Healthy eating is not about strict dietary
limitations, staying unrealistically thin, or depriving yourself of the
foods you love. Rather, it’s about feeling great, having more energy,
and stabilizing your mood. If you feel overwhelmed by all the
conflicting nutrition and diet advice out there, you’re not alone. It
seems that for every expert who tells you a certain food is good for
you, you’ll find another saying exactly the opposite. But by using these
simple tips, you can cut through the confusion and learn how to create a
tasty, varied, and healthy diet.
Healthy eating tip 1: Set yourself up for success
To set yourself up for success, think about
planning a healthy diet as a number of small, manageable steps rather
than one big drastic change. If you approach the changes gradually and
with commitment, you will have a healthy diet sooner than you think.
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Simplify. Instead of
being overly concerned with counting calories or measuring portion
sizes, think of your diet in terms of color, variety, and freshness.
This way it should be easier to make healthy choices. Focus on finding
foods you love and easy recipes that incorporate a few fresh
ingredients. Gradually, your diet will become healthier and more
delicious.
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Start slow
and make changes to your eating habits over time.
Trying to make your diet healthy overnight isn’t realistic or smart.
Changing everything at once usually leads to cheating or giving up on
your new eating plan. Make small steps, like adding a salad (full of
different color vegetables) to your diet once a day or switching from
butter to olive oil when cooking. As your small changes become habit,
you can continue to add more healthy choices to your diet.
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Every change you make to improve your diet matters.
You don’t have to be perfect and you don’t have to completely eliminate
foods you enjoy to have a healthy diet. The long term goal is to feel
good, have more energy, and reduce the risk of cancer and disease. Don’t
let your missteps derail you—every healthy food choice you make counts.
Think of water and exercise as food groups in your diet.
Water. Water helps
flush our systems of waste products and toxins, yet many people go
through life dehydrated—causing tiredness, low energy, and headaches.
It’s common to mistake thirst for hunger, so staying well hydrated will
also help you make healthier food choices.
Exercise.
Find something active that you
like to do and add it to your day, just like you would add healthy
greens, blueberries, or salmon. The benefits of lifelong exercise are abundant and regular exercise may even motivate you to make healthy food choices a habit.
Healthy eating tip 2: Moderation is key
People often think of healthy eating as an
all or nothing proposition, but a key foundation for any healthy diet is
moderation. But what is moderation? In essence, it means eating only as
much food as your body needs. You should feel satisfied at the end of a
meal, but not stuffed