What does sexy feel like? It’s more than just looking hot or buff in a swimsuit. At the core of your sexy self is a wellspring of positive feelings, including confidence, vitality, and gusto.
Sexy is all about circuitry and circulation. For you to feel energized and think sharp requires a fine-tuned brain that sends messages quickly and freely, a healthy heart that pumps blood efficiently and easily, and clear and elastic blood vessels that effortlessly move blood and oxygen throughout your body, from head to toes. The better that circuitry and circulation work, the more energetic you feel and the more vibrant you will be. The building blocks and assembly-line workers for those well-revved systems come directly and only from your diet. Just as you wouldn’t put sawdust into your gas tank and expect your car to run right, eat junk, and you’ll feel like junk. Eat, move, and live right, and you will be amazed how strong, confident, energized, and sharp you feel.
Who doesn’t want to feel sexy in the summertime, when the sun is out and “the living is easy”? Along with exercising every day, here are five quick-fix tips for revving your energy, improving your mood and mind, and maybe even helping you drop a few pounds in the process.
1. Have An Antioxidant Orgy
The trick to summertime sexy is to focus on real, unprocessed foods. Make sure at least half the plate is colorful fruits and vegetables, which are packed with antioxidants that reduce inflammation associated with heart disease, dementia, and a loss of sex drive. A rule of thumb is to include two servings of fruits or vegetables at every meal and one at every snack. That is as easy as adding a bowl of watermelon and a handful of blueberries to your morning bowl of cereal, having a spinach salad at lunch and adding a cup of green peas to the evening meal. Then carry snacks, such as baby carrots, apples, orange slices, and mini-cans of tomato juice.
2. Feed Your #1 Sex Organ
That would be your brain, silly. This is where imagination and desire originate. To think clearly and passionately, you need to provide your brain with the building blocks to function at top speed. The Number 1 building block for brain cells is omega-3 fats, and of those, DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) is the most important. People who include fatty fish, such as salmon, at least twice in the weekly menu also are the ones who are up to 60 percent less likely to develop dementia and are at much lower risk for depression. Toss a salmon fillet on the BBQ and serve with steamed broccoli and instant brown rice for a dinner that takes less than 15 minutes to prepare.
Or, look for foods fortified with this omega-3 (it will say DHA on the label). Aim for at least 220 milligrams of DHA a day.
3. Give Yourself Some Space
Space your meals and snacks throughout the day. This helps maintain health and your waistline, in part because you eat when you’re comfortably hungry, and so stay in control of your appetite instead of it controlling you. Midmorning you want a snack that energizes and keeps you mentally focused. That means combining some quality carbs with a little protein. I call these the Quickie Snacks. Keep them low fat and about 200 calories, such as a 6-ounce tub of low-fat yogurt and an orange; hummus with sliced red bell peppers and half a whole-grain pita bread; a sliced apple, 1 ounce of Brie and three whole-grain crackers; or low-fat ricotta cheese with a chopped fig.
Also, stay hydrated. The first sign of dehydration is fatigue, and by the time you are thirsty, you already are dehydrated.
4. Remember That Size Matters
Portion size, that is. To fit into and feel confident in that swimsuit, you need to be vigilant when it comes to serving sizes of meat and grains, while loading up on vegetables. For a few days, weigh and measure your foods to get an idea what a proper serving size is. For example, one serving of meat is 3 ounces, about the size of a deck of cards; pasta or rice is 1/2 cup, about the size of a tennis ball; and butter is 1 teaspoon, about
5. Take The Pill
Since no one eats perfectly every day, take a moderate-dose multiple vitamin and mineral supplement to fill in the nutritional gaps on the days you don’t eat perfectly. If you didn’t get your two servings of salmon this week, you may also need a calcium-magnesium pill and an omega-3 DHA.
What you eat, how much you move and how you choose to live affects your attitude, thinking, emotions and physical health. You are one big package. Healthy is sexy, and you choose how sexy you are by the foods you choose to eat. Eat well and your body will repay you a thousandfold with abundant energy, a sharper mind, a fit body, and a lustier life!
Elizabeth Somer is a registered dietitian, author of “Eat Your Way to Sexy: Reignite Your Passion, Look Ten Years Younger and Feel Happier Than Ever”, and frequent contributor to NBC’s Today. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
This article was originally published in the Summer 2012 issue of Brain World Magazine.
