Most nutritional specialists will agree that the keys to healthy eating is balance, moderation, and variety. In essence, that means consuming a spectrum of different foods without eating the same types of calories and nutrients all the time.
At the Health n' Wellness blog, we're all about developing healthy eating habits. Below are seven tips to start developing more mindful and healthy habits for eating.
1. Moderate Portions: If you eat moderate portion sizes, it's much easier to consume the foods you want while maintaining a healthy diet. Serving sizes are sometimes hard to gauge, so don't be afraid to measure or weigh your food to ensure you're not overeating. But what's better than measuring your food is sensing, or feeling the fullness as you eat. You can sense the fullness of a few bites of avocado (high in good fat calories) much faster than a few bites of lettuce.
2. Eat Slow: The human body has not changed much since the Paleolithic days when our ancestors would hunt and gather food. During those primitive times, our ancestors would eat based on availability and impulse. This would sometimes mean a 3,000 calorie meal, followed by days without eating at all. Although the human body is resilient, it takes time for the brain to realize the stomach is full. Don't fall into the natural instincts of eating what's in front of us. Eat slow and know when you are full, before you eat too much.
3. Consume Nutrient-Rich Foods: Your body needs over 40 different types of nutrients to maintain optimal health, and no single food source supplies all of them. Your daily food intake should include whole-grains and other complex carbohydrates, fruits, vegetables, and protein, such as meat, soy, or whey. How much you should consume depends on your caloric needs. Use resources like the Food Guide Pyramid and the Nutrition Facts label food packaging to determine the nutrients of certain foods. One greatest tools to help learn and track nutritional intake is NutritionData.com.
4. Eat More Whole Foods: Surveys show most Americans don't eat enough whole foods like grains, fruits and vegetables. By whole foods we mean real food that has not been processed and refined with additives or chemicals. These foods are what our bodies were designed to eat. It's only been a couple hundred years since Americans started consuming processed, additive-infused foods. It has also only been a couple hundred years since mysterious diseases and cancers have become prevalent.
5. Balance Your Food Choices: Not every food choice has to be perfect or optimal for your health. We are all faced with temptations and unhealthy options from time to time. The trick is to balance and moderate these foods, such as those that are high in fat, salt or sugar. Although you should have a daily diet focus, your food choices over several days should fit together into a healthy eating pattern.
6. Don't Eliminate, Simply Reduce Certain Foods: A lot of people consume certain foods purely for pleasure. If some of your favorite types of foods are high in fat or sugar, the key is to moderate how much of these foods you consume as well as how often you eat them. Again, this might take some self-discipline. However, eliminating unhealthy foods might hinder your peace of mind and personal satisfaction. Instead, reduce and moderate how much of these foods you eat.
7. Gradually Make Changes: There are no easy answers to developing healthy eating habits, so don't expect to revamp your eating habits overnight. Too much change too fast can result in a quick turnaround. Rather, begin to remedy excess eating or nutrient deficiencies with modest, gradual changes. This will better promote lasting eating habits.
Do you have any tips for health eating habits that you'd like to share? Let us know below!continue...
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