Reflect On Why You Eat

Before reaching for a candy bar when you’re in line at the grocery store, ask yourself if you really need some chocolate and why. If you’ve had a stressful day at work or you’ve been under emotional strain, put the candy back and try to find a healthier way to make yourself feel better. Replacing exercise with eating will not only maximize any weight loss goals, it will increase your endorphins and give you a huge self esteem boost.

Healthy Eating For Dessert

A delicious dessert at the end of a hard day can be the highlight of the evening for a lot of people. Rather than eating a piece of cake or bowl of ice cream, have a fresh bowl fruit salad or some low-fat frozen yogurt. Substituting your high calorie desserts for something a little healthier can be a guilt free way to finish your day.

Clear Out Your Cupboards

Keeping chips and cookies in the cupboards is too tempting for most people, especially after a rough day. Throw out all your junk food and when a craving hits you, you won’t be tempted by fatty snack foods and you’ll be more likely to munch on something much better for you. Willpower can only take you so far in your healthy eating goals, so avoid the candy aisles and don’t even look in the vending machines you walk past until you’ve trained yourself to resist your junk food cravings.

Don’t Negotiate

It’s easy to talk yourself into having just one piece of cake or thinking that because you’ve had a rough day you deserve it. After eating that one piece it’s pretty likely that you’ll feel guilty for doing so and you may end up feeling worse than you did before. By just being strict and laying down the law, you’ll probably feel much prouder of yourself for choosing the apple instead of the cookie.

With any good healthy eating plan, snacking can throw a wrench into your best efforts. You can have the healthiest meals planned out, but when you can’t make it from lunch to dinner and have to grab something to tide you over, be sure you aren’t eating something that will sabotage you.

Satisfy Your Cravings

Always have a snack alternative for every craving. When you want a salty bag of chips, eat a handful of nuts instead. For that sweet tooth, grab an apple or banana rather than a pack of candy. Substituting a healthy choice for your hot, cold, crunchy, and creamy cravings will keep you feeling full and satisfied without out all the guilt.

Eat Smaller Meals

If you feel like you have to snack quite a few times a day and just can’t wait for your main meals, split your three large meals up into six smaller ones. This will keep you feeling full all day while giving your body time to properly digest a smaller amount of food. Eating this way may also encourage you to plan out healthier meals rather than grabbing something quick between meals that may not be as good for you.

Stay Hydrated

Dehydration can make you feel hungry when you’re actually just thirsty. Make sure you’re drinking plenty of water throughout the day to fight these feelings. Caffeine and drinks with artificial sweeteners can sometimes cause you to feel hungrier, so sticking to water and low calories juices are usually your best bet.

TV Snacking

Either completely cut out the snack sessions while watching television or switch to something that isn’t loaded with calories. Plain popcorn without the extra butter, sunflower seeds, or a bowl of grapes are all healthier options than a bag of chips or pretzels and they will still take quiet awhile to eat.

You don’t have to give up your afternoon snack times in order to practice healthy eating habits, just choose your snacks more wisely. Picking the lower calorie or lower fat varieties of your favourite snack can be the first step in eating healthier. Changing to a different type of food altogether or cutting down on how many snacks you have throughout the day can be your next step. Start off slowly and gradually switch to healthier foods for long term success in healthy eating habits.

Convenience Foods

Pre-packaged snack foods and ready made meals are often more expensive than making your own meals and are usually loaded with extra sugars, fats, and preservatives. Preparing veggies and low fat dip as a snack is not only one of the healthiest things to munch on, it’s incredibly inexpensive. Instead of grabbing a breakfast burrito from your local drive-thru, making one at home will cost a fraction of the price and you can cut back on the oils you use while packing it full with more veggies.

Fruits and Veggies

Sometimes our favourite produce isn’t in season and trying to get that basket of berries we love to snack on can be very expensive. Frozen fruits and vegetables keep all their nutrients so shop in the frozen section and stock up when your favourites are on sale. When those fruits and vegetables are in season, buy a large quantity and store them in your freezer if it’s an item that freezes well.

Create a Menu

Plan your meals in advance and keep ready made snacks and meals on hand for times when you think you’ll be too busy or tired to cook. Quite often, after a long day of work and school when everyone’s wiped out, it can be all too tempting to just order a pizza rather than preparing a meal. If you have it already made or at least partially prepared the day before, you’ll save money on fast food while enjoying a healthier meal than that greasy fast-food burger and fries.

Buying non-perishable foods in bulk that can be stored or frozen can save you quite a bit of money as well. Keeping a good supply of meats, veggies, and whole grain bread products in the house will encourage you to cook a healthy, homemade meal rather than buying something more expensive that can just be heated up in the microwave.

Involve Them When Deciding Meals

By giving your kids a choice of which vegetable to have with dinner or what type of healthy snack to have between lunch and dinner, they will feel more invested in what they’re eating and less like they’re being forced to eat something they don’t want. If they really hate one type of vegetable, give them the option of something they prefer and you’ll have far fewer battles at dinner time every night.

Make Healthy Food Fun

By cutting food into interesting shapes or making pictures out of the food on their plate, eating becomes a game that they’re now interested in participating in. Letting them help you prepare their food can also get them more excited for meal time because they may feel like they’re playing a bigger role and have made some of the decision regarding what they’ll be eating.

Lead By Example

Telling your children they aren’t allowed to eat ice cream while you’re sitting there with a big bowl of it probably won’t go over very well. When your kids see you eating the same things as them and having veggies as a snack instead of a bag of chips, they won’t question why they’re eating healthy food instead of anything else. If junk food just isn’t an option in your cupboards, your kids won’t be asking for the bag of chocolate chip cookies instead of the bowl of grapes.

Substitute for Healthy Alternatives

Giving them carbonated flavoured water instead of pop will still seem like a treat. Watering down their sugary juice will reduce the amount of sugar they’re consuming. Changing the white bread for whole grains will add some extra nutrition to their diet. By making small changes to the ingredients of all their meals, you’ll be sneaking healthy food in and they won’t even notice most of these changes. The more they become used to healthier alternatives, the easier it will be to establish healthy eating habits.

Substitute What You Can

Choose a salad over fries or add another vegetable side in lieu of the mashed potatoes. A lot of restaurants will have a healthy eating section of their menu that makes these choices for you. Instead of having a burger, get your patty lettuce wrapped instead. In some cases, you may want to omit instead of substitute. If your salad comes with garlic bread, ask that they leave the bread off your order entirely. By omitting the items you tell yourself you just won’t eat, you won’t be tempted at the end of the meal when they’re still on your plate.

Limit Sauces and Dressings

You may feel that ordering an entree salad is a healthy eating choice, but sometimes restaurants drench their salads in high calorie dressings. Ordering your dressing on the side allows you to choose how much you’re going to use. This can apply to any sauces that may come on your meats or vegetables as well. Using a limited amount still gives you the delicious flavour while reducing the amount of calories you’re consuming.

Portion Control

By ordering a half order of your favourite meals, you’re cutting the calories in half. When you feel full, stop eating and ask your server to take your plate away to prevent you from picking at it while everyone else finishes their meal. If you really feel that you just can’t waste what’s left, take it to go and eat it for lunch the next day.

Choose the Right Location

When deciding where to dine, research what is available on the menus of a few restaurant choices in advance. It can be a good idea to be aware of a few local restaurants that have a healthy eating menu available. Some restaurants really promote healthy eating so find a few good ones in your area and make those your regular dining spots whenever you eat out.

Choose the Healthier Alternative

In the grocery store, go for the plain popcorn instead of the super drenched movie theatre butter flavour. At a restaurant, substitute your fries for a salad or change your carb loaded potatoes to a lighter vegetable. For breads and pastas, give the whole wheat types a try. Even when you just have to have your chocolate fix, try one of the darker types of chocolate that contain less sugar. Whatever you’re choosing to eat, take a moment to consider what a healthier option would be.

Portion Control

Limiting how much you eat is one of the most important tips for healthy eating. Some people can’t bear to give up their favourite foods, but cutting your portions in half still allows you to enjoy what you love with half the guilt. Getting the “100 calorie” packages of the chips and chocolates you can’t live with out will remind you how much you’re consuming so you know to stop when the package is empty.

Alcohol and Those Extra Calories

When you’re going to a social event and you want to have a few drinks with your friends, you don’t need to throw your healthy eating plan out the window. Switching to a lighter beer or drinking spirits with a low calorie mixer can reduce the amount of calories you’ll be consuming. To cut that number in half again, alternate your alcoholic beverages with a glass of water or another non-alcoholic, low calorie beverage.

Break Your Bad Habits

Pay attention to your eating habits over the course of a few days and pinpoint the times you snack the most. If you tend to blow through a bag of chips while sitting in front of the TV, stop snacking in your living room or switch your snacks to veggies and fat free dip. If you tend to binge eat after a stressful day at work, reflect on the things that have upset you and find other ways to deal with your stress.

Healthy eating habits can be learned little by little until they’ve become second nature to you. The more you learn, the less you’ll need to struggle with your eating habits. As it becomes easier you’ll be able to make more and more changes to reach your healthy eating goals.

Be Honest and Realistic With Yourself

Decide what your healthy eating goals are and be realistic with yourself about what you hope to achieve. Making goals that are too easy will prevent you from pushing yourself while making impossible goals will just discourage you and could cause you to give up. When you accomplish your goals, reward yourself and set new ones, but avoid rewarding yourself with junk food as that will only undo all of your hard work.

Don’t Give Up Everything You Love

You don’t have to swear off snack foods entirely, just make healthy eating choices when you can and start your efforts off slowly. Rather than watching TV with a bag of potato chips, snack on a small bowl of plain popcorn. Plan your snack alternatives in advance and have a choice ready for every different taste you crave. Trade sweets and candy in for fresh fruit or eat a smaller piece of dark chocolate in lieu of a sugar loaded candy bar.

Don’t Starve Yourself

Feeling full throughout the day will prevent you from giving in to the urge to snack on something full of sugar or fat. Be sure to drink plenty of water and have healthier snacks during the day rather than saving your hunger up and going crazy on the cheese puffs in the evening. Try eating multiple smaller meals a day rather than three larger ones if this helps you to feel satisfied and less hungry.

Clear Out Your Junk Cupboard

If it’s there, you’re far more likely to grab that convenient bag of cookies sitting at the back of your cupboard when you don’t feel like taking the time to prepare a healthy snack. Throw out all the junk food you have and when you really can’t fight the urge make sure you only buy smaller packages of your favourite treats so you don’t have leftovers sitting in your kitchen to tempt you.

Your healthy eating habits should be a lifelong journey rather than a crash diet, so don’t get too down on yourself when you eat a little more than you should have or just can’t resist that delicious looking pastry. Rather than thinking all hope is lost, throwing your goals out the window, and finishing off the whole pizza because you’ve had one piece, just start over then and there and stay positive about your goals.

Stay Full

Having a healthy breakfast that morning and filling up on fruit and veggies before you head to your next Christmas party will reduce your cravings for all the cakes and cookies you’ll be faced with. Once you do decide to grab a plateful from the buffet table, load it with the leaner meats, vegetables, and whole wheat crackers. If you still need a sweet fix after that, limit yourself to just one then position yourself further away from that table.

Drink Smart

Alcoholic drinks can be loaded with hidden calories so be aware that what you’re drinking could be sabotaging you. Choose a lower calorie beer or mix spirits with a sugar free type of mix. Alternating alcoholic beverages with a glass of water or low calorie juice can greatly reduce the amount of extra calories you’re consuming.

If having eggnog and hot chocolate is a tradition you just can’t give up, limit yourself to just one of those types of drinks. These beverages are loaded with fat and sugar, so drinking too much of them too many nights in a row can destroy the benefits of all the other healthy eating habits you’ve been practicing. Another option could be watering these beverages down with some skim milk to cut out a bit of the extra fat.

Bring Healthy Options

A lot of get-togethers around the holidays tend to be potluck style parties. Especially if you know your friends aren’t the type to bring healthier options, be sure that what you bring is geared towards healthy eating. You may even find that quite a few other people will enjoy the healthier options you’ve provided them.

Sticking to any workout regimen you currently have can be great incentive to stick to your healthy eating routine as well. If you throw in the towel over the holidays you’ll probably be wracked with guilt throughout the entire month of January. Forgetting about healthy eating is a slippery slope, so telling yourself you’re still doing a good job will help motivate you to stay at least somewhat strict in front of that cookie platter.