Top 15 Healthy Eating Tips
These 15 tips are for anybody who is beginning to eat better or wanting to work more healthy habits into their diet or into their lifestyle .For me when I used clean eating as my guidelines ,which is where clean and delicious came from . Eating actual whole unprocessed foods as close to their natural condition as possible is healthy and clean.Eating foods like vegetables, fruits ,healthy sources of carbohydrates like sweet potatoes and grains, high quality sources of protein and healthy fats like avocados, nuts and seeds .It's about making a long-term commitment to the lifestyle shift for yourself. This way you are not feeling like you are victim to mood swings and cravings that come with eating a lot of highly processed nutrient white foods which brings me to my very first step.
1.Allow yourself to be on the journey. When you are a beginner, adapting to new lifestyle changes and habits you have to give yourself a little bit of space to figure it out. Don't feel like you need to do everything at once and everything at the same time.You don't have to have all of your meals precisely prepared, nor do you have to give up all of your favourite foods. This is going to be a process of learning how to do things a new way and that's going to take a little bit of time .If you notice your brain wanting to go to that all or nothing style of thinking ,just recognize that, that is a diet mentality and that it doesn't work. What you want to do is to give yourself a little bit of permission to slow down, create some space and learn .
2. Healthy eating does not ,and is not supposed to look the same for everyone .You can be a healthy eater and be a vegan. You can be a vegetarian .You can be a meat eater . You can be a weightlifter .You can be a yogi. You can eat two times a day or you can eat 6 times a day .You will also notice that your lifestyle will affect the type of healthy diet.you are eating, so for example a young student versus a working mum of two with the family versus a young professional. All of these people can eat healthy diets and you will see that their plates look very different based on the style of the day and the style of their life .So there's no hard and fast rule here other than that simple tie- in that we are eating real whole unprocessed foods as close to their natural state as possible most of the time and we are enjoying the food that we choose.
3. Cook as often as you can. Making your own food is one of the easiest ways to eat better because you are in charge of all of your ingredients so you know exactly what you are working with and here's the deal that does not mean that you have to cook every single thing you eat.Just make an effort to cook more often than you don't.
4. Prioritize quality over quantity. When you're counting calories, you're more likely to experience sensations of limitation and deprivation since your brain is working hard to keep under or at a set number of calories. What it tends to do is focus on what it can't have, what it needs to restrict or eliminate, and the thoughts that result from this thought process generate a sense of deprivation. When you shift your focus to quality, your brain begins to hunt for items to incorporate into your diet, and food becomes a whole new experience and it is fun and it's creative again and so not only does it feels good but it tastes good.
5. What grows together goes together .When you buy foods that are in and of the same season ,they automatically taste good together because mother nature has our back. So in case you have never noticed things like brussels, sprouts ,and grapes butternut squash and cranberries, berries and basil, these foods all grow in the same season and they all taste amazing together which is really good to know because it takes a lot of guesswork out of your cooking .So a great way to have a little bit of fun with this ,is may be when you go to the grocery store, you pickup 1 to 2 new ingredients each week and experiment with it in your kitchen . Try a new method of cooking it ,taste test a little ,see if you can find some new favourites .Keep in mind when ingredients are eaten in the season they grow in, they both have better flavor and a high nutritional value so it really truly is a win - win to eat with the seasons .
6. Keep a few recipes in your back pocket. When transitioning to a healthier diet, having a few recipes that you know, like, and can make in a reasonable amount of time is extremely beneficial. Have a few recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and then slowly but steadily as you try new things, when you find a keeper, you can add it to your back pocket. This way, even if you don't have time to think about it, you can rely on this list to keep you on track.
7. Acquire the ability to read labels. Learning to read labels is a simple method to understand what's going into your body, and a good general rule of thumb is to concentrate on the ingredients list. You want the list to be 5 ingredients or less, and each ingredient should be easy to read, understand, and pronounce.
8. Avoid highly processed foods . A lot of healthy foods are slightly processed .So for example oatmeal is slightly processed ,quinoa is slightly processed, frozen vegetables are slightly processed. Basically, if it isn't fresh from the farm or the field, it will go through some processing, but these aren't the foods to be concerned about. The foods you should avoid are those that are excessively processed. These are the items that have to go through a lot of procedures and preparation before they reach your plate.You may re-appreciate true, entire, nuanced flavours, and of course, you'll want to focus on learning how to use herbs and spices to infuse a lot of flavour into your dishes, as well as cooking a lot of healthy and delicious recipes.
9.Avoid foods with artificial flavours, sweeteners, or low fat content. These artificial flavours and sweeteners are literally designed to bypass the logical part of your brain and trigger all of those pleasure points in the brain, so you find yourself wanting more and more and more, and you have no idea why you aren't in control of the whole show because we tend to play this little psychological game with ourselves when it comes to fake sugars and low-fat foods, and we don't even realise it because we tend to play this little psychological game with ourselves when it comes to fake sugars and low-fat foods,it doesn't really count because it allows me to consume more of it, and studies have shown that artificial sweeteners increase the desire to eat more sugar.
10. practice meal prepping .Now you don't have to have an Instagram or pinterest ready fridge. I know that's what a lot of people think when think about meal prepping but I do think it's a good idea to get in the habit of learning how to cook once and then eat two three four times because this is going to save you a lot of time and lot of sanity in the long run and you can start of really easy so maybe you just make one big pot of soup and then you use that for some lunches or for some dinners during the week or maybe you just eat yourself up with some overnight oats and then you have your breakfast already to go .I'm well aware of the value of meal planning.
11.stock your pantry and your freezer .Keeping some healthy staples on hand in your pantry and your freezer, can be a huge help ,when time is not on your side .I know that I enjoy having tuna, salmon, canned soups, beans, and olives in my pantry, and that I always have frozen fruits, frozen vegetables, and some form of frozen brown rice or frozen quinoa in my freezer. I also keep veggie burgers in the freezer, as well as cauliflower crust pizzas, so that when you're in a pinch, you'll know you've got something to fall back on. You can also use these items to put together a meal with some of the fresh ingredients you may have on hand.
12. Follow your hunger.We become so out of touch with our natural built-in biological signs that tell us when we are hungry because the body does know when it needs food and it feeds us signals to let us know that reconnecting to the system is your best bet for long-term effortless healthy eating habits because once you have reconnected to it you will be able to eat according to a clock, a diet plan, or what the experts tell you. You just get a sense of it .So a good little tool to try to practice, this would be .If you think you are hungry but you are not sure ask yourself would I be willing to eat an apple, if the answer is yes, you are probably hungry and if the answer is no, you may not be hungry. So you just wait a little longer and then pose the same question again, this is a practice so it is going to take a little bit of time. It's like doing a little dance with yourself, so don't be in a hurry, give yourself the time and space to figure it out .
13. So often, when we try to make a change, we think to ourselves, "I need to, I have to, or I really should," and what you need to realise is that this isn't true, and those thoughts are extremely stressful. Keep in mind that you are flawless, gorgeous, deserving, and precious.You are no need to change a thing unless of course you want to and if you do want to then ask yourself why and make sure that the desire is coming from a place of love connecting to your why ,Why you want to make the changes you want is critical because it will serve as your anchor as you work to establish new habits and lifestyle changes for yourself. Once you've figured out why you want to make the changes you want, write it down on a piece of paper and make sure you look at it and read it every morning and evening to keep your mind focused on what you want and where you're going.
When it comes to healthy eating, it's not just about the plate. Many of us become fixated on the food on the top of our plates, but we must remember that we are nourished by a variety of factors in life, including how we eat, why we eat, where we eat, and who we eat with. All of these factors can contribute to a healthy or unhealthy eating environment.So for example imagine that you are wanting to eat healthier and you are like, I have to do this ,I know I really should do this, so I am gonna go get that organic non gmo chicken with the steamed broccoli and I am gonna eat it and I don't really love it but I know that it's healthy and I'm not really enjoying it but I am gonna do it anyway because I really have to get healthy .You may be avoiding those toxins on your plate ,you are still creating toxins in the body as the result of your toxic thinking .This scenario does not create a healthy eating environment. Now on the flip side imagine that you are at your mom's house and you are with your family who you love very much and your mom is making one of your favourite from childhood it's her lasagna and it's got lots of white floor and lots of cheese and lots of meat and when your mom cooks it .She makes it with so much love and when you eat it ,you enjoy it so much and you are so present with this meal and you enjoy every bite and you are really getting pleasure from the meal and from everybody that you're sharing this meal with everybody at the table so what's happening here, is maybe it's not the world healthiest food on the plate but you are having this very healthy nourishing eating experience. So pay attention to why you are eating, where are you are eating, who you are eating with ,the stories you're telling yourself about the foods that you choose to eat and of course as often as possible try to eat in environments and with other people who feed and nourish you as well as .
14. Stay easy, which may be the most important of all of them because we often become very militant when we are trying to do better and make a change with our food, and we tend to push push push and try try try try, and we'll power our way to the other side, but there is no rush, no finish line, and no gold medal when you get there, so what you want to do is to learn, to be patient and easy and kind and soft and curious with yourself along the road, because learning to eat better and take better care of your body is, in many ways, simply a method of developing a more intimate relationship with yourself. It's like getting to know yourself and your body a little bit better and seeing what works and feels best for you, so we can do all of this without being critical or hard on ourselves and just give ourselves that permission and space to learn and adapt to new habits and lifestyle changes, so I hope you find some of these tips helpful.
15. Stay easy and this may be the most important of all of them because a lot of time when we are trying to do better and we are trying to make a change with our food that we tend to get very militant and we tend to push push push and try try try try ,and we'll power our way to the other side but in fact there is no rush and there is no finish line and there is no gold medal when you get there ,so what you want to do is learn, to be patient and easy and kind and soft and curious with yourself on the journey because in so many ways learning to eat better and take great care of your body ,It's really just a way of creating more intimate relationship with yourself. It's like getting to know you and your body just a little bit better and seeing what works for you and seeing what feels the best for you , so we can do all of this without being critical and without being hard on ourselves and really just give ourselves again that permission and that space to learn and adapt to new habits and a new lifestyle changes, so I hope you will find some of these tips to be helpful.
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