How to Eat Healthy Everyday?
How to Eat Healthy Everyday?
I have to admit that while I eat pretty healthy at home, my weakness is at social gatherings: family parties, weddings, gatherings with friends, barbecues, eating out at restaurants.
I’ve tried different strategies, with mixed success. So before I went out last night (for the FIFTH time in six nights!), I asked my friends on Twitter (follow me here) for some of their best tips on eating healthy at social gatherings.
Most health experts recommend eating a balanced, healthy diet to maintain or to lose weight. But exactly what is a healthy diet?
The basic components of a healthy diet include the right amount of:
* Protein (found in fish, meat, poultry, dairy products, eggs, nuts, and beans)
* Fat (found in animal and dairy products, nuts, and oils)
* Carbohydrates (found in fruits, vegetables, pasta, rice, grains, beans and other legumes, and sweets)
* Vitamins (such as vitamins A, B, C, D, E, and K)
* Minerals (such as calcium, potassium, and iron)
* Water
For the most part, your meals should be centered on a portion of healthy protein such as lean meats. Then, you should add items like fresh fruit, steamed vegetables, light or low-calorie dressings and sauces. After you structure three healthy daily meals, you should try to maintain a consistent schedule and avoid snacking throughout the day. If the band is properly adjusted, you shouldn’t feel the pangs of hunger that accompany most diets. The key is finding a way to incorporate foods you enjoy into small, healthy meals. Most importantly, if you find a healthy way to eat the foods you love, you won’t feel deprived or have trouble meeting your long term weight loss goals.
Though most LAP-BAND patients will be able to enjoy healthier versions of their favorite meals, there are certain items that can be difficult to digest. Foods such as steak, bread and fibrous vegetables like asparagus can cause some LAP-BAND patients discomfort as these items typically can’t be chewed well enough to digest easily. Additionally, soft deserts such as ice cream and pudding should be avoided in most cases as the LAP-BAND is not designed to restrict such items.
While it is important to drink water throughout the day to stay healthy and hydrated, you should avoid drinking beverages with your meals. It can “wash down” the food in your stomach that the LAP-BAND is designed to keep there to help you feel full longer and more satisfied.
What Makes Up a Healthy Diet?
A healthy diet should consist of:
* 45% to 65% carbohydrates.
* 10% to 35% protein.
* 20% to 35% fat, with no more than 10% saturated fat and very little (or no) trans fat.
The first step is to plan ahead where you are going to dine out. Try to select a restaurant that not only allows you to choose how your food is cooked, but also allows you to substitute high-calorie food with healthier ingredients that are low in calorie, and low in fat.
Drink a lot of water. This will not only help you fill up, so you will eat lesser, but this also help and aids your digestion. Avoid ordering an alcoholic beverage or soda drink. They contain from 200 to 300 calories. Or else you can try unsweetened tea, milk, fortified soy beverage or 100% fruit juice without sugar addition. You have saved yourself a substantial number of calories.
Keep it small in portion by not ordering super-size meal. If it comes in package, don’t feel awkward to share the meal with your friend. Or else you can always ask to take the leftovers home and have it for the next day. Skip the appetizers as they may have a full chunk of calories.
Before ordering, take your time to navigate the whole menu. If you have question on how the food is being prepared and what the ingredients are just ask the question to the waiter. Food preparation is essential. Avoid oily and fried foods. Instead, you should only look for foods that have been baked, steamed, broiled, grilled or roasted. Look for tomato-based sauces rather than cream-based sauces. As for salads, choose dark green salads like spinach and romaine.
Furthermore, substitute French fries, chips or other high-fat foods with vegetables, salads, or fruits. When ordering grilled fish or vegetables, ask that the food must be grilled without little butte
r or oil, or with no butter and oil, whichever possible.
In conclusion, even though you are on a healthy diet, it is still possible to eat out with your family members and friends. Eating smart is not only good for your health but also for your wallet.
Health eat ten steping.Let’s GO
step 1 Take baby steps
What do you eat? a PLAIN cheeseburger, and a COKE? If your just starting to eat healthier, take baby steps, like getting that cheeseburger with lettuce and tomatoes, and in…
step 2 Take a look at the food pyramid
the food pyramid will guide you to eat healthier, since it tells you all the main food groups. Remember, also important: exercise.
step 3 Try to aviod man made chemicals and processed foods.
These things can lead to even more unhealthiness. Take Splenda for example, it’s some nasty stuff, used as a sugar substitute, like in sugar free drinks, but its just a eve…
step 4 If you need sugar, get…..
organic cane sugar, and not splenda or sugar substitutes, which is even more unhealthy than regular sugar.
step 5 whole wheats and grains rule!
Thats right they do. try to get them instead of those processed bleached foods. For example, get whole wheat bread instead of white, which is bleached.
step 6 the best diet
Here’s a diet to follow: low fat, low sugar, low sodium and low carbs. doing this will result in good results, and is better than any of those tv diet programs.
step 7 healthy drinks
instead of that coke, why not drink water? water is basicly nothing, which is good. If leaping to water instantly is hard, try carbonated juice, or regular juice (organic o…
step 8 Eat at moderation
insted of eating 3 VERY large meals, try several small frequent meals, which will spread out digestaion, blood sugar levels,and was shown to be very healthy.
step 9 fruits and veggies = important!
Eat them A LOT. they are one of the most important things on this list, thats why it has its own step.
step 10 Congrats!
follow all of these step, and you will be healthier in the long-run! bye!
Lessons & tips:
1. Enjoy what you eat. Health doesn’t need sacrifice.
2. Fit in a healthy diet with other heart healthy measures - exercise, weight control, and stress management.
3. Commit to one month at a time. This may be a lifestyle overhaul for you, but breaking your lifetime up one month at a time makes this goal much less daunting! The first month is the most work with establishing routines and experimenting to see what works best for you. The second month should be easier and by the third month, it will probably become “part” of you.
4. Change one thing a month. Got a soft drink habit? For the first month, concentrate on replacing soda with water. Love fast food? Spend the second month eliminating that from your diet. As humans we are impatient and want change NOW, but if you concentrate on changing ONE lifestyle change per month, you’d change 12 habits in a year! Doesn’t sound like a lot? Try listing 12 things. You’ll see how plenty that is. :):):)
5. Knowledge is power. Reading a lot on this topic is a great way to nurture your commitment to eating healthy.
6. Take control of your diet. Spending time in your kitchen (even just a few minutes!) may be the most powerful way to do this. Even if you’re not a cook, there’s always something you can do to help you on this path i.e. cutting and storing fruits and veggies for easy grabs later.
7. Plan your meals. This may seem like a ton of effort, but not only will this help you along, it will save $$$ in your wallet! Taking the real-time thought process out of eating makes it so much easier.
8. Batch cook. This is great for busy individuals. Cook your meals for the week in big batches and then store them in the fridge in serving sizes. One of the best things I love about this is how easy a dinner becomes when you come home after a super busy and exhausting day.
9. Look at nutritional labels. You don’t have to read and understand the entire label, but understanding what the food considers a serving size is and the first main ingredients will be an eye opener.
10. Use a food diary, if only for a little while. Eating healthy is also about making sure you meet your nutritional goals (i.e. calcium, protein, carbs, fats, sodium, etc.). Logging your food into a website like SparkPeople - even if it’s for a week - will show you immediately where your levels are lacking using a recommended level for body. (I don’t salt my food but because I log in my food, I found out I would go over my sodium levels due to the delicious artichokes and hearts of palm I add to my evening salad, thus having me wake up with heartburn! Eye opener.)
It’s never too late to begin. Get started now.
