Tips for a Healthy Diet
By Diane Curriden
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 it, the higher the chance you’ll buy things you know you shouldn’t have. Having self discipline when 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 everytime you can.
• Shop at health food stores and farmer's markets for everything you can.
• Buy only 100% juice and 100% fruit jams.
• Buy olive oil.
• Don't buy margarine or mayonnaise.
• Buy sprouted grain bread. You WILL get used to it.
• Buy brown 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 fill you up so you eat less of other things.
• Eat breakfast. Even if it's only half a piece of fruit. It kick starts your metabolism, and will help you to not be so hungry later.
• 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 smaller plates, bowls and cups.
• Take smaller bites, eat slowly and chew your food well. Digestion starts in your mouth.
Condiments-
• Use a healthy spread from a health food store instead of mayonnaise.
• Put salsa on baked potatoes for flavor. You'll use less of the 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 some 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 lettuce and tomato on sandwiches.
• When cooking eggs, grilled cheese sandwiches, etc., use a very small amount of vegetable oil instead of butter.
• 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 small amount of meat, it's an easy way to ingest complete proteins (all 9 essential amino acids).
• 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.
Avoid polyunsaturated vegetable oils, margarine, vegetable shortening, all partially hydrogenated oils, and all foods that might contain trans-fatty acids (such as deep-fried foods). (Dr. Weil)
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 bottle.
• Drink tea instead of coffee.
• Don't drink soda. The phosphorus leaches calcium from bones causing osteoporosis. An Arnold Palmer (half iced tea, half lemonade) is a nice alternative.
Exercise-
• Exercise...any kind...just 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.
• If you crave something salty, popcorn is a nice alternative to chips.
• In the summertime, put some fruit (bananas, grapes, cherries...) in the freezer. They taste like ice cream when they’re eaten frozen.
• Don’t use artificial sweeteners. Your body doesn’t know what to do with them. Agave nectar, stevia and honey are the best sweeteners.
Miscellaneous-
• 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. Tell yourself you’re too busy losing weight. Have it later.
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 like to call the "Twinkie family” -processed food and drinks.
According to Dr. Weil:
Of the 50 different fruit and vegetable categories tested, the following "Clean 15" foods had the lowest pesticide load, and consequently are the safest conventionally grown crops to consume from the standpoint of pesticide contamination:
Onions, Avocados, Sweet Corn, Pineapples, Mangoes, Sweet Peas, Asparagus, Kiwi, Cabbage, Eggplant, Cantaloupe (Domestic), Watermelon, Grapefruit, Sweet Potatoes, Honeydew Melon.
Of the 50 different fruit and vegetable categories tested, the following "Dirty Dozen" had the highest pesticide load, making them the most important to buy organic versions - or to grow them organically yourself:
Celery, Peaches, Strawberries, Apples, Blueberries (Domestic), Nectarines, Sweet Bell Peppers, Spinach, Collard Greens/Kale, Cherries, Potatoes, Grapes (Imported)”
Good Luck!
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 it, the higher the chance you’ll buy things you know you shouldn’t have. Having self discipline when 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 everytime you can.
• Shop at health food stores and farmer's markets for everything you can.
• Buy only 100% juice and 100% fruit jams.
• Buy olive oil.
• Don't buy margarine or mayonnaise.
• Buy sprouted grain bread. You WILL get used to it.
• Buy brown 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 fill you up so you eat less of other things.
• Eat breakfast. Even if it's only half a piece of fruit. It kick starts your metabolism, and will help you to not be so hungry later.
• 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 smaller plates, bowls and cups.
• Take smaller bites, eat slowly and chew your food well. Digestion starts in your mouth.
- Drink a glass of water a few minutes prior to eating.
Condiments-
• Use a healthy spread from a health food store instead of mayonnaise.
• Put salsa on baked potatoes for flavor. You'll use less of the 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 some 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 lettuce and tomato on sandwiches.
• When cooking eggs, grilled cheese sandwiches, etc., use a very small amount of vegetable oil instead of butter.
• 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 small amount of meat, it's an easy way to ingest complete proteins (all 9 essential amino acids).
• 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.
Avoid polyunsaturated vegetable oils, margarine, vegetable shortening, all partially hydrogenated oils, and all foods that might contain trans-fatty acids (such as deep-fried foods). (Dr. Weil)
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 bottle.
• Drink tea instead of coffee.
• Don't drink soda. The phosphorus leaches calcium from bones causing osteoporosis. An Arnold Palmer (half iced tea, half lemonade) is a nice alternative.
Exercise-
• Exercise...any kind...just 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.
• If you crave something salty, popcorn is a nice alternative to chips.
• In the summertime, put some fruit (bananas, grapes, cherries...) in the freezer. They taste like ice cream when they’re eaten frozen.
• Don’t use artificial sweeteners. Your body doesn’t know what to do with them. Agave nectar, stevia and honey are the best sweeteners.
Miscellaneous-
• 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. Tell yourself you’re too busy losing weight. Have it later.
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 like to call the "Twinkie family” -processed food and drinks.
According to Dr. Weil:
Of the 50 different fruit and vegetable categories tested, the following "Clean 15" foods had the lowest pesticide load, and consequently are the safest conventionally grown crops to consume from the standpoint of pesticide contamination:
Onions, Avocados, Sweet Corn, Pineapples, Mangoes, Sweet Peas, Asparagus, Kiwi, Cabbage, Eggplant, Cantaloupe (Domestic), Watermelon, Grapefruit, Sweet Potatoes, Honeydew Melon.
Of the 50 different fruit and vegetable categories tested, the following "Dirty Dozen" had the highest pesticide load, making them the most important to buy organic versions - or to grow them organically yourself:
Celery, Peaches, Strawberries, Apples, Blueberries (Domestic), Nectarines, Sweet Bell Peppers, Spinach, Collard Greens/Kale, Cherries, Potatoes, Grapes (Imported)”
Good Luck!
