One thing some people fail to get about eating right is the fact that they confuse healthy eating as food or diet restriction for the purpose of being slim or simply just depriving you of the food you love.
Healthy eating or eating right is about enjoying the food you are eating, getting strength, improving your mood and your overall well being as an individual. It is also about making changes that will benefit your health in the long run.
Most times the reason for our illness is not because we fail to exercise or because we are just sick for sickness sake, it is because of the food we eat that play a huge role in everything we do, from how we feel to how our body shape is. The cure and the disease itself is food, not anything else. The progress in living healthy is in understanding that the moment you start eating right, the better your entire well being, for you and your family.
1. Set yourself up for success through your mentality
The first step is changing how you see food. Knowing that the wrong food choices can affect your health, physically and mentally. And to be on top of your game you need to research, plan and execute. Start by reading about healthy food choices, then make a plan or a guide that you follow to eat healthily and then execute it by follow it up. It is important you do not compromise and give yourself maximum of 21 days so it can sink in like a habit.
2. Prepare more of your own meals
One of the few changes to happen is that you will begin to cook your own meals as this will help you in choosing the right ingredient for your health instead of what is sold out there for the general public you are not the general public when it comes to your health.
There are some things you can take in that others can’t and ignoring this can lead to you reacting to allergies or other unwanted diseases that may cause chaos in the body. Not knowing how to cook is not an excuse as there are many cooking videos that can teach you to cook, starting from the simplest of meals and climbing your way up.
3. Replace with alternatives
For every unhealthy food you cut back on, replace them with alternatives, for example cutting back on butter, you can go for olive oil or avocado. Go for grilled foods instead of fried, fried chips to baked carrot sticks etc. There are so many healthy options to explore, all you have to do is, dig them out.
4. Read the labels
Learn to read labels of every food you eat so you can know how much calories each food is worth, so you can regulate when to stop eating and when to add up. Also to know which food to avoid and which to get.
5. Focus on how you feel after eating by practicing mindful eating
Mindful eating is about switching off distractions so as to concentrate on your food and your body. As your body will always show you signs that you have over eaten and you should stop. When you eat healthy, you feel better, when you eat junk, you feel heavy and nauseous.
6. Drink plenty of water
Learn the habit of drinking water constantly as this will keep you hydrated , flush out toxins, making one look healthy and aiding proper bowel movement eat vegetables or fruits with high water contents, if drinking water constantly will make your feel sore or add a slice of lime to water for taste. Most times people confuse thirst for hunger, so it’s best to drink enough and then still see if it is hunger.
7. Try not to think of certain foods as off limits
Anytime you tell yourself a food is off limit for you, you find yourself thinking about it and are likely to want to eat it. And most times you do and then you beat yourself up.
Why not fix a day that you get to pleasure eat and the rest of the month you eat healthy foods. For a beginner, try once a week to indulge in pleasure eating, then move to once in 2 weeks and with time you will get over labeling some foods as off limits.
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