Taking any action to an extreme – even healthy eating or working out – can do more harm than good. Whether you want to lose weight, stay active, or change your eating habits, it’s important to find a balance. Overdoing healthy habits can hurt your goals and even cause long term damage. Here are some things you might be doing wrong without knowing it:
Overeating Healthy Foods
Did you know that even the healthiest foods can cause weight gain? That’s right! Eating too many fruits, vegetables, nuts, and cheese can make you fat. Healthy foods have calories too. Take almonds, for example. Touted as the most nutritious nuts, almonds provide 546 calories, 47 grams of fat, 21 grams of carbs, and 20 grams of protein per serving (95 grams). Most people can easily eat 100 – 150 grams of nuts within minutes. Over time, the calories add up, leading to weight gain. The bottom line is that you need to eat mindfully and track your portions, regardless of your diet.
Working Out Too Much
Exercising too hard or too long is just as bad as not working out at all. Your body needs time to recover between workouts. Overtraining can lead to muscle loss, fatigue, poor recovery, decreased immunity, and even weight gain. It also increases your stress hormone levels. As a result, you store fat at a faster rate than usual. To prevent these problems, listen to your body and get proper rest.
Obsessed with Juicing
Fresh fruit and vegetables are healthy and boast a great taste, but contain little or no fiber. Additionally, they are often high in sugar and may cause insulin spikes. If you want to stay fit and healthy, eat the whole fruit or make a vegetable salad. Whole fruits and veggies are loaded with fiber, which keeps you full longer and slows down sugar absorption into your body. Juicing is fine as long as it doesn’t become a daily habit.
