Healthy eating plans
Starting healthy meal plans does not mean planning rigid, inflexible, tasteless, and boring meals. It’s not about starving yourself to the point of tears or staying unrealistically slim. Rather, it’s about feeling good, having energy that lasts all day, sleeping soundly at night, and being as healthy as possible. It is about reducing the risk of diseases that are falsely considered part of the aging process. All of this can be achieved effortlessly by gradually switching to a simple and healthy eating menu.
10 tips for healthy eating
1 – Don’t instantly give up your current eating habits
Make your transition to healthy eating plans a gradual, step-by-step process. If you commit to making the change in small, manageable steps, you’ll be eating healthy before you know it.
Instead of worrying about counting calories or measuring portions, think about changing your diet in terms of color, freshness, and variety. Look for recipes that call for fresh fruits and vegetables. Little by little your diet will become healthier and more delicious.
Remember, make this change gradual, not overnight. Start by adding a colorful vegetable salad to a meal every day for a few weeks. Then maybe add fresh fruit for dessert. Make the transition gradual.
Every change you make to your diet is important. It doesn’t have to be perfect or instantly eliminate the foods you enjoy. Your long-term goal is to feel good, have energy, and lower your chances of getting diabetes, heart disease, or cancer.
Think of water and exercise as integral parts of your new transition.
Your body needs clean, clear water. It is not the so-called fruit juice (unless it is freshly squeezed), and especially not the coffee. Many people go through life dehydrated because they drink very little water or coffee almost exclusively. Your digestive system needs a lot of water to function efficiently, as do all the organs in the body. These so-called fruit juices are packed with sugar, flavorings, and preservatives that your body can’t digest, so it stores them as fat. Coffee is nothing more than an addictive drug that dehydrates your body. Coffee is the biggest drug habit in the world.
Furthermore, the human body was built for movement, not the sedentary lifestyle that most people live today. Pick an activity that you enjoy and make it part of your daily routine, even two or three times a day.
2 – The secret is moderation
The key to switching to a healthy diet is moderation. Your body always needs a balance of carbohydrates, protein, fat, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Don’t think of some foods as off-limits, think of smaller portions and eat them less often.
3 – How you eat
It’s not what you eat, it’s how you eat. Slow down, think of food as food, not something to gulp down as you run here and there. And have breakfast. Get out of bed every morning, get some light exercise to get your heart rate up and open your lungs, then eat a light, healthy breakfast. Your body wants exercise and it wants to eat breakfast. You’ve been without food for several hours, so your organs need nutrition to wake up and start working.
4 – Color is the secret
Fruits and vegetables are the secret ingredient in a healthy diet. They are loaded with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber. You say you don’t like vegetables? Add fresh vegetables to your diet little by little. You will soon develop a taste for vegetables because your body wants and needs them.
Green vegetables provide calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, zinc, vitamins A, C, E and K, and help strengthen the blood and respiratory systems. Sweet vegetables help suppress your sweet tooth. Corn, carrot, beet, sweet potato or yam, winter squash, and onion are examples of sweet vegetables. A wide variety of fruits is essential for a healthy diet. Berries fight cancer, apples provide fiber, and citrus fruits are full of vitamin C.
5 – Eat healthy carbohydrates
When most people think of carbohydrates, they think of breads, potatoes, pasta, and rice. True, these are carbohydrates, however these are starchy and unhealthy carbohydrates. They break down into glucose very quickly, which makes insulin and blood sugar levels very erratic. Fruits, vegetables, and whole grains are healthy carbohydrate sources. Notice, I said whole wheat grains, not whole wheat bread.
6 – Healthy Fats vs. Unhealthy Fats
Fats are a necessary part of your diet, yet there are healthy and unhealthy fats. You need healthy fats to nourish your brain, heart, hair, skin, and nails. The omega-3 and omega-6 fats in salmon, herring, mackerel, and sardines are vital to your diet. The fats you need to start cutting out of your diet are trans fats and saturated fats.
7 – Protein
Protein provides the necessary amino acids we need to build muscle tissue, strengthen our immune system, our heart, and our respiratory system. Protein also helps stabilize blood sugar levels. When we think of protein, we commonly think of red meat, which is lean red meat. Other sources of protein that can be integrated into your healthy diet include salmon and other fresh fish and turkey.
8 – Your body needs calcium
Of course, dairy products are the obvious source of calcium. However, green leafy vegetables are an excellent source of calcium. Beans are also rich in calcium.
9 – Sugar and Salt
Sugar and salt are necessary for our survival, however, they should be taken in moderation. Sugar and salt are hidden in many of our processed foods today. Foods like canned bread, soups and vegetables, spaghetti sauce, margarine, instant mashed potatoes, frozen dinners, fast food, soy sauce, and ketchup. Again, for a smooth transition, eliminate these foods from your diet gradually.
10 – Advance Meal Plan
Plan your meals by the week or even by the month. Planning your meals eliminates the urge to eat something simple, easy, and unhealthy.
Conclusion: your healthy eating menu
Remember, healthy eating does not mean being on a boring and strict regimen. It means having more energy, getting better sleep at night, and reducing your risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and other ailments wrongly attributed to simply getting older. Make your transition gradual and you can enjoy healthy eating plans before you know it.