Top 10 Tips to Healthy Eating - Changing the Way You Eat
Overview
All of us will benefit from choosing a healthier lifestyle. Eating healthy is one way to accomplish that. Even if weight is not an issue for you, eating healthy should be. From adding in whole grains to eliminating overly processed foods there are many things that you can do to ensure the food you eat will feed your body instead of polluting it. Here are ten tips to eating healthy.
Tip 1 - Add Whole Grains
Adding whole grains is the best healthy eating tip. Replace white bread with whole grain bread. It can be wheat, rye, or any combinations of grains. Make sure that there is at least three to four grams of fiber per serving. This will ensure that the bread actually contains whole grains. There are many other ways to get your family to eat whole grains. See my article Getting Your Family to Eat More Whole Grains for tips to help you accomplish this.
Tip 2 - Remove Trans Fats From Your Diet
Trans fats or trans fatty acids are not naturally occurring fats. They are created in a lab by superheating vegetable and other oils so that the molecular structure changes and what would otherwise be a liquid at room temperature is now a solid. Trans fats are in many foods. Look on the ingredients label for any type of partially hydrogenated oil or hydrogenated oil. A clear warning that a food contains trans fat is in the label. If the label or advertising states zero trans fat per serving, you can bet it does not contain trans fat. This is due to labeling laws. However, always check the ingredients list as it’s not always clear from the packaging.
Tip 3 – Avoid Artificial Sweeteners.
Some sweeteners are better than others. Artificial sweeteners such as Splenda, NutraSweet or Equal, and Sweet and Low are very harmful to you. This article on Splenda will provide you with more information. A better choice is to reduce sugar intake and stay with natural sweeteners that your body knows what to do with. Organic can sugar and raw honey are fine in small doses. The human body knows how to process these items as we have been ingesting them for centuries. Our bodies do not know how to process artificial sweeteners. In addition, many artificial sweeteners make for effective insecticides. Stick with what is closest to nature for the safest sweetener.
Tip 4 – Add More Fruits and Veggies to your Diet
Fruits and vegetables are important to our bodies. They contain many phytonutrients that cannot be recreated in a lab. Fresh season veggies are best. They contain massive amounts of healthy vitamins and minerals. Blueberries are truly a super food. Watermelon contains more soluble iron than spinach. Healthy bodies need the high quality food from fresh fruits and vegetables to properly nourish our bodies. In addition, fresh fruits and vegetables are much less expensive than meats.
Tip 5 – Reduce Meat Consumption
Meats, this includes red meat, chicken and fish are expensive and not always healthy. Beef raised on large commercial farms is completely unhealthy. This is due to the diet the animals are fed, the amount or hormones and antibiotics they ingest and by their living conditions. Commercially raised chicken are no better. They are raised in extremely close quarters, usually 4 chickens per square foot of building. Antibiotics and hormones are given to keep them alive long enough to reach market.
A better choice is free range chickens and beef that is only fed grass. Do not be fooled by beef that is finished on grass. Look for the label that states pastured beef, 100% grass fed. These products are making their way into mainstream supermarkets. It is worth paying more. You get healthy meat without steroids, hormones and antibiotics. Buying this type of meat is environmentally sound. It is expensive, but we should reduce our meat consumption anyway.
Please continue on to page two of this article to discover the final 5 of our top 10 tips to healthy eating.
Tip 6 – Reduce Fat in the Diet
A normal diet should not get more than 1/3 of its calories from fat. Our bodies need fat for proper cell function and neurological transmissions. Without fat, our bodies will not operate correctly. The key is to eat the right type of fats and to eliminate those products from our diets that are fat free but completely not healthy. Take fat free half and half for example; regular half and half contains a lot of fat, including saturated fats which should be consumed very sparingly. Fat free half and half is fat free but, in order to make it look like regular half and half, thickeners and sugars have been added. It is fat free but the calorie count is higher than regular half and half. Margarine is a trans fat. A healthier choice is olive oil.
Tip 7 – Eat Seasonally and Locally
Buying local produce supports the local economy. It is healthier for you and it is green. The freshest produce is always found at the local farmer’s market. The shorter the distance between the place the produce is grown and your table the more nutritious the food is.
Tip 8 – Choose Organic Whenever Possible
Organically grown produce and ethically raised meats are healthier for you than their counterparts. Look for an organic certification from CCOA and other agencies. The USDA certified organic means that the item has been certified by one of the USDA’s approved agencies. The USDA does not directly certify a product as being organic. Look for a different seal from another certifying body.
Tip 9 – Limit Fast Foods
What you may not know is that even healthier fast food choices contain tons of fat and sugar calories. For example, the Quizno’s Tuna Melt is one of the highest calorie fast foods around. The large version has 2,000 calories, the regular 1,420 calories and the small 770 calories. They all have about 8% of the calories come from fat. Full fat mayonnaise and processed cheese add considerably to the calorie count. Another not so healthy choice is a fish sandwich. The McDonald’s Fillet-O-Fish sandwich contains 475 calories. 50% of those calories are from fat!
Tip 10 - Switch from Bisquick to Self Rising Flour
Love to make pancakes and biscuits? Save some money and be healthier by switching from Bisquick or Hungry Jack mixes to unbleached self rising flour. There is no difference in taste and the flour is better quality. What you loose are trans fats and preservatives. Unbleached flour is healthier for you and the environment. Trans fats should be avoided. The other difference is the cost. On average a five pound bag of Gold Medal Unbleached Self Rising flour is about $2.00 - $2.50. The same size box of Bisquick is $4.00. Save money and be healthier by making the switch.
