You don’t need to go cold turkey on alcohol to see benefits to your health—you’ll see improvements to your sleep quality, weight, and blood pressure if you start to cut back. The Centers for Disease Control recommends counting your current intake and creating a personal plan to set limits, including scheduling alcohol-free days and deciding how many drinks to have in advance.
Don’t: Rely on probiotics for gut health
Probiotics have become one of the buzziest supplements, but the science remains mixed. For some conditions, such as irritable bowel syndrome, researchers have identified specific strains that can help ease symptoms. But the type of probiotic that works for one person may do very little for another, and there are few reliable consumer tools to tell the difference yet.
Otherwise, in healthy adults, dietary fiber may play a far more reliable role in supporting gut and overall health.
(Probiotics, prebiotics, postbiotics. What’s the difference?)
“Research suggests that people who eat the most fiber have up to a 30 percent lower risk of all-cause mortality compared to those who eat the least fiber,” says Avery Zenker, a registered dietitian at MyHealthTeam. “Yet it’s estimated that 95 percent of Americans aren’t meeting daily fiber recommendations.
Do: Simplify breakfast
Breakfast is often called the most important meal of the day, and evidence suggests that consistency matters. A 2019 study published in Nutrients found that people with regular breakfast habits had a lower risk of weight gain and coronary heart disease. “My patients who repeat a protein-forward breakfast, like eggs, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, or protein shakes, lose more weight and regain less,” says Hector Perez, a board-certified bariatric surgeon at Renew Bariatrics.
Mornings are also when many people are most cognitively depleted, making food choices more difficult. Research on decision-making shows that repeated food choices can become mentally taxing over time, making consistency harder to maintain. Repeating meals—especially breakfast—reduces cognitive load and ensures you’ll get adequate protein intake. “Once breakfast stops being a decision, you’ll see the rest of the day stabilize because protein early blunts hunger hormones and reduces night snacking,” says Perez.
Don’t: Add protein to everything
Protein-rich foods have become nearly ubiquitous, with brands and content creators adding protein to coffee, yogurts, milks, desserts, and even café drinks. While protein is essential for building muscle and improving feelings of fullness, more isn’t always better.
“Research on eating behavior shows that hyper-fixating on macros can increase rigidity and anxiety around food, leading to eating disorders or orthorexia,” says Melodie Simmons, a licensed professional counselor and certified eating disorder specialist at Equip.
(Want a better high-protein diet? You don’t have to eat more meat.)
