Water is your body's principal chemical component and makes up about 60 percent of your body weight. Every cell, tissue, and organ in your body needs water to work properly. For example, water gets rid of waste through urination, perspiration, and bowel movements. Water helps regulate your body temperature, lubricates and cushions joints, and so many more functions!

Become a Mindful Eater! Start thinking about and enjoying each bite that you take. Mindful Eating Tips: listen to your body and stop eating when you feel almost full, eat at designated times and places, try to eat with others, and no electronics when eating. Think about the food you are eating - where it comes from, how it was prepared, and what each food tastes like. Put down your fork between bites. Drink water both before and during your meal.

Here are the three things you can start doing right away to improve your diet. Eat two servings of fruits and 4-5 vegetables every day. Reduce or get rid of high sugar and carbohydrate products such as white bread, candy, cakes, processed foods, potatoes, and alcohol to one a day. Start eating nuts, olives, and foods with increased fiber.

Insulin resistance increases the risk of developing prediabetes, and, eventually, Type 2 diabetes. You can reduce your chances of progressing to Type 2 diabetes in the future by reducing your carb intake and increasing your exercise. The most common causes of insulin resistance are obesity, eating a high carbohydrate diet, lack of exercise, chronic stress, and family history of diabetes.

The Glycemic Index (GI) is a great way to look at what you eat and determine if what you are eating is any better than eating plain sugar. The GI is not on most labels but can be found easily on most foods on various Internet sites. The GI is a scale that compares other foods to sugar. Foods with a lower GI (less than 55) are easier to digest and provide a lower and slower rise in your blood sugar level and release of insulin. As an example, vegetables have a low GI, but candy has a very high GI.

Hydration! Water is one of the Six Essential Nutrients we need to survive and be healthy. How much water should you be drinking daily? We recommend you drink half your pounds of body weight in fluid ounces. Example: I weigh 150 pounds. 150 / 2 = 75. I need to aim for 75 fluid ounces of water per day.

Eating Environment: What does yours look like? Are you eating with your phone in your hand? Are you eating on the run in the car, at a kitchen table, or in the living room in front of the TV? How mindful are you when you eat? We will revisit Mindful Eating later in the program! Until then, take note of how you behave when you are eating.

As an adult, you're probably keeping a check on your finances, right? Nutrition is just as important! Invest in keeping track of your eating habits. Do this by practicing these three things: track in your app ALL of your drinks, snacks, and meals, even the bites in between. Read food labels, and compare your portion sizes to your hand. See The Handy Portion Size Guide for reference! This can be found as an article within the Sensable Health "All Resources" for reference.

Let's assess your nutrition goals for this week! Why the change? We want to change the nutrients your body gets temporarily so that your metabolism will also change! Do you remember what metabolism is? 

Metabolism is broken up into two categories, anabolism and catabolism. Anabolism builds up tissues and energy stores, while catabolism breaks down food and complex molecules. Our body relies on both processes in order to grow, repair, and fuel itself.