Tips for a healthy diet
Shopping-
•You don't have to watch what you eat if you make SURE you watch what you buy.
If you don't have unhealthy food in your house, you're apt to eat healthier.
•Avoid the candy and potato chip aisles completely. Don’t look at them, and walk past them quickly. The longer you think about them, the higher the chance you’ll buy them.
Having self discipline while shopping is much easier than using self control when the food’s in your kitchen.
•Don't go to the grocery store when you're hungry.
•Choose organic anytime you can.
•Shop at health food stores and farmer's markets for everything you can.
•Buy only 100% juice and 100% fruit jams.
•Don't buy margarine or mayonnaise.
•Buy sprouted grain bread. You WILL get used to it.
•Buy brown rather than white rice. White rice has had the healthy bran removed.
•Have frozen vegetables on hand for times when you run out of fresh ones.
Quantity-
•When at a restaurant you know serves too much food, ask for half of it to be boxed up when it's served. Take the box home and have it the next day. Saves money, too.
•Add a piece of fruit to your breakfasts and lunches, or add them as snacks. You get the nutrition from them and it will help you eat less overall.
•Eat breakfast. Even if it's only half a piece of fruit. It kick starts your metabolism, and will satiate you.
•Don't sit at a table with food on it while you chat with company. Clear the food away as soon as possible to keep yourself from nibbling after you're done eating.
•Use small plates, bowls and cups. It makes it look like you're eating more.
•Take small bites, eat slowly and chew your food well. Digestion starts in your mouth.
•Drink a glass of water when you're hungry.
Condiments-
•Use a healthy spread from a health food store instead of mayonnaise.
•Put salsa on baked potatoes for flavor. You'll use less fatty butter and sour cream.
•Instead of pouring salad dressings on your salad, try dipping your fork in the dressing prior to piercing the veggies. At restaurants, ask for the dressing on the side.
Cooking-
•Add veggies to every dinner. If you’re not big on eating salads or cooked veggies as a side dish, steam veggies and mix them into whatever you make: burritos, casseroles, macaroni and cheese, stews, scrambled eggs, rice...
•You CAN eat pasta. Cook whole wheat pasta, use tomato based sauce and mix some steamed veggies in with it.
•Bake, broil or grill. Do NOT fry.
•Put fresh vegetables, like lettuce, spinach, sprouts and tomato on sandwiches.
•When at a restaurant, avoid ordering anything that includes the words crispy, stacked, stuffed, double, triple, slammed, or dunked.
Fats/meat-
•Stay away from trans fats; they are chemically altered fats. Partially hydrogenated vegetable oil means trans fat.
•When looking at nutrition labels, look at trans fats first, then calories, then total fat.
•Remove skin from chicken prior to cooking so you flavor the meat. If all the flavor is on the skin, it's more difficult to do without.
•Trim fat from your meats.
•Eat a very small amount of meat. It's an easy way to ingest complete proteins (all 9 essential amino acids), but you don't need much.
•One serving size of meat is 3-4 ounces, approximately the size of a deck of playing cards, not 8-20 ounces like they serve in restaurants. •Think of meat as a side dish or condiment, not the main course.
•Remember that "good fats" are still fat. They should be used sparingly.
•Don't eat anything fried.
Drinks-
•Drinks have calories too. Check the sugar content. Four grams equals one teaspoon of sugar.
•Drink plenty of water. Do NOT use bottled water. They're terrible for the environment and there's controversy over the plastic leaching into the water. Put a filter on your tap and refill a stainless steel or glass bottle.
•Don't drink soda. The phosphorus leaches calcium from bones causing osteoporosis. An Arnold Palmer (half iced tea, half lemonade) is a nice alternative at restaurants.
Exercise-
•Exercise...any kind... move your body as much and as often as you can, for at least 30 minutes per day.
•When you're with company, invite them to go for a walk instead of sitting around the table.
•Go for a walk with a friend instead of "doing lunch."
•Dance with your family in the living room. Oh, loosen up, it's fun!
•The best type of exercise is the one that you’ll do. Pick something and do it!
Treats-
•When treats are homemade, have a little. Pass on the prepackaged desserts.
•Consider a piece of fruit for dessert.
•When you have a sweet tooth, try a piece of gum first to see if that helps to curb the sugar craving.
•In the summertime, put some fruit (bananas, grapes, cherries...) in the freezer. They taste like ice cream when they’re frozen.
•Don’t use artificial sweeteners. Your body doesn’t know what to do with them. Sugar isn’t good for you, but at least your body recognizes it as food.
Miscellaneous-
•Enjoy a green drink every day.
•Think nutrition. Is what you're eating, something your body will recognize as food and nourish you? If you can’t pronounce the names of the ingredients, it’s probably not food.
•If trying to gain weight, eat nuts, avocados, eggs and olives.
•Carbohydrates and proteins have 4 calories/gram, fat has 9 calories/gram, alcohol has 7 calories/gram.
•If you've considered planting a garden, do it.
•If wanting to lose weight, aim for losing one pound per week. You can do that by attempting to burn an extra 200-300 calories per day, and eating 200-300 calories less per day.
•Fast food chain hamburgers and french fries are not food.
Thought patterns-
•Stop the thought, “Oh well, I already messed up my diet today, I may as well eat some more.” If you somehow lost $10, would you think to yourself, “Oh well, I already lost some money, I may as well lose some more.” ???
•Eat and drink what you know is right 90% of the time, and don't worry during that 10% when you eat something you know you shouldn't. Sometimes we just need to splurge.
•The idea here is to make healthy changes you can live with. Crash diets may work for a small amount of time, but you'll gain the weight back when you stop.
•When there’s food left over, there’s a choice between having it go to waste, or having it go to waist.
•If there’s something you want to eat that you know you shouldn’t, procrastinate. Think of something else.
Diane's motto-
If God created it, it's probably okay to eat. So don't shy away from avocados, eggs and nuts. They're good for you. Stay away from anything in what I call the "Twinkie family.”
•You don't have to watch what you eat if you make SURE you watch what you buy.
If you don't have unhealthy food in your house, you're apt to eat healthier.
•Avoid the candy and potato chip aisles completely. Don’t look at them, and walk past them quickly. The longer you think about them, the higher the chance you’ll buy them.
Having self discipline while shopping is much easier than using self control when the food’s in your kitchen.
•Don't go to the grocery store when you're hungry.
•Choose organic anytime you can.
•Shop at health food stores and farmer's markets for everything you can.
•Buy only 100% juice and 100% fruit jams.
•Don't buy margarine or mayonnaise.
•Buy sprouted grain bread. You WILL get used to it.
•Buy brown rather than white rice. White rice has had the healthy bran removed.
•Have frozen vegetables on hand for times when you run out of fresh ones.
Quantity-
•When at a restaurant you know serves too much food, ask for half of it to be boxed up when it's served. Take the box home and have it the next day. Saves money, too.
•Add a piece of fruit to your breakfasts and lunches, or add them as snacks. You get the nutrition from them and it will help you eat less overall.
•Eat breakfast. Even if it's only half a piece of fruit. It kick starts your metabolism, and will satiate you.
•Don't sit at a table with food on it while you chat with company. Clear the food away as soon as possible to keep yourself from nibbling after you're done eating.
•Use small plates, bowls and cups. It makes it look like you're eating more.
•Take small bites, eat slowly and chew your food well. Digestion starts in your mouth.
•Drink a glass of water when you're hungry.
Condiments-
•Use a healthy spread from a health food store instead of mayonnaise.
•Put salsa on baked potatoes for flavor. You'll use less fatty butter and sour cream.
•Instead of pouring salad dressings on your salad, try dipping your fork in the dressing prior to piercing the veggies. At restaurants, ask for the dressing on the side.
Cooking-
•Add veggies to every dinner. If you’re not big on eating salads or cooked veggies as a side dish, steam veggies and mix them into whatever you make: burritos, casseroles, macaroni and cheese, stews, scrambled eggs, rice...
•You CAN eat pasta. Cook whole wheat pasta, use tomato based sauce and mix some steamed veggies in with it.
•Bake, broil or grill. Do NOT fry.
•Put fresh vegetables, like lettuce, spinach, sprouts and tomato on sandwiches.
•When at a restaurant, avoid ordering anything that includes the words crispy, stacked, stuffed, double, triple, slammed, or dunked.
Fats/meat-
•Stay away from trans fats; they are chemically altered fats. Partially hydrogenated vegetable oil means trans fat.
•When looking at nutrition labels, look at trans fats first, then calories, then total fat.
•Remove skin from chicken prior to cooking so you flavor the meat. If all the flavor is on the skin, it's more difficult to do without.
•Trim fat from your meats.
•Eat a very small amount of meat. It's an easy way to ingest complete proteins (all 9 essential amino acids), but you don't need much.
•One serving size of meat is 3-4 ounces, approximately the size of a deck of playing cards, not 8-20 ounces like they serve in restaurants. •Think of meat as a side dish or condiment, not the main course.
•Remember that "good fats" are still fat. They should be used sparingly.
•Don't eat anything fried.
Drinks-
•Drinks have calories too. Check the sugar content. Four grams equals one teaspoon of sugar.
•Drink plenty of water. Do NOT use bottled water. They're terrible for the environment and there's controversy over the plastic leaching into the water. Put a filter on your tap and refill a stainless steel or glass bottle.
•Don't drink soda. The phosphorus leaches calcium from bones causing osteoporosis. An Arnold Palmer (half iced tea, half lemonade) is a nice alternative at restaurants.
Exercise-
•Exercise...any kind... move your body as much and as often as you can, for at least 30 minutes per day.
•When you're with company, invite them to go for a walk instead of sitting around the table.
•Go for a walk with a friend instead of "doing lunch."
•Dance with your family in the living room. Oh, loosen up, it's fun!
•The best type of exercise is the one that you’ll do. Pick something and do it!
Treats-
•When treats are homemade, have a little. Pass on the prepackaged desserts.
•Consider a piece of fruit for dessert.
•When you have a sweet tooth, try a piece of gum first to see if that helps to curb the sugar craving.
•In the summertime, put some fruit (bananas, grapes, cherries...) in the freezer. They taste like ice cream when they’re frozen.
•Don’t use artificial sweeteners. Your body doesn’t know what to do with them. Sugar isn’t good for you, but at least your body recognizes it as food.
Miscellaneous-
•Enjoy a green drink every day.
•Think nutrition. Is what you're eating, something your body will recognize as food and nourish you? If you can’t pronounce the names of the ingredients, it’s probably not food.
•If trying to gain weight, eat nuts, avocados, eggs and olives.
•Carbohydrates and proteins have 4 calories/gram, fat has 9 calories/gram, alcohol has 7 calories/gram.
•If you've considered planting a garden, do it.
•If wanting to lose weight, aim for losing one pound per week. You can do that by attempting to burn an extra 200-300 calories per day, and eating 200-300 calories less per day.
•Fast food chain hamburgers and french fries are not food.
Thought patterns-
•Stop the thought, “Oh well, I already messed up my diet today, I may as well eat some more.” If you somehow lost $10, would you think to yourself, “Oh well, I already lost some money, I may as well lose some more.” ???
•Eat and drink what you know is right 90% of the time, and don't worry during that 10% when you eat something you know you shouldn't. Sometimes we just need to splurge.
•The idea here is to make healthy changes you can live with. Crash diets may work for a small amount of time, but you'll gain the weight back when you stop.
•When there’s food left over, there’s a choice between having it go to waste, or having it go to waist.
•If there’s something you want to eat that you know you shouldn’t, procrastinate. Think of something else.
Diane's motto-
If God created it, it's probably okay to eat. So don't shy away from avocados, eggs and nuts. They're good for you. Stay away from anything in what I call the "Twinkie family.”
