9 Unintended Consequences of Eating Healthier
By Aurora McCausland
At one point or another in all of our lives, we have some sort of a desire to be healthier. Whether you want to start working out more often, or you know that your daily diet is lacking in nutrition. These lifestyle changes are sometimes difficult to execute, and they are easiest to stick to if there is a specific goal that you are working towards. When it comes to your diet, there are a multitude of reasons to start eating healthier. But what things will happen when you start eating healthier that you’re not expecting?
Your skin will clear up
A lot of acne and skin issues can be traced back to some aspect of your diet. Cutting back on alcohol and sugary drinks, eliminating processed and junk foods, and adding lots more vegetables into your diet will result in clearer, brighter skin.
Your breath will smell better
Did you know that the number one cause of bad breath is a lack of fresh fruits and vegetables in your diet? By eating fresher, healthier foods, your breath will naturally start to smell better. Say goodbye to that nasty morning breath(unless you happen to be a mouth breather).
You may just start to enjoy cooking
Cooking is something that a lot of people view as a chore. It’s something you have to do at least once a day, and so many people opt for take out because they don’t want to have to cook. When you decide to start eating healthier, this probably means that you’ll find yourself in your kitchen a lot more often. It’s easiest to know what is in your food when you’re making it yourself. Looking for delicious new recipes is a lot of fun, and once you start learning what kinds of healthy new foods that you actually like, you’ll suddenly realize that you find joy in the kitchen and cooking process.
You won’t be as hungry
Often, the reason that you’re hungry is because your diet contains a lot of empty carbs. Those just won’t keep you full. Your body burns it so quickly, and then you’re hungry quickly. When you make the switch to healthier foods, you’ll notice you're not as hungry as often. There’s nothing wrong with your body, you’re just utilizing the nutrients from your foods the way that you’re supposed to!
You can eat more food
This sounds contradictory. When you’re eating healthy foods, you’ll be able to eat more of them without gaining weight. You could eat three heads of broccoli and it would have the same caloric intake as half of a grocery store blueberry muffin. This doesn’t mean you need to eat three heads of broccoli for breakfast every day, or that you even should. It just means that healthy, natural foods naturally have less calories, which means that you can eat more without gaining unnecessary weight!
Improved mental health
The food that you eat is used to fuel every part of your body, which includes your mind. So it would make sense that when you are eating healthy, your mental health will improve, resulting in a clarity you didn’t have before. Eating vegetables isn’t a cure for mental illness, however. It can help boost you, though.
More energy
You can skip your energy drink(because it’s incredibly unhealthy), you get your energy from vegetables now. Okay, you can still have that cup of coffee. Cutting down on junk and fast food will give you energy, which makes every aspect of your daily life(including exercising) a lot easier.
You’ll sleep better
When your diet is poor, you digest the food too quickly, which leaves you hungry at night. This disrupts your sleep schedule. It also can sometimes cause you to eat late at night, and going to bed with a full stomach can also cause a night of restlessness. When you are eating healthy, you will sleep more soundly at night!
You’ll save money
There is a general misconception that eating healthy is expensive, which just isn’t the case. Think about the cost of your usual processed snack of granola bars, compared to what you spend now on an apple or banana for your midday snack. When you’re eating healthy, your grocery bill is generally lower, and you spend considerably less because you aren’t eating out and you opt for a water cup instead of an overpriced soda.
