Healthier Happier You
10 easy tips for eating healthier in the New Year
One of the most popular New Year Resolutions people make every year is to eat healthier. They figure if they can’t make it to the gym they can at least make healthier food choices. Although most of us have good intentions, we figure out pretty quickly that eating healthy is hard!
As we get busy with life and all of its responsibilities it’s easy to slip up and become careless about what we are putting in our mouths. A McDonald’s stop here. A Taco Bell run there. Frozen pizza, TV dinners, or anything else that we can stuff in the oven and have ready in twenty minutes becomes our daily routine. In no time at all, unhealthy eating habits have become a part of our everyday life.
Think about this for a minute. If you grew up in a “health conscious” home it would make sense that it would be easier for you to make “healthy” food choices, right? It’s definitely easier to avoid drinking soda if it was something you weren’t used to having! I bet you only had cookies, ice cream or sweets if it was a special occasion, a reward for doing something exceptional, or a special treat. Could it be that the way we were raised has everything to do with the food choices we make as an adult or are we just lazy?
This is the year that you can change all of this! This is the year you’re going to take back your self-control, re-gain your self-confidence and learn to hold yourself accountable. You are about to make one of the BEST decisions you’ve ever made. It may seem hard in the beginning, but if you stick with it and stay committed it will get easier! I promise.
To help get you on your way, here are ten easy tips for
eating healthier this year:
1. Start a Food Planning Meal Menu. When you’re crunched for time and your food choices are limited, ordering a pizza is an easy solution. So planning everything out is the best thing to do! Every Sunday, sit down and create a calendar of meals for the week. This will let you see exactly what you do and don’t have in your kitchen and it will also help you get a good handle on the planning beforehand. Need to get to the grocery store? Make a list of the healthy food you will need for the week, including the meals you will prepare and get to the store.
2. Trash the crappy food in your cabinets. You’d be surprised what squirrels will eat? After the holidays we all have food that we wouldn’t normally have sitting around our kitchen. Get rid of them so you won’t be tempted to eat something bad.
3. Do all your prep work beforehand. One good way to do this is with Mason Jar Salads. They are a delicious, easy, low-calorie and low-fat way to plan lunches for the week. Plus, you can bring them just about anywhere. Load them up with your favorite veggies and add chicken, turkey or an egg for some extra protein. Voila, you have the perfect lunch! Anything that cuts down on the prep time when it comes time to sit down and eat is a win-win for everyone.
4. Grow a garden. More and more people are doing this each year. No matter how big or small, there’s nothing better than walking into your own backyard and picking fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, beans, potatoes, onions, peppers, etc. It encourages the whole family to eat more veggies. Even better, you won’t have to make a run to the grocery store because you will have fresh produce at ALL times!
5. Make a commitment. Make a pledge to yourself, your family and your friends to NOT eat out more than once a week. If this seems overwhelming, start out by skipping a few lunch dates a week and work your way up from there.
6. Replace unhealthy foods in your house with healthier alternatives. For example, replace your white rice with brown rice. Replace your white flour pasta with gluten-free pasta. Replace sugary treats with natural options such as raisins, dried chopped dates, and fresh fruits. Replace salty chips with unsalted nuts. Replace flavored or fruit yogurts with plain yogurt that you can be sweetened naturally with organic honey, maple syrup or stevia. Small changes like this can go a long way!
7. Buy a food scale and measure your portions. In the beginning it can drive you nuts, but in the long term you will have a better idea as to what a portion size looks like without having to use the food scale. Once you know what a healthy serving is, it’s easier to prepare healthy meals. You’d be surprised how many people are eating DOUBLE the amount of what they actually need.
8. Have five to six smaller meals throughout the day instead of three large ones. It will keep your metabolism running more efficiently throughout the day and you will be less likely to overeat.
9. Find some really great sites, cookbooks, or magazines that you can grab healthy recipes from. One of my favorite magazines is Clean Eating. There are so many healthy recipes to choose from! It’s not always easy to prepare healthy meals, so having resources to pull from can be really helpful.
10. Always have healthy eating essentials on hand for snacks throughout the day. Some of my favorites are:
• Nuts
• Natural Peanut Butter/Almond Butter
• Apples/Strawberries/Blueberries
• No Salt Blue Chips
• Cheese Sticks
• Carrot Sticks
• Granola
• Raisins
• Cottage Cheese
• Low-Fat Yogurt
• Organic Animal Crackers
• Dried Chopped Dates
• Sunflower seeds/pumpkin seeds
In Conclusion:
Eating healthy doesn’t have to be something you dread and it doesn’t have to be difficult! You just have to be ready to plan and be prepared to make the commitment to follow through! This year you are going to be a Healthier Happier You! Take it one day, one meal and one pound at a time and you will be a great success. Good luck to you!
I have been a personal trainer for over seventeen years and I absolutely love what I do. I honestly feel that I have one of the best jobs out there! The most rewarding part of my profession is helping one of my clients succeed at reaching their personal fitness goals. Making a difference in someone’s life makes it all worthwhile. I am currently certified by the National Sports Conditioning Association, Apex Fitness Group, and the International Sports Science Association.
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