A New Way of Thinking: My Health Comes First
It has become very easy for us to neglect our health and overall wellbeing, this is reflected in our food choices.
We often get caught up in the day to day aspects of life and try to find the quickest and easiest solutions to everything.
The problem with that (as I have learned personally) is that quicker and easier does not mean better and absolutely does not mean better for you.
With that being said, we need to find alternatives that provide us with the following: convenience, familiarity, nutrition and taste.
Taste: I know the last one may surprise a few of you but let's be honest, if you cannot stand the taste the chances of you eating that particular food long term is slim to none.
There are many ways to eat foods that you enjoy and still maintain your health.
For example, if you enjoy burgers and fries consider this: Instead of fast food, make your burgers at home, try sweet potato fries instead and learn a recipe for homemade ketchup.
Or for those of you who may be interested, consider a veggie burger! (Not trying to turn you all vegetarian but if I could that would be awesome) There are many more options or alternative meal options and way too many to list in this note, however, with proper research and a little bit of effort you can make slight changes that will make a dramatic difference in your health.
Nutrition: We should all remember this "Eat to Live, Not Live to Eat" that pretty much sums it up.
The nutritional value of the foods we eat are definitely more important than the taste.
The food we eat provide us with vitamins and minerals that we all need to live and they are present in foods that are grown and harvested.
Majority of our diets consist of about 90% of food that contain preservatives and lack nutritional value.
These foods are often given to us in a bag or a box.
When preparing your meals a general rule is make sure your plate contains the follow: Lean protein such as: baked chicken, fish, tofu, beans, etc, complex carbs such as: brown rice, oatmeal, whole grain bread and of course VEGETABLES! Familiarity: Most of us tend to eat the same things on a regular basis, because of this it may be a good idea to start with healthy food choices of your favorite and most familiar foods.
(Similar to the example given above) this will help you get used to eating healthy and won't seem like a drastic change.
It will also help in making the change a lifestyle and not a "fad" diet.
Convenience: Let's face it, when your always on the go sometimes we don't have the time to come home and cook a big dinner and would much rather grab fast food on the way home or popping a tv dinner in the microwave right? With a little effort you can put together 15 minute meal options such as salads, soups, mixed vegetables, healthy snacks, etc.
For those of you who like to eat late night snacks consider things like almonds, air popped popcorn, fruit and vegetables instead of chips and cookies.
We all seem to make time for everything else but neglect our bodies, which is interesting because it's our very bodies that need to function in order for us to have a better quality of life! We deserve to be healthy and happy, eating clean and exercise should not be a chore.
Your healthy is number one priority and if it's not- some adjustments need to be made.
We often get caught up in the day to day aspects of life and try to find the quickest and easiest solutions to everything.
The problem with that (as I have learned personally) is that quicker and easier does not mean better and absolutely does not mean better for you.
With that being said, we need to find alternatives that provide us with the following: convenience, familiarity, nutrition and taste.
Taste: I know the last one may surprise a few of you but let's be honest, if you cannot stand the taste the chances of you eating that particular food long term is slim to none.
There are many ways to eat foods that you enjoy and still maintain your health.
For example, if you enjoy burgers and fries consider this: Instead of fast food, make your burgers at home, try sweet potato fries instead and learn a recipe for homemade ketchup.
Or for those of you who may be interested, consider a veggie burger! (Not trying to turn you all vegetarian but if I could that would be awesome) There are many more options or alternative meal options and way too many to list in this note, however, with proper research and a little bit of effort you can make slight changes that will make a dramatic difference in your health.
Nutrition: We should all remember this "Eat to Live, Not Live to Eat" that pretty much sums it up.
The nutritional value of the foods we eat are definitely more important than the taste.
The food we eat provide us with vitamins and minerals that we all need to live and they are present in foods that are grown and harvested.
Majority of our diets consist of about 90% of food that contain preservatives and lack nutritional value.
These foods are often given to us in a bag or a box.
When preparing your meals a general rule is make sure your plate contains the follow: Lean protein such as: baked chicken, fish, tofu, beans, etc, complex carbs such as: brown rice, oatmeal, whole grain bread and of course VEGETABLES! Familiarity: Most of us tend to eat the same things on a regular basis, because of this it may be a good idea to start with healthy food choices of your favorite and most familiar foods.
(Similar to the example given above) this will help you get used to eating healthy and won't seem like a drastic change.
It will also help in making the change a lifestyle and not a "fad" diet.
Convenience: Let's face it, when your always on the go sometimes we don't have the time to come home and cook a big dinner and would much rather grab fast food on the way home or popping a tv dinner in the microwave right? With a little effort you can put together 15 minute meal options such as salads, soups, mixed vegetables, healthy snacks, etc.
For those of you who like to eat late night snacks consider things like almonds, air popped popcorn, fruit and vegetables instead of chips and cookies.
We all seem to make time for everything else but neglect our bodies, which is interesting because it's our very bodies that need to function in order for us to have a better quality of life! We deserve to be healthy and happy, eating clean and exercise should not be a chore.
Your healthy is number one priority and if it's not- some adjustments need to be made.
