If you took a daily inventory made up of different boxes that describe your lifestyle choices, are there things you would check under the quick fix box? Everyone struggles with mental and physical challenges. These could range from insomnia, indigestion, and bloating to persistent extra pounds that won’t go away.
Because of the hectic and fast-paced schedule most individuals follow, it’s easy to choose the quick fix to alleviate common health challenges with something quick rather than finding healthier solutions that may help reduce the chances of the problem becoming worse in the future. Do you relate to any of these?
Quick Indigestion Relief
During the busy work day and the heavy workload that most jobs demand, it’s easy to work through lunch or eat too quickly, trying to return phone calls and respond to emails before returning from lunch. Eating too quickly instead of properly chewing to break down food particles causes more air intake, which leads to gas, bloating, and, most commonly, acid reflux.
Once this happens, continuing the work day becomes painful and uncomfortable. Taking over-the-counter antacids or other quick oral remedies to relieve the symptoms is easy, but it doesn’t mean the problem is cured or won’t return the next day. Taking fifteen minutes of slow, uninterrupted eating to allow yourself to chew and enjoy your lunch may be all you need to enable the stomach to digest your food properly.
If the symptoms of indigestion begin, try drinking natural teas such as peppermint, ginger, chamomile, or even lemon water to help eliminate indigestion naturally without the side effects of the chemicals found in antacids. If slowing down to eat calmly and natural remedies don’t seem to work, you may want to visit a gastroenterologist to explore what is causing the constant indigestion.
Rushed Energy Snacks
You might eat plenty of nutritious, lean, low-fat foods at every meal, but your favorite drinks might secretly work against you. If you’re choosing quick canned energy drinks or ordering low-fat milk-flavored coffees at the drive-thru for a tasty pick-me-up snack in the morning or afternoon, you’re most likely adding extra sugar to your diet.
Many energy drinks like Red Bull have up to fifty grams of sugar. A medium-sized non-fat mocha can have between forty and fifty grams of sugar. If you can imagine holding fifty paper clips in your hand, that’s what fifty grams of sugar look like.
It takes a few minutes to prepare, but there are healthier, lower-sugar options, such as flavored green teas or chai with honey. You might want to try Oolong tea, which has a creamy taste, has lots of health benefits, and blends well with oat milk and other spices like cinnamon and nutmeg as a flavored milk coffee substitute.
Mixing a tablespoon of cacao powder with strong brewed coffee, a cup of plant-based milk, and a teaspoon of maple sugar makes a delicious low-sugar mocha while enjoying the health benefits of the cacao bean.
Another option is adding berries or sliced apples to your water bottle, which can boost your energy and naturally give you that sweet taste.
Drinking to Relax
Relaxing after a long work day is expected and necessary. But if you drink a couple of glasses of wine in the evenings before or after dinner instead of going for a relaxing walk or taking time for breathing exercises or meditation, you’re adversely affecting your body and mind.
Sipping wine may be relaxing at first, but it’s a known fact that the feelings of stress eventually return, disrupting your sleeping patterns late at night. Drinking daily can trigger certain hormones that will increase hunger, stress, and, eventually, fat cells around your stomach. If you haven’t noticed a growing belly, you will soon!
Not to mention all the physical side effects backed by research, such as increased chances of developing several types of cancers and other serious diseases. I’m not suggesting writing off local pubs or cleaning out your alcohol cabinet, but relying daily solely on alcohol to reduce stress can cause dependency and distract from finding a solution to reducing stress naturally.
Skipping Breakfast for Faster Weight Loss
Skipping breakfast to eat fewer calories is common when losing weight quickly. If this sounds like you, you’re likely slowing down the weight loss. This is because while you sleep, your body slows down into a resting metabolic mode at night. It doesn’t need many calories to keep your body functioning, so your metabolism is much slower when you wake up.
Your body will remain in that slow mode until you have a few bites of food. Starting your day with a healthy meal causes your body to switch to the thermic effect, which burns calories to digest food. So, eat that cup of Greek yogurt with berries or a bowl of oatmeal and sliced bananas to jump-start your metabolism and boost your weight loss.
Takeaway: Finding a quick fix for recurrent health challenges in everyday life is easy. However, these quick solutions can cause permanent problems that may be harder to fix. Equipping the body with natural foods designed to help it restore its balance may take longer. But it allows it to focus on what’s causing the internal imbalance without dealing with additional and artificial ingredients that can aggravate the balance it’s trying to restore. If any of these sound familiar, ask yourself – “Am I trying to fix or ignore the problem?”