, fruits high in sugar should be avoided. Fructose, the common sugar in fruits, doesn’t digest as easily as glucose. When you lie down after consumption, fructose can result in dreadful indigestion. Yellow-coloured fruits are especially linked to high fructose values.
• Nutrient dense fruits such as pears,  apples, cherries, and peaches pose a threat too. The flesh of these fruits take a little more effort to digest and tend to cause lethargy and indigestion, causing you to wake up, and stay awake, many times a night.

5. Believing that all breakfast cereals are healthy

One of the biggest blunders that people make is swapping their wholesome traditional breakfasts with modern day chunks. Most of these cereals are loaded with sugars and refined carbs. Also they are highly processed and produced through extrusion using high temperature processes to shape the cereal. Processed foods are harmful to health, may cause childhood obesity and other diet related diseases.

Also, listen:

6. Not eliminating added sugar from your diet

From breakfast cereals to peanut butter—added sugar is found in even the most unexpected foods. Sugar consumption is a major cause of obesity, and many other chronic diseases including diabetes. Moreover, it increases your risk of depression along with accelerating the process of ageing. The best way is to substitute it with foods like honey, molasses, stevia and jaggery.

Substituting sugar with these foods will not only be beneficial for weight loss and medical conditions like diabetes, but will also help keep a healthy and balanced diet without sacrificing taste and food pleasure.

Additionally, these foods are loaded with antioxidants and other essential elements like calcium, iron, magnesium, etc which help fight diseases, support bone & heart health along with maintaining the immune system.