Once You Get In The Habit, Eating Healthy Is Easy And Tastes Great
- Start By Creating A Daily Food Diary:
Creating a daily log of what you eat at each meal and snack may help you to be more aware of just how much food you are consuming each day. Most people are surprised by how much food they are actually consuming when they keep a log of their consumption. Keeping a journal has been shown to help people lose weight, make better food choices, and keep the weight off. In one year long study, people who kept a food journal over the course of the study (one year) lost more weight than the people in the study who did not keep a food journal. You can record your food intake with an old fashioned diary or there are tools such as mobile apps or online tools to help you create your food journal.
- Create A Weekly Menu Plan:
Planning your meals a week ahead can help you build healthy eating habits, by planning your meals and shopping for only the items on your list it can help you avoid making unhealthy choices in the grocery store. It will also help you to avoid the fast food and take-out traps, lets face it with the busy lifestyle most of us lead stopping at the grocery store to pick up tonight’s meal can lead to impulse buying and that is when unhealthy, convenient purchases are typically made. It is also shown in studies that grocery shopping when you are hungry and tired may lead you to sabotage a healthy diet plan. You can also pre-cook and freeze healthy choices like marinara sauce, chicken strips for salads or stir-fry, or ground beef for taco salad for those nights when you’re tired for quick easy meals and help you avoid the drive-thru lanes.
- Incorporate More Healthy Foods In Your Diet:
Today it is easier than ever to eat healthy, great recipes and new ways of preparing vegetables make it a snap to get more roughage, vitamins and minerals into your diet. You can eat healthier and reduce calories by replacing starchy carbohydrates like pasta, rice or potatoes for shredded zucchini, quinoa, or mashed cauliflower just to name a few of the new tasty ways veggies can take the place of carbs deliciously.
- Restrict Your Exposure To Unhealthy Tempting Food Venues:
Although there are many more healthy cooking shows and food blogs today, there are still far too many that are not so healthy that can tempt you to stray from your healthy eating habits. When you are viewing these mouth watering dishes and deserts it can cause your body to produce ghrelin, which is a hormone that causes your body to feel hunger pangs and cravings. Although these foodie venues often will have healthier choices available too, they still contain much of those ghrelin producing images that can sabotage your will to continue on your healthy eating lifestyle changes. If you really have to watch your favorite foodie show or browse the blogs try to limit the timing to only after you’ve just eaten, it will help to reduce the amount of ghrelin produced and you won’t be as tempted to go off track. This should also include high fat, fried food festivals, fairs, and carnivals. If you are going anyway eat before you go and if you do just have to have that fried turkey leg or funnel cake choose just one, don’t binge on them all. This isn’t as hard as it sounds because once you’ve been eating healthy for a few months its likely you may find these foods with high fat, salt, fried or loaded with sugar no longer taste good to you any longer.
- Avoid Getting Bored With Your Healthy Choices:
One thing that can sabotage healthy eating habits is boredom. You can avoid getting bored with your diet by experimenting with new healthy recipes and trying new healthy foods, fruits and veggies. When you’re eating healthy your taste buds change and foods you didn’t like before may have new appeal to you, be adventurous and enjoy your tasty, healthy life habits!
