HEALTHY EATING GUIDELINES
Many people want to eat more healthy, and experience
the benefits of a well balanced diet, however; with
our busy lifestyles, and also a lack of clear information,
we often go off the rails.
Healthy eating is actually surprisingly easy, and can fit into most lifestyles. It just requires a different attitude to food.
These are some basic guidelines you should look to follow, but don't worry if you can't follow everything, even one guideline is a step in the right direction.
Don't skip meals.
This is a very important rule to follow. You get hungry for a reason; your body needs fuel in the form of food. If you deny your body that fuel, 2 things happen. Firstly, you force your body to slow down its metabolism, which means when you do eat, you won't take up all of the nutrients from the food, no matter how much healthy food you eat. Second, you force your body into starvation mode. This is when the body will start to use up stares of sugar to give you an energy boost. This sugar when digested will actually turn into body fat, thereby doing the exact opposite of what you want to do.
Avoid eating more sugar.
You should avoid eating more sugar that you take in with your meals by replacing sweets and biscuits with fruit. This is actually easier than you might think. Fruit is often cheaper that sweets or sweet snacks, and because it starts to rot, you might as well eat it rather than throw in all away. There is also no real limit to how much you can eat, within reason.
Listen to your body.
Remember your parents telling you to finish all the food on your plate? Well, that kind of forced eating is actually extremely bad for you. When you feel full, you should stop eating, no matter how much food you've got left. You can always save it for when you might feel peckish later. In order to know when your body is telling you; you are full, you need to slow down the rate at which you eat. This way all the sensory signals have time to tell your brain you are full. And remember, don't eat one bite more than you need to. Alternatively, eat when you are feeling hungry, as mentioned above, it doesn't help the body's natural balance to starve.
Learn a few simple recipes.
Healthy eating can be fun. If you get everyone around you to do the same, it can be a very social thing. Learn a few basic recipes and you will soon start to enjoy cooking fresh meals for yourself. You can start by trying this for say 2 meals a week, and gradually increase it as you pick up more ideas and variety of meals. This way you are forming a habit, rather than drastically changing your life all at once.
Try to minimise your salt intake.
Adults should eat no more than 6g of salt each day. Eating more on a consistent basis can raise your blood pressure and having high blood pressure triples your chances of heart disease and stroke. 75% of the salt we eat is already in the food we buy, so start looking for foods with low salt and if you can, do not add any salt at the table. Herbs can be a good alternative to add flavour. Also, sauces like ketchup and mustard can be high in salt. So where you can, try to cut down.
An adult needs to take in between 1.5 – 2 litres of water a day, more if you are exercising. This helps maintain an adequate level of hydration. Remember; if you feel thirsty, you are already dehydrated!