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Healthy Eating Habits
There are eating habits and there are healthy eating habits – these are the latter. These healthy eating habits are not only beneficial to you they are a potential life saver! Discarding old eating habits and forming new healthy eating habits can be as easy or as tough as you want them to be. The question you need to ask yourself is who rules you – your mind or your tongue? If the answer is the former and you are committed to keeping your mind, body and soul healthy, pick one of the following healthy eating habits and incorporate it into your life before picking the next healthy eating habit.
1: Include several glasses of water as part of your daily routine
An excellent healthy eating habit is to drink several glasses of water a day. Thirst has nothing to do with it. Even if you are not feeling thirsty, you need to drink at least one glass of water every hour or so. Other things remaining the same, your body performs at its optimal best only when it is properly hydrated.
Tip: If you need to lose weight and you like cold water and are not prone to throat infections resulting from drinking cold water, then drink cold water because when you drink cold water, your body will burn energy to bring the cold water in line with your body temperature. Research indicates that that drinking cold water will speed up your metabolism by almost 33%.
2: Eat a healthy breakfast
People often assume that since they were sleeping during the night and there was no physical activity, they need not eat a breakfast as no energy was lost during the night. Wrong!
Your body has spent the last 10 hours or so repairing tissues and anything else that needs mending – more so in the case of children. When you wake up, your body needs fuel to get you started. You level of alertness is directly related to the quality of breakfast. So make sure you and your family especially children eat a healthy breakfast.
3: Enjoy a light lunch
Always make it a point to have a light lunch. If you skip lunch for whatever reason, your blood sugar levels will drop and your metabolism will slow down. Lack of fuel causes your body to go into a “slow down” mode to save energy and may also lead to a food binge later in the day. So always include a light lunch even if it’s just a packed sandwich, carrots and fruit. Unless in an emergency, avoid that burger or hot dog for lunch; true, it might provide you the energy you require but in the long run, the grease and chemicals in them will cause more harm than good.
4: Make it a fruit snack or a smoothie
If you feel hungry during the day, eat a banana or some other fruit. It will not only satisfy your hunger it will also go towards fulfilling your daily requirement of vital nutrients.
5: Include fruits and vegetables
It is vital to include at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. So plan your meals carefully; your physical well-being and life could well depend on it. Make sure you have at least one vegetable on the side with lunch or dinner. Take some fruits, chop them into bite sized chunks, pour a thin silver of honey on top and finally add nuts and raisins over it. Looks delicious, tastes delicious and is super healthy too.
6: Avoid Late Meals
Lunch at 4 p.m. or dinner at midnight plays havoc with your body. Do not allow your busy schedules to ruin your health. Ideal time for lunch and dinner is at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. respectively. Remember you body needs time to digest the food and it should be done when you are awake.
7: Portion Size
Don’t simply heap food onto your plate. The quantum you eat depends on your activity level. Ideally, use a 9” portion control plate and portion control scoop or spoon. Using a portion control plate ensures you do not over stuff yourself.
Just following these 7 golden habits will go a long way in ensuring a healthy body and mind.
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