Growing up, there were many things that our Moms would say that we as kids would just roll our eyes at. Turns out, many of the things our Moms would say are actually things that have been proven to improve your health and well-being. Let’s explore some of the top 3 Mom sayings:
1. “You need to eat your veggies!”
As kids, many of us turned our noses up at vegetables. In fact, our moms had our best interest at heart when asking us to eat those vegetables. Eating a diet rich in vegetables may reduce the risk for many adverse health conditions like stroke, cancer, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. When we follow the plate method, eating a ½ plate of vegetables with our meals, this gives us not only a lot of vitamins and minerals that lead to less risk of disease, but this provides us with a larger volume of food without a lot of calories, helping us to deal with hunger while losing weight and body fat.
2. “Turn off the TV, go outside, and play with your friends!”
This Mom quote carries a lot of weight. Let’s start by turning off the TV. Today, this also means turning off anything with a screen – phones, computers, tablets, along with the TV. As kids and adults, less screen time can lead to less time sitting and more physical activity, leading to improved body composition, as well as better sleep, better work/school performance, and improved interactions with people at work/school. Going outside not only encourages more activity and less sitting but also more exposure to natural light. Many people report improved mood by being exposed to more natural sunlight. Lastly, by participating in physical activity with your friends, you are engaging in a positive social network that encourages healthy behaviors. Surrounding yourself with people that share similar goals can definitely help you to continue engaging in healthy behaviors and improve overall well being for the long term.
3. “Turn off the light and go to bed!”
Our Moms weren’t just trying to be mean on this one either. Committing to a good sleep hygiene routine of turning off the lights, avoiding screen time before bed, and devoting at least 6-8 hours of sleep per night can improve our sleep quality. When we improve our sleep, we have improved energy, better mood, and have improved recovery from exercise. When we sleep better, we often make better nutrition choices because sleep regulates our hormones. With improved sleep, we balance our hormones that regulate our appetite, hunger, and stress: ghrelin, leptin, and cortisol. When these are in balance, we are less apt to make unhealthy nutrition choices and we often have improved body composition.
Many of us as adults are looking for someone to say these things to us and hold us accountable for engaging in healthy habits. This is the role of a nutrition coach. A nutrition coach can set individualized action steps for us like working on incorporating more veggies in our diet, incorporating more activity when we aren’t at the gym, and getting better sleep, and hold us accountable to engaging in these habits long term, with a goal to help us become the healthiest version of ourselves.