Healthy Eating Begins With You

Healthy eating is a challenge for even the most nutrition savvy individuals out there.

How do you get started? What do you do to make the switch from the convenience track to the healthy track?

Baby steps are the best way to make a permanent switch for the better.

Start with the following guidelines and build upon them as you ease in to healthy eating habits:

1. Design a weekly strategy - this is your menu. You wouldn't neglect to prepare for a company presentation would you? Your body and its state of health is your presentation, so prepare for it.

2. Menu planning should consist of 5-6 meals per day, including snacks.

3. Each meal/snack should contain a carbohydrate, protein, and fat component.

4. Before going to the grocery store, build a shopping list around your weekly menu.

5. Have a meal or snack before going shopping to decrease impulsive purchases such as cookies, candy or other high fat/energy dense foods.

6. Fresh is best. Stick to the fresh produce or outer isles for most of your groceries and only enter the middle isles if absolutely necessary. The middle isles contain the heavily processed items.

Menu planning can be as easy or as complicated as you want to make it. If you enjoy spending time in the kitchen then break out your cookbooks and choose some healthy recipes. If time constraints do not allow for your inner chef to surface then use the KISS principle (Keep It Simple for Success).

Another advantage to the KISS principle is that your body will get the most nutrients as the foods are minimally processed.

Here's a sample healthy eating menu incorporating the KISS principle:

Breakfast: 1 cup hot lemon water, 1 cup yogurt with 1/2 cup frozen wild blueberries

Mid AM Snack: sliced vegetables with 1/4 cup hummus

Lunch: garden salad with 1 tbsp oil & vinegar dressing, one chicken wrap loaded with vegetables, 1/2 chicken breast and a tiny bit of mustard as the only sauce

Mid PM Snack: 12 almonds with brown skin on and 1/2 cup orange juice/or one apple

Dinner: 2 cups steamed vegetables with 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil and 3 oz baked wild pacific salmon

Evening Snack: one cup of warmed milk - it will also help you sleep. Tip - don't eat fruit at night, as your digestive tract takes a break leaving the furit to ferment and this may give your gas!

Click here for more information on healthy breakfasts, lunches

The convenience factor also plays an important role in today's food choices. You're so busy and feel as if you don't have the time or the energy to cook healthy meals or make healthy choices. Time is a factor, but you're choosing not to take the time to care for yourself by not spending time on meal planning or on forming healthy eating habits.

Your body is the only one you have and everything you put into your body will be reflected on its exterior, so put some effort into it.

Don't know where to start? Remember those baby steps. You can improve your food choices one day at a time using helpful tips from this article - Improve Your Food. Reviewing the tips and picking out the alternatives that will work for you is one way to get your meal planning and shopping lists started.

Another way is to take a blank calendar and write out your meals for the next month.

You may think that eating healthy is boring or bland - not so. The key is to add the right herbs and spices to your meals. Most recipes are designed with seasonings in mind to complement the dish making your herb and spice selection a no-fail scenario. But if you're going it alone and perhaps trying for a raw or whole foods meal with minimal processing you may not have a recipe to guide you. This is where your handy-dandy spice rack and your personal taste buds come in.

I'm sure you have a couple of favourite herbs and spices that will get you through anything. But using the same seasoning over and over again can start to feel monotonous.

Since variety is the spice of life this might be a good time to broaden your horizons and read the article "Spice Things Up!".

Taking charge of your health begins with you and healthy eating is the first step down that vibrant path.

Are you up for the challenge?