Eating Healthy Daily – Start With A Plan
Eating healthy daily probably seems like an unreachable goal for many of us. With our busy schedules it just seems like too much work when it is so easy to hit the “drive thru” and eat on the run or have dinner on the table by just unloading a few bags.
But eating healthy daily is vital to living a disease-free life. Breaking unhealthy habits can be the hardest part of getting started on a healthy eating plan and there are a few tips to help you follow through.
Start Eating Healthy Food
A good place to start when you want to embark on eating healthy daily is to rid your home of those temptations that do not fall into healthy food categories. Keeping the junk food and beverages out of your home reduces the chance that you will lapse back into unhealthy habits once you’ve started trying to eat right. If you’re like me — a real chocoholic — try treating yourself to just a small, single serving every now and then rather than keeping the giant bag of m&m’s on hand. One of the treats I’ve found to be a real “sweet tooth” satisfier is to mix a few chocolate chips in with a serving of healthy nuts for a quick chocolate fix.
Prefer Healthy Snacks over Junk
Another good idea is to keep healthy snacks on hand like carrot and celery sticks, fresh fruit, yogurt or whole grain crackers. There are many healthy spreads and dips you can buy ready-made (just read the label) to make these feel like real treats and not just “health food.”
Avoid Sabatoging your Healthy Eating Plans
If you learn to plan ahead you’ll avoid sabatoging your healthy eating plans whether it be taking your lunch or finding recipes you can quickly prepare for dinner after a long day. Don’t think that you’ll spend lots of time trying to prepare some exotic “healthy” meal after spending all day at work, running the kids to soccer practice and finishing up the laundry! It just won’t happen and you’ll be too tempted to call out for that pizza! Seek out those recipes that you know you’re family will like and that will be easy to prepare in a short amount of time — or that you can prepare ahead.
Learn about the Nutritions
Take some time to learn about what foods are the healthiest for you and why. When you start to understand how specific nutrients work in the body you’ll be more likely to make healthy choices.
Start small
If you’re trying to convert your family to eating healthy daily you’ll never succeed if you go for an “all or nothing” approach. Try replacing one soda a day with water. If you eat too much fast food try going for one “fast food night” a week when everyone can pick whatever they want. You can turn the “fast food night” into a fun time for your family rather than just mindlessly consuming all those empty calories every day and risking your families’ health.
Conclusion
It really is surprising how good healthy food can taste! It isn’t all tofu and wheat germ! If you have a family then get everyone involved in your eating healthy daily plan. By teaching your kids about eating healthy you’ll equip them with the knowledge they need to make healthy choices when they are away from home.
