Improve your energy, reduce inflammation, and accelerate weight loss when you adopt a healthier eating lifestyle with these five tips.
Ready to make healthy eating happen but not sure where to start? If so, you are in good company. In a recent poll, almost half of the respondents said it’s easier to do their taxes than it is to eat right. Simple questions like what to have for dinner have become absurdly complicated in an era of conflicting dietary advice, too many food choices, and not enough practical food knowledge to guide us.
The Evidence is Clear
Make healthy eating happen and you’ll reduce empty calories and pull in the nutrients your body needs to function well, improve energy, reduce inflammation, accelerate weight loss, and slow down and prevent most of the major diseases and health conditions of our time.
Harvard’s Healthy Eating Plate provides an evidence-based recommendation for how and what healthy eating looks like. Even in the world of healthy foods, you want to eat more of some foods and less of others. Here are some easy ways to get yourself into better alignment that we teach in our program.
Five Tips to Healthy Eating
- Make most of your meal vegetables and fruit – ½ of your plate. Eat to pull in lots of color and variety. The more colorful you make your plate, the more likely you are to get the vitamins, minerals, and fiber your body needs to thrive. Potatoes don’t count because of their negative impact on blood sugar.
- Reduce grains – ¼ of your plate. Read ingredients and look for “100% whole grain” and choose products that list whole-grain ingredients first. Look for things like “whole wheat,” “brown rice,” “oatmeal,” or “quinoa.” The number of grains and type is something you should explore if you have signs of inflammation (digestive issues, headaches, and joint pain).
- Include healthy protein – ¼ of your plate. Protein will help you stay full and slows the release of sugar. Protein sources: nuts and seeds, beans and lentils, eggs, cheese, lean cuts of beef, chicken, turkey, and seafood.
- Drink water, coffee or tea. Skip sugary drinks, limit milk and dairy products to one to two servings per day, and limit juice to a small glass per day.
- Don’t forget your daily indulgence! Avoid the temptation to turn healthy eating into a rigid diet. Reward yourself for a eating well daily – pick one sweet treat and ENJOY it!
Knowing what you “should do” and making it happen can be two very different things. We’ve helped thousands of people create a personalized healthy eating lifestyle. Our online healthy eating experience teaches you the practical nutrition science and the healthy cooking and flavoring skills to create new habits and enjoy eating more delicious healthy foods! Learn more at www.savoryliving.com.
Sources:
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2012/05/23/153416865/many-americans-saying-doing-taxes-is-easier-than-eating-right
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23297654
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-eating-plate/
