It is commonly known how important a balanced diet is for our energy level, overall health and well-being and daily performance. While I don't want to talk about specific diets, here are powerful tips to help you encourage a more healthy and balanced eating.
Before we get into it though, remember that food is good, food is life and shell be enjoyed. Keep a positive approach to eating and have fun with it.
Eat that Lean Protein. Good sources of lean protein include lean beef and pork, chicken and turkey, as well as tofu and beans.
Pile on the fruit and veggies. Yes, veggies are packed with essential nutrients and are important to a healthy diet. Leafy greens and a variety of fruit will add vitamins and minerals to your diet.
If you find yourself overeating frequently try controlling your portion size. Portion control can happen in many ways, here are two: - Use a smaller dish and serve smaller portions. - Eat slow. Taking your time and savoring the food will allow you to enjoy the meal and prevent over eating by paying close attention to the feeling of fullness. A great way to do that, is by putting your fork or spoon down between every bite, yes, sounds funny, but can help you focus on eat bite at a time.
Know what you eat. Eating home cooked meals will allow you to stay in charge of what you eat and what goes into your food and ultimately body.
Pro Tip: Cook with friends and make a fun get together out of it! Not everyone enjoys cooking, so make it a fun experience.
More Tips: Cook for multiple days and freeze your meals. Many meal delivery services send the right amount of food and portions out to you, which takes care of the shopping and measuring and will safe you time and nerves.
One of my favs is Thistle.co Try it with this link and save $30 on your first order! (Affiliate link included)
Focus on what to eat more of. Instead of focusing on what to cut back on or restrict - focus on what to add to your diet and what to eat more of. Restricting might mean, eating less of what brings us joy and comfort and often results into binge eating those foods when we have a 'cheat day' or are stressed.
Find the balance. Allow yourself some comfort foods in appropriate portions.
Drink plenty of water. Yes, this might sound self-explanatory, but important to know because did you know that we sometimes mistake thirst with hunger?
As you can see, many of these tips are not very food focused, but behavioral advice. Often we know, what habit or choices are causing fatigue, bloating or weight gain, yet even with that knowledge we might have about the foods we eat, it can be hard to make better choices. Which brings us to 'practicing mindfulness' as a last tip on healthy eating. Do you ever catch yourself mindlessly eating something? Not really tasting your food or enjoying it, yet snacking and walking back over to the cookie jar like a zombie and later realizing you finished the last cookie? Yes? Maybe? Practicing mindfulness and mindful eating can influence how we make choices. It helps especially in the moments that we opt for food, even though the underlying emotion driving our decision might not be hunger, but we are not aware or present to feel what the real cause of this emotion is. Food can be a coping mechanism and awareness is the first step to understanding that and rewiring our response.
Lastly, food can also be a stimulant. If you are craving stimulation like music playing, TV on, often task switching, drinking or eating something as soon as you get up from one task or walk through the kitchen - you might need to look into soothing your system or finding other none food related stimulants to help yourself out.
Want to be more mindful? Try my 10 day Meditation Program to get started here.
For more healthy eating tips and some quick receipts, check out my Instagram Stories here.
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