Risk & Business Magazine Branch Benefits Consultants Spring 2017 | Page 26

LIVE WELL, WORK WELL
Live Well, Work Well
Eating Habits
BY: ARACELI SAAVEDRA
BRANCH BENEFITS
CONSULTANTS
Health and wellness tips for your work, home and life—brought to
you by the insurance professionals at Branch Benefits Consultants.
R
eplacing unhealthy eating habits
with healthier ones can be
difficult, especially if unhealthy
habits are all you’ve ever known.
One key to making lasting
improvements in your diet is to make
changes in stages. Start with a small, simple
change and stick to it for a week. After one
change has been mastered, add another.
SOME IDEAS TO GET YOU STARTED
• Eat breakfast.
Substituting
chips and candy
bars with snack-
sized portions
of veggies will
cut down on
the calories and
cholesterol in
your diet. Not
only are most
vegetables low in
calories and fat,
but they are all
cholesterol-free.
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• Replace one sugary drink per day with
a glass of water.
• Eat one to two more fruits or
vegetables each day.
• Plan a healthy snack for each day of the
week.
• Switch to a low-fat version of one of
your favorite foods.
• Plan three meals and two snacks every
day.
• Plan as many home-cooked meals as
you can, as they usually have fewer
calories, more reasonable portions and
cost less than typical meals eaten at
restaurants.
SET AN EXAMPLE
Parents play a big role in guiding their
children’s eating habits with the examples
they set, the foods they make available in
the home and the mealtime experiences
that they create for their families.
Offer healthy snacks such as fruit, low-fat
cottage cheese or yogurt, frozen juice bars,
applesauce, celery, apples with peanut
butter, raw vegetables, graham crackers, fig
bars or whole wheat crackers with low-fat
cheese. Large portions contain too many
calories. A good-sized snack for a typical
adult may be a single-serving container of
yogurt, but for a preschooler, two or three
tablespoons of yogurt is enough.
MAKE EATING AN ENJOYABLE ACTIVITY
FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY
Family meals can be a time to monitor
what children are eating and to reconnect
with each other. Involve children in food
preparation and clean up, and sit down with
them when they eat. The idea is to build
healthy lifelong eating habits.
Some healthy eating tips include the
following:
• Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables—half
your plate at each meal should be
vegetables or fruit.
• Beware of sweetened drinks—sodas
and sports drinks are high in calories.
Keep in mind that the calories in juice
can also quickly add up.
• Choose food sensibly when eating out.
Restaurants are often required to make
nutrition information readily available
— if you don’t see brochures sitting out,
or nutrition information listed on the
menu, ask.
HEALTHY FOOD TIPS WHEN EATING
OUT
• Ask if you don’t know what is in a dish
or the serving size.
• Eat the same portion size you would at
home.
• Ask for sauces, gravy and dressings on
the side—or avoid them altogether.
• Order foods that are not breaded or
fried.
• Order fruit for dessert.
• Ask for substitutions, such as a
vegetable instead of fries.
• Ask for low-calorie versions of food.
Vinegar and oil or a squeeze of lemon
are both better than high-fat dressings
or sauces. +