Top 5 Tips for Eating Healthy
1. Buy Purposefully
I know that if I buy something, pay money for it, and have it in the house, then I am going to eat it. Same with the rest of my family. So, if I decide to buy foods that are healthy, then those are the ones that we will seek out when we want to eat something. Why set ourselves up for guilt and regret? If unhealthy food is not in the house, our workspace, or within our reach, well then, we will not grab for it. If you buy healthy foods you enjoy, then those will be your options when you need to grab and go!
2. Plan Ahead
Life is super busy and many of us feel as though we are living day-by-day. Despite our best intentions to spontaneously choose healthy options during the day, our hedonic drive to food can be so overpowering that we choose a fast and unhealthy food option, which we regret as soon as we are done indulging. While it does take some time to plan what we will be eating, the truth is, we do have that time to carve out. In fact, the cumulative amount of time it takes to stand in line to order a meal, look through a menu at the options, sit through the drive-through, is more than the time required to plan out meals for the week. These meals can be pre-made salads at your local grocer, fresh veggies and fruits that you picked up from your farmer’s market, or your favorite chili that you batch-cooked on the weekend. And pack a reasonable amount of food where it is enough to satisfy your hunger throughout the day. Otherwise, if your packing is too restrictive, well then, the hunger wells up and leads to counterproductive excessive food consumption. Planning ahead can therefore benefit in so many ways.
3. Water Reigns Supreme
Let this please be your beverage of choice. All-day, every day. “But what about sugar-free/diet drinks?” Well, truthfully, how essential are those drinks to you? You want to be healthy. You are looking for a change. So let that include your reevaluation of those diet drinks as well. Of course, we can indulge in our favorite drinks for special occasions. But my recommendation is that for our day-to-day, we re-establish a wonderful relationship with water.
“But water has no flavor!” You are correct, water has no manufactured ingredients added to it, meaning it’s precisely how it is supposed to taste. It allows you to be fully hydrated and enjoy the burst of flavors that come in the foods that you consume.
4. Avoid Ultra-Processed Foods
Companies have learned how to engineer their products to make them look like food, to have the chemicals and fillers in them to make our brains respond in a hyper-satisfied state and make us crave them more. And guess what? This benefits these food production companies. We keep buying their products, they keep benefitting from the profits. But years and years of this type of exposure leads to adverse health outcomes like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, insulin resistance, overweight, obesity. If we can allow ourselves insight into how these highly manufactured and processed foods are detrimental to our health, I am confident that the majority of us would also arrive at the conclusion that enough is enough! So what is the alternative? Choosing foods that are as close to their natural state as possible. Ready to forget apple juice? Have an apple! Ready to leave the peanut butter crackers? Have dry roasted peanuts instead! The fewer the ingredients, the better. And make sure you can pronounce all of them (see single ingredient apple, as an example).
5. Practice Intentional Eating
This my #1 recommendation for everyone. I recognized in myself years of what I have termed, ‘distracted eating’. When we are stressed, when we are busy, when we need to run out the door and just go – we grab WHATEVER and eat. And the majority of the time, that WHATEVER, is not good for us. So maybe this pulls from #2 just a bit, but I think the point here is important to reinforce and put it at #1. Let’s be intentional about our food choices. Here is where taking a moment to be present in the moment of choice. Pause and recognize that we are making a choice to satisfy hunger. But this choice should also provide nutritive benefit to further and support our health. If we keep that in mind, then this will lead to healthier food purchasing and healthier food choices. Do away with the distraction and put intention into how you eat.