Living
and eating for maximum nutrition
The
past few years have seen a bit of a resurgence of interest in healthy
living and healthy eating, and that is a good thing. We all know
that most people do not eat enough fruits and vegetables, and that
many people eat too much of the wrong things – like sugar, salt and
fat. Reversing this trend will take some time and some effort, but
starting with your own diet is a great way to improve your health and
your life.
The
key to changing your diet, of course, is to change it is ways that
you can live with for a lifetime. The reason that most diet and
lifestyle changes fail is that they are too difficult to follow once
the initial excitement has worn off. The key is to make small
changes, simple changes, that you can follow for the rest of your
life.
Where
you start your healthy eating plan depends in great part on your
particular goals. For many people, a healthy eating program can be
as simple as eating more fruits and vegetables. For others, a
healthy eating plan will require a radical change in the way they
shop, cook, and eat.
Since
healthy eating means so many different things to different people, it
is impossible to come up with a single healthy eating guide that will
be right for everyone. The runner toning up for a marathon will have
different nutritional needs than the factor worker who wants to lose
20 pounds.
No
matter what the goal, however, it is important to eat a variety of
foods, and to make smart choices when shopping, when cooking and when
eating. Eating out can present special challenges, and it is
important to familiarize yourself with the ingredients of the foods
you order in your favorite restaurant.
Making
healthy food choices means eating more of the good foods – like
vegetables, fruits, whole grains, etc., and less of the bad foods,
like salt, sugar and fats.
Starting
by eating more high nutrition, low calorie foods is a good place to
start. Luckily, the produce section of the local grocery store
likely contains hundreds of different examples of such foods. Fruits
and vegetables are almost always low in calories and fat, and they
are generally very nutritious as well.
Since
variety is so important to a healthy diet, it is a good idea to try
out a sampling of different fruits and vegetables on your first
healthy eating shopping trip. Start with some of the fruits and
vegetables you have always wanted to try but never gotten around to.
For instance, many people have never tasted asparagus, spinach or
Brussels sprouts. While some love these foods and others hate them,
you will never know unless you try them for yourself.
This
kind of foraging is a great way to introduce yourself to foods you
have never tried before. It is a great way to try new things, and
you just might discover a new favorite food while you’re at it.
Experimenting
with cooking all these exotic fruits and vegetables is another great
idea. There are a ton of healthy cooking recipes and cookbooks on
the market, and a new cookbook can be a great motivator for healthy
eating.
It
is important to remember that making your diet healthier does not
necessarily mean making a radical change. Simple changes, like
trimming the excess fat off of a steak, or substituting nonfat yogurt
for sour cream on your baked potato, can go a long way toward
enjoying a healthier lifestyle.
As
a matter of fact, in the long run the simplest and easiest to follow
changes are the ones that matter most. That is because making easy
changes means that you will be able to stick with them for the long
run. Healthy eating is a marathon, not a sprint.
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