What
does this phrase mean to you? If you’re like most people, your brain
quickly fills with visions of a lifetime spent eating salads with no
dressing, whole grain toast with no butter, and endless platefuls of
plain, skinless chicken breast. Boring, boring, boring!
A healthy diet plan does not have to be
boring, nor does it have to be overrun with fat free, low calorie, bland
and tasteless food. In fact, you can follow a healthy plan and still
enjoy a menu filled with tasty snacks, flavorful food and enough variety
to try a new recipe every day for weeks at a time. All you have to do
is plan your diet.
Easy Healthy diet plan and tips:
1: Make a move towards healthy living
To do that you need to plan a healthy diet as
a small, manageable steps rather than one big drastic change. If you
approach the changes gradually and with commitment, you will have a
healthy diet sooner than you think.
- Make cooking simple and fun: Instead of
being overly concerned with counting calories or measuring portion
sizes, think of your diet in terms of color, variety and freshness—then
it should be easier to make healthy choices. Focus on finding food you
love and easy recipes that incorporate a few fresh ingredients and
fibers like Quaker oats. Gradually, your diet will become healthier and
more delicious.
- Start slow and make changes to your eating habits over time. Trying
to make your diet healthy overnight isn’t realistic or smart. Changing
everything at once usually leads to cheating or giving up on your new
eating plan. Make small steps, like adding a salad (full of different
color vegetables) to your diet once a day or switching from butter to
olive oil when cooking. As your small changes become habit, you can
continue to add more healthy choices to your diet.
- Every change you make to improve your diet matters. You don’t have
to be perfect and you don’t have to completely eliminate foods you enjoy
to have a healthy diet. The long term goal is to feel good, have more
energy and reduce the risk of heart diseases.
Think of exercise as a food group in your diet.
Find something active that you
like to do and add it to your day, just like you would add healthy
greens, and whole grains like Quaker oats. The benefits of lifelong
exercise are abundant and regular exercise may even motivate you to make
healthy food choices a habit.
2: Self-control is the key to healthy living
People often think of healthy eating as an
all or nothing proposition, but a key foundation for any healthy diet is
moderation. Despite what certain fad diets would have you believe, we
all need a balance of carbohydrates, protein, fat, fiber, vitamins, and
minerals to sustain a healthy body.
- Try not to think of certain foods as "off
limits." When you ban certain foods or food groups, it is natural to
want those foods more, and then feel like a failure if you give in to
temptation. If you are drawn towards sweet, salty or unhealthy foods,
start by reducing portion sizes and not eating them as often. Later you
may find yourself craving them less or thinking of them as only
occasional indulgences.
- Think smaller portions. Serving sizes have ballooned recently,
particularly in restaurants. When dining out, split a dish with a
friend, and don’t go for large portions of anything.
- Plan quick and easy meals ahead Healthy eating starts with great
planning. You would have won half the healthy diet battle if you have a
well-stocked kitchen, a stash of quick and easy recipes, and plenty of
healthy snacks.
- Plan your meals by the week or even the month One of the best ways
to have a healthy diet is to prepare your own food and eat in regularly.
Pick a few healthy recipes that you and your family like and build a
meal schedule around them.
3: It's not just what you eat, it's how you eat
Healthy eating is more than planning a
balanced diet - it is also about how you think about food. Healthy
eating habits can be learned and it is important to slow down and think
about food as nourishment rather than just something to gulp down in
between meetings or on the way to pick up the kids.
- Eat with others whenever possible. Eating
with other people has numerous social and emotional
benefits—particularly for children—and allows you to model healthy
eating habits. Eating in front of the TV or computer often leads to
mindless overeating.
- Take time to chew your food and enjoy mealtimes. Chew your food
slowly, savoring every bite. We tend to rush though our meals,
forgetting to actually taste the flavors and feel the textures of what
is in our mouths. Reconnect with the joy of eating.
- Listen to your body. Ask yourself if you are really hungry, or have
a glass of water to see if you are thirsty instead of hungry. During a
meal, stop eating before you feel full. It actually takes a few minutes
for your brain to tell your body that it has had enough food, so eat
slowly.
- Eat breakfast, and eat smaller meals throughout the day. A healthy
breakfast can jump start your metabolism, and eating small, healthy meals
throughout the day (rather than the standard three large meals) keeps
your energy up and your metabolism going.
Water—a vital part of a healthy diet
Water makes up about 75% of our bodies and
helps flush our systems of waste products and toxins. Yet many people go
through life dehydrated—causing tiredness, low energy and headaches.
A balanced and a well-planned diet is the only key to healthy heart and heart diseases