đ§Listen below (7:08)
When we are trying to start eating healthy, we can feel like we are in uncharted territory. The thing is, we tend to approach it from the wrong angle. We start cutting out a lot of ssour favorite foods, and replacing them with unfamiliar and often expensive products. The focus tends to be on the âchallengeâ of eating healthy which creates a âwinners & losersâ type mentality, and this is a recipe for failure.
In order to break it down into something simpler, weâve created a list of 5 things to start & stop when eating healthy that can help you develop a better strategy. If youâre starting any kind of new healthy eating plan, try considering these 5 ideas, and it might transform the way you look at food, which is the path to long-term success!
1. Seek out balance versus deprivation
Instead of spending all of your time focused on totally removing the âbadâ foods from your diet, try identifying the ways youâre already doing some of the ârightâ things, and do even just a bit more of those things, like drinking a bit more water, or having an extra helping of your favorite vegetables. Totally removing foods that you love cold-turkey is hardly ever a successful strategy, but simply limiting some of these âbadâ foods can start making a big difference on your health, and you donât have to completely give them up. For instance, make a plan to not drink soda when youâre at work, but allow it when youâre at home or out. Small changes like that can be easy to stick with and can really add up over time, this is how you keep feeling balanced.
Donât deprive yourself, buy foods for value which includes considering both price and nutritional value, and find out what foods actually work for you which means paying attention to all the ways that your body responds to the foods that you are eating.
2. Learn how to buy foods for âvalueâ versus just for the âcheapest priceâ.
Food is one of our biggest expenses, there is no doubt about that. Reducing our grocery bill and eating out can seem like a great way to save money. However, there are ways of choosing foods that can help you meet both goals. The focus is not only on buying all the âhealthierâ ingredients and products that are out there, but creating a nice balance in your whole shopping cart. When finding a really great deal or super sale, think about using that savings to pay for another nutritious item that you usually think of as âexpensiveâ. Frozen fruits and vegetables can be cheaper and less wasteful than fresh, and they are just as nutritious, and often even more so! When comparing products, read the Nutrition Facts panel, and just look at the âdietary fiberâ numbers, and choose products where the (%DV) is over 10%, this is how you can avoid empty calories. Start grading prices on how much nutrition they offer, and you start to see what foods truly ARE expensive.
