Healthier eating habits are essential to your overall health. Eating the right foods in the right amounts is a key part of staying healthy and feeling good. But it can be hard to stick to a healthy diet when you’re busy or distracted, or when you’re surrounded by temptations like fast food restaurants and vending machines.
Eat Different Kinds of Foods
It is actually okay to have a hamburger or other greasy favorite from time to time, so long as this makes up just a small portion of your overall diet. As almost any nutritionist would tell you, “it is all about balance”. You need to stock up on eating healthy greens and nuts and the other things in life that we so often push to the side in favor of tastier treats.
Keep fruit and veggies on hand so that when hunger strikes, you can grab something healthy for an instant snack or meal. Also stock up on lean proteins like chicken breast, fish, and tofu so you have options when hunger strikes later in the day or evening (when many people tend to turn to unhealthy snacks).
You should also eat fish at least twice a week because it’s high in omega-3 fatty acids that are good for your heart health. You can bake, broil or grill fish or choose canned fish if you don’t like it cooked the usual way. You can also get omega-3s from flaxseed oil or walnuts (1/4 cup has about 100 milligrams of omega-3s).
Don’t forget to cook at home for healthier eating habits. When you cook at home, you have more control over what goes into your food and how it’s prepared. Fast food restaurants tend to use ingredients that aren’t very healthy (such as trans fats), and fast food itself tends to be high in calories compared with home-cooked meals made with fresh ingredients and whole grains instead of processed foods and refined carbohydrates like white bread.
Notice Your Portion Sizes
To be a healthier eater, you also need to be a good reader of nutritional labels. They can tell you plenty about the food that you are considering consuming. Unfortunately, many of us do not really stop paying all that much attention to these labels.
Packaging can be deceptive as well. We think that we should eat the portion of food that comes in the package when that is often many servings of that particular food.
It is best to measure everything out. Eat the suggested serving size of a particular food when you get it, and make sure to literally take stock of all that you are eating.
Eat More Slowly
It is not a race, you can slow down how much you are eating. Think about the speed of your eating and the reasons why you are scarfing down that food in the first place. It is a good idea to do a few things like drinking some water and just socializing as well to slow down the pace of your eating.
Drinking fluids helps fill you up a little faster, and eating more slowly allows your body the time it needs to realize that it is full in the first place. Both of those things matter when it comes to eating less and in more healthy ways.
Improve Your Nutrition
These three tips can get you a good portion of the way towards a healthier relationship with food. It is something that most of us need when it all comes down to it. As it is one of the basic needs in life, we must do what we can to keep it within healthy limits.
Read more:
Guidelines for Healthy Eating – Delaware Health and Social Services
Improving Your Eating Habits | Healthy Weight, Nutrition, and Physical Activity | CDC