5 Ways to Eat Healthier

This is not a post to read if you want to lose weight in lightning speed, this is simply something I would like to share with you and maybe point out a few things you didn’t notice before to help with a healthier diet.

I’ve had quite a few roommates in my life and watching their daily habit and the food they choose to eat made me realized that a lot of people don’t notice that they are eating the wrong food. A lot of people who think they eat healthy still fall under some of the traps mentioned below. They complain about their body being weak, tired all the time or they’re bigger but it really comes down to what they eat.

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1. Eat less processed food.

I was going to write “eat less junk food”, but everyone’s definition of junk food can vary. Processed food is everywhere in our daily life: bread, sugar, ketchup, cheese, chips, hot dogs, soda, crackers, mac n cheese… I’m not saying that they should be eliminated completely, but instead of eating bread every day you can have oatmeal instead or corn tortilla every once in a while.

No matter how healthy your processed food claims to be, organic, gluten free, less sodium, less fat, they most likely still contains more chemicals/sodium/fat/sugar that you don’t need. Just because something is organic doesn’t always make it healthy. It is  just “healthier” than the other brand.

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2. Meal instead of snacks

Snacking can be dangerous sometimes when you are hungry. Not that it will kill you kind of dangerous(well, maybe in time). It is dangerous because most snacks people grab when they are hungry is one of those processed food mentioned above(unless they are super healthy and went for the carrots and celery, then they really don’t need to read this). When people are hungry they pay less attention to how much they are actually eating, and “accidentally” consumes more nutrition that they don’t need. A better way to “snack” when you’re hungry is to start prepping yourself a meal. Snack on things on your chopping board as you prep, a slice of tomato here, a piece of cucumber there, even a slice of cheese to cut the hunger… Don’t forget,  no matter how healthy the processed food claims to be they still contain less nutrition than your regular meal.

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3. Avoid deep fried food and eating out

We all know that deep fried food is bad for you. But on top of the deep fried food there is sodium and sugar. Deep fried, sodium and sugar just goes so well together. Three things we don’t need a whole lot in our diet. Avoiding deep fried food is obvious, but eating out? I was starving when I first stepped off of the plane in Seattle, I bought a turkey bacon club sandwich, I had a bite and just couldn’t eat it any more. I was dehydrated from the 13-hour flight and that sandwich sucked the rest of the water in my body away from me because it was so ridiculously salty. Then we got pizza for dinner, I could not swallow that pizza. I had maybe 3 glasses of water to help me wash down a slice because it was again loaded with salt; similar experience continued throughout my restaurant experiences in the USA. Food at a restaurant, even the healthier looking options are usually not healthier than the less healthy food you cook at home. Most dishes are cooked with extra oil and salt at a restaurant that made it no difference to the deep fried food. Eat at home if you can, but spoiling yourself every once in a while is totally fine.

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4. Read your food label

Reading your food label gives you an idea of what’s in your food. Have you ever read about what’s in your bread? Some ingredients may surprise you. I used to think that whole wheat/grain bread is so healthy but it turns out it is only slightly healthier because of the whole grains. Whole wheat bread still contains the same amount of salt, sugar, oil if not more.

I usually purchase boxes or bags with the shortest list of ingredients and mostly ingredients that I can pronounce.  I try to avoid “flavors” just because I don’t really know what that means. It is not a actual food, it just taste like it? However natural that may be, I simply don’t understand why they couldn’t just make something with the real thing. Instead of “lime flavor”, couldn’t it just be “lime”?

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5. Eat at normal hours

Breakfast, lunch, dinner. This probably doesn’t seem like a big deal for a lot of people, but I find it crucial to keeping a healthier diet. By having your meal at the time you’re supposed to can reduce the amount of unhealthy food you might eat for snacks simply because you’re hungry. It is also unhealthy to have your stomach so hungry that it growls and churns, it eventually leads to stomach problems.(I had ulcer repeatedly when I was in school since I never got to eat at a normal hour)

 

Just be aware of and knowing what you’re eating. Happy feasting!!

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