healthy living
with Jason Grimes
EATING HEALTHY
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 acquire
healthy eating habits sooner than you think.
Simplify. Instead of being overly concerned with counting calories or
measuring portion sizes, think of your eating modification 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 eating modifications will become
healthier and more delicious.
Start slow and make changes to your eating habits over time.
Trying to make your eating habits healthier 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 eating habits matter. You
don’t have to be perfect and you don’t have to completely eliminate foods
you enjoy to have a healthier eating habits. 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.
The key foundation for any healthy change in eating is moderation. But
what is moderation? In essence, it means eating only as much food as your
body needs. You should feel satisfied at the end of a meal, but not stuffed.
Moderation is also about 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.
The goal of healthy eating is to develop eating modifications that you can
maintain for life, not just a few weeks or months, or until you've hit your
ideal weight. For most of us, that means eating less than we do now. More
specifically, it means eating far less of the unhealthy stuff (refined sugar,
saturated fat, for example) and replacing it with 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. If the rest of your diet is healthy, eating a burger and fries
once a week probably won’t have too much of a detrimental effect on your
health. Eating junk food just once a month will have even less of an impact.
As you reduce your intake of unhealthy foods, 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 and half a cup of mashed potato, rice, or pasta is about the
size of a traditional light bulb.
Healthy eating is about more than the food on your plate, it’s 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.
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.
JANUARY 2015
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WINTER GARDEN MAGAZINE
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39