Healthy Eating Tips-Five Easy Changes to Your Diet
With the New Year upon us, people are looking for healthy eating tips. These five easy changes to your diet will not only help you look better in your jeans, you will also feel a whole lot better.
Healthy Eating Tip #1
Look Through Your Pantry
The first easy change to your diet is to look through your pantry and discard anything with ingredients you cannot read or pronounce. This
healthy eating tip is one that has been recommended by Dr. Oz and Jillian Michaels, among others. You do not have to change to an entirely organic diet, but if the ingredient is something your grandparents would not have eaten, then you shouldn’t either.
You also have to pay attention to what the label says. Many food manufacturers will tell you on the front of the product that there are no artificial colors, however, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any artificial flavors or preservatives. You need to be a label reader if you wish to eat healthy.
Other ingredients on product labels that you should avoid are:
Sugar in any form as one of the first five ingredients
Partially hydrogenated oils
Healthy Eating Tip #2
Make Product Substitutions
Switching to products that have better ingredients is an easy diet change to make. For example, there are many brands of pasta that are now good sources of protein, fiber, and Omega-3. They taste very similar to the brand of pasta you are presently eating. If you are afraid that sure family would not eat all whole-grain or healthy pasta, here’s a healthy eating tip that worked for my family.
We eat pasta two or three times a week. I gradually substituted the healthier pasta by boiling half of the old pasta and half new. After a few meals I switched entirely over to the healthy pasta. We haven’t gone back since.
Another healthy eating tip that was an easy diet change for my kids was to switch to organic macaroni and cheese. This easy go to dinner, which is a staple in most family diets, costs the same as brands like Kraft. There are always printable coupons for extra savings.
Healthy Eating Tip #3
Switch from Regular Milk to Other Milk Alternatives
An easy diet change to make is to switch from regular milk to soy milk, coconut milk or almond milk. These beverages are dairy free, all-natural and/or excellent source of calcium and vitamins A, D, and E. There are also no saturated fats or cholesterol in these products.
Soy milk, almond milk, and coconut milk come in flavors such as vanilla and chocolate. I have never been a big milk drinker or fan of dairy foods other than ice cream. After reading about coconut milk, and seeing that it was endorsed by my favorite trainer, Jillian Michaels, I decided to give it a try. I used it in my morning bowl of cereal and it tasted delicious! While I have not yet converted the rest of my family to coconut milk, my children love chocolate soy milk. You will always find it in my refrigerator.
Healthy Eating Tip #4
Make More Meals from Scratch
Another easy diet change is to cook more at home from fresh ingredients and not by overly processed foods in a box or can. You can make your family dinners simple by creating a menu plan on Sunday and doing prep work before the busy week ahead.
Why eat soup from a can when you can make an easy chicken soup in less than 10 minutes and eat from the pot all week? Why buy frozen breaded chicken when you can buy natural breadcrumbs and make it yourself? I am not suggesting that you to go out and make your own yogurt, but it is so easy to make your own meals with very basic fresh ingredients. One way to spend time with your family and also get something done is to cook together. Let your children learn kitchen basics from you and not the Food Network.
Another healthy eating tip is to bake cookies instead of buying them. When you do your own baking, you control the amount of fat and sugar that goes in. For example, instead of using the whole egg, just use the egg whites. You can substitute applesauce for oil and butter. If a recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar, reduce it to two thirds of a cup. 
Healthy Eating Tip #5
Use Fresh Herbs
An easy way to add flavor to your cooking without adding extra calories is to use fresh herbs. Supermarkets carry small containers in the produce department. Adding fresh garlic, ginger, rosemary, and other fresh herbs is an easy change to your diet that will help you eat healthier.
These healthy eating tips and five easy changes to your diet will help you look and feel better. Start with one, then add another. Before you know it, you will be doing all five and then adding some more of your own.
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Comments
Nice article with easy, practical advice. People are more likely to make the changes if they can do them easily.
Exactly! If you try too much too soon, you are doomed to fail because it becomes a chore.
Important information. It is surprising how important diet can be. My doctor had me taking Diabetes medication, not insulin, for years. My wife and I decided to go on a vegetarian diet and I have been off of that medication since we switched almost 10 years ago.
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