Check out this article I found! Don't forget to check out my official Health and Fitness website!
Healthy Eating
It has indeed been a long time since I
last wrote a post. It has been a very busy 2011 and 2012 for me.
However, I have decided that I need to start writing again as it is
truly a very rehabilitating habit :) When I have a lot going on in my
life, I often fall back on writing as a means of healing - it always
helps.
Anyway, I was reading this article on
the internet and I thought I should share it with everyone. It is a wake
up call for me as well. I have not been eating healthy for the past 6
1/2 months - most of you know why. However, I have realised that enough
is enough and I need to be careful from now onwards. I am not getting
any younger and health is key to everything in life.
Do enjoy the article and lets get healthy:-
Healthy eating is not about strict
nutrition philosophies, staying unrealistically thin, or depriving
yourself of the foods you love. Rather, it’s about feeling great, having
more energy, stabilizing your mood, and keeping yourself as healthy as
possible– all of which can be achieved by learning some nutrition basics
and using them in a way that works for you. You can expand your range
of healthy food choices and learn how to plan ahead to create and
maintain a tasty, healthy diet.
Eating Tip 1: Set Yourself Up for Success
To
set yourself up for success, think about planning a healthy diet as a
number of small, manageable steps rather than one big drastic change. If
you approach the changes gradually and with commitment, you will have a
healthy diet sooner than you think.
Simplify.
Instead of being overly concerned with
counting calories or measuring portion sizes, think of your diet in
terms of color, variety, and freshness. This way it should be easier to
make healthy choices. Focus on finding foods you love and easy recipes
that incorporate a few fresh ingredients. Gradually, your diet will
become healthier and more delicious.
Start slow and make changes to your eating habits over time.
Trying to make your diet healthy
overnight isn’t realistic or smart. Changing everything at once usually
leads to cheating or giving up on your new eating plan. Make small
steps, like adding a salad (full of different color vegetables) to your
diet once a day or switching from butter to olive oil when cooking. As
your small changes become habit, you can continue to add more healthy
choices to your diet.
Every change you make to improve your diet matters.
You don’t have to be perfect and you
don’t have to completely eliminate foods you enjoy to have a healthy
diet. The long term goal is to feel good, have more energy, and reduce
the risk of cancer and disease. Don’t let your missteps derail you—every
healthy food choice you make counts.
Eating Tip 2: Moderation is Key
People
often think of healthy eating as an all or nothing proposition, but a
key foundation for any healthy diet is moderation. But what is
moderation? How much is a moderate amount? That really depends on you
and your overall eating habits. The goal of healthy eating is to develop
a diet that you can maintain for life, not just a few weeks or months,
or until you've hit your ideal weight. So try to think of moderation in
terms of balance. Despite what certain fad diets would have you believe,
we all need a balance of carbohydrates, protein, fat, fiber, vitamins,
and minerals to sustain a healthy body.
For most of us, moderation or balance means eating less than we do now.
More specifically, it means eating far
less of the unhealthy stuff (unrefined sugar, saturated fat, for
example) and more of the healthy (such as fresh fruit and vegetables).
But it doesn't mean eliminating the foods you love. Eating bacon for
breakfast once a week, for example, could be considered moderation if
you follow it with a healthy lunch and dinner–but not if you follow it
with a box of donuts and a sausage pizza. If you eat 100 calories of
chocolate one afternoon, balance it out by deducting 100 calories from
your evening meal. If you're still hungry, fill up with an extra serving
of fresh vegetables.
Try not to think of certain foods as “off-limits.”
When you ban certain foods or food
groups, it is natural to want those foods more, and then feel like a
failure if you give in to temptation. If you are drawn towards sweet,
salty, or unhealthy foods, start by reducing portion sizes and not
eating them as often. Later you may find yourself craving them less or
thinking of them as only occasional indulgences.
Think smaller portions.
Serving sizes have ballooned recently,
particularly in restaurants. When dining out, choose a starter instead
of an entree, split a dish with a friend, and don't order supersized
anything. At home, use smaller plates, think about serving sizes in
realistic terms, and start small. If you don't feel satisfied at the end
of a meal, try adding more leafy green vegetables or rounding off the
meal with fresh fruit. Visual cues can help with portion sizes–your
serving of meat, fish, or chicken should be the size of a deck of cards,
a slice of bread should be the size of a CD case, and half a cup of
mashed potato, rice, or pasta is about the size of a traditional light
bulb.
Eating Tip 3: It's Not just What You Eat, It's How You Eat
Healthy
eating is about more than the food on your plate—it is also about how
you think about food. Healthy eating habits can be learned and it is
important to slow down and think about food as nourishment rather than
just something to gulp down in between meetings or on the way to pick up
the kids.
Eat with others whenever possible.
Eating with other people has numerous
social and emotional benefits—particularly for children—and allows you
to model healthy eating habits. Eating in front of the TV or computer
often leads to mindless overeating.
Take time to chew your food and enjoy mealtimes.
Chew your food slowly, savoring every
bite. We tend to rush though our meals, forgetting to actually taste the
flavors and feel the textures of our food. Reconnect with the joy of
eating
Listen to your body.
Ask yourself if you are really hungry,
or have a glass of water to see if you are thirsty instead of hungry.
During a meal, stop eating before you feel full. It actually takes a few
minutes for your brain to tell your body that it has had enough food,
so eat slowly.
Eat breakfast, and eat smaller meals throughout the day.
A healthy breakfast can jumpstart your
metabolism, and eating small, healthy meals throughout the day (rather
than the standard three large meals) keeps your energy up and your
metabolism going.
Avoid eating at night.
Try to eat dinner earlier in the day and
then fast for 14-16 hours until breakfast the next morning. Early
studies suggest that this simple dietary adjustment—eating only when
you’re most active and giving your digestive system a long break each
day—may help to regulate weight. After-dinner snacks tend to be high in
fat and calories so are best avoided, anyway.
Eating Tip 4: Fill up on Colorful Fruits and Vegetables
Shop
the perimeter of the grocery storeFruits and vegetables are the
foundation of a healthy diet. They are low in calories and nutrient
dense, which means they are packed with vitamins, minerals,
antioxidants, and fiber.
Try to eat a rainbow of fruits and
vegetables every day and with every meal—the brighter the better.
Colorful, deeply colored fruits and vegetables contain higher
concentrations of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants—and different
colors provide different benefits, so eat a variety. Aim for a minimum
of five portions each day.
Some great choices include:
Greens.
Branch out beyond bright and dark green lettuce. Kale, mustard greens,
broccoli, and Chinese cabbage are just a few of the options—all packed
with calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, zinc, and vitamins A, C, E,
and K.
Sweet vegetables. Naturally sweet vegetables—such as
corn, carrots, beets, sweet potatoes, yams, onions, and squash—add
healthy sweetness to your meals and reduce your cravings for other
sweets.
Fruit. Fruit is a tasty, satisfying way to fill up on
fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants. Berries are cancer-fighting, apples
provide fiber, oranges and mangos offer vitamin C, and so on.
