8 Eating Habits of Ancestors That Kept Them Lean

There are many different ways to eat, each with its own philosophy and set of rules. Some emphasize eating natural, wholesome foods. Others stress the importance of eating unprocessed meals as often as possible. Still others encourage you to cut out entire food groups, such as grains or carbohydrates. But which of these diets actually work? Are there any common principles that can be found in all—or most—of them? And which one is right for you?

In recent years there has been a proliferation of new diets that offer a take on what is known as the “ancestral diet” — essentially, how humans are thought to have eaten before the invention of agriculture and modern farming techniques. Many people in this field believe that the rapid shift from hunter-gatherer societies to agrarian societies caused an uptick in inflammatory disease, metabolic disorders, and other chronic health problems.

The most traditional approach to weight loss is, to begin with eliminating everything you consider fattening from your diet. But this sudden diet change could be overwhelming for most of us, making us deprived and disheartened.

You might lose weight till you are motivated but the moment you start slacking it will come back.

So what are the things you need to change in your eating habits to get results without the feeling of being overwhelmed?

Stop any type of diets

All these life-changing diets programs are lucrative with weight-loss claims, but in reality, most of them are very restrictive and challenging to follow, sometimes for us humans, especially me they never worked due to the unrealisticness of the diet.

We cannot function without food, and changing your diet in days could lead to a lack of energy, hunger, cravings, and other side effects like agitation and mood swings.

The concept is simple here, lose weight with the food you love eating, your main goal should be to enjoy your diet as well as lose weight, that way you will not only lose weight but also keep it off.

Fill half of your plate with vegetables

It’s one of the most powerful behavioral practices across south Asia. They always make sure that half of their daily meals are vegetables.

they could be partially cooked or can be raw.

This simple behavioral trick will significantly cut your daily calorie intake. Swapping half of your every meal with vegetables helps you increase the fullness of your meal, prevent you from overeating, and keep all the nutrient boxes checked.

Do this simple trick & you’ll lose weight over time by automatically cutting down on eating too many other higher-calorie foods

Aim for 25% protein in every meal.

Protein is well known for its satiating properties. Adding a minimum of 30 grams of lean protein to your diet will help you feel full for longer, making you less prone to cravings.

protein is also known for its ability to increase the thermic effect of foods.

Generally, our body burns energy to digest food and turn it into energy. Protein has the highest cost of energy to be digested by the body.

Studies have shown that a high protein diet increased the thermic effect of food by roughly 6-8 kcals per hour when compared to a low protein diet, which may translate to ~50-75 calories per day.

However, this effect of protein is not very groundbreakingly significant in weight loss, but it may be the “cherry on top” of adequate dietary protein during weight loss.

Replace every sugar in your life with jaggery.

This India-based natural sweetener is composed of 50 percent sucrose, 20 percent moisture, and 20 percent sugars.

It is also loaded with antioxidants and other nutrients like zinc and selenium, which help prevent free radicals and support the immune system, this makes this sweetener a damn good choice in this pandemic.

Replacing sugar with jaggery powder is way better for your weight loss journey, as I’ve mentioned above jaggery is far more wholesome and nutritious. Jaggery can also help in improving bio metabolic rate and improve absorption of nutrition present in the food.

Jaggery is a less processed sugar than sugar so it does not cause inflammation and has carcinogenic effects in the body like sugar. But it has the same calories as sugar, so make sure to consume it in moderation.

Always drink hot water.

Drinking hot water 1 hour before and after the meal can boost your metabolism by 30%. When we drink hot water, our body switches its temperature and activates the metabolism. This helps in metabolizing fat cells.

hot water also breaks down body fat into molecules, making it easy for the body to burn it for daily calories.

If you find drinking hot water difficult you can add organic honey and lemon to it, this will not only make it tasty but also expedites your metabolic rate turning you into a fat-burning machine.

Switch to complex carbohydrates.

Complex carbohydrates have longer chains of sugar molecules than simple carbohydrates, making them hard to digest.

Complex carbs get digested slower and release the sugars steadily into the body making them an excellent source of whole day energy, The body converts these sugar molecules into glucose, which it uses for energy. As the name suggests complex carbohydrates have longer and more chains to break down, which makes them the optimum choice for more lasting energy in the body than simple carbohydrates.

Replace late dinners with smoothies.

According to the Ayurveda, you should always eat dinner 3 hours before your bedtime, There are two reasons for that.
first, our digestive juices lose potency with the sunset, so the most ideal time to have a heavy dinner is between 6 to 7 Pm. after that heavy dinner could lead to digestive complications.

Secondly, When you eat late, the calories you intake don’t get digested properly. As a result, they are stored as fat in your body. Eating late regularly conditions your body to store the calories as fat, which leads to weight gain. This can also give you problems like indigestion and heartburn.

So if due to any circumstance you are late for dinner, switch to a dinner replacement smoothie, as smoothies are lighter to digest, easy to make, and supply you with all the essential nutrients.

Start every meal with soup or salad.

Salads are a rich source of fibers and water. In Ayurveda salad is treated cleanser, eating a salad before every meal kick starts the digestion process, and by the time you are on your main course, your digestive fire would be fully lit and your food will get digested easily.