Healthy Eating - 8 Super Effective Ways To Develop & Stick To Healthy Eating Habits

Have you ever wondered what healthy eating is? It is not really as simple as just cutting down on the carbs. It is more of a lifestyle choice and a regime that you follow.

Healthy eating means having and incorporating food items that give you the adequate protein, carbs, fat, fibre, mineral and vitamin intake. You might give up on carbs, but still might not be eating healthy.

Since we already mentioned that it is a lifestyle, can food be the sole constituent of it? Regular exercising facilitates healthy eating. Isn’t it shocking?

We aim to help you out with decoding what healthy eating is all about and also laying useful diet tips to help you stick to healthy habits.

Pro tip: Incorporate items like yogurt, fish, dry fruits, dark chocolate, quinoa, legumes, apples, bananas, pomegranates, green tea etc. in your diet as these contain multiple nutrients required by your body.

Further, some tips to easily switch to or maintain healthy eating habits are:

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#1. Shift to whole grains:

This can be shocking but shifting to whole grains can preserve the nutrients and enable you to easily shift to a balanced diet regime. Oats and barley are two options you can delve into. This is not only for the nutrients but also, for the fibre that these contain. You can also have whole wheat bread or tortillas in place of the flour one. Oats for breakfast or barley risotto can make a delicious meal.

Magazine Sunday supper

#2. Monitor what you eat when you go out:

We are not asking you to starve when you go out with your friends or when you indulge in a weekend getaway. All we are saying is, pay a little more attention to the menu.

Not all salads are ‘salads’. The added mayonnaise takes away the very purpose of having a salad. Go for dressings that have lemon juice and herbs and stay away from butter, oil, and mayonnaise.

Opt for items that are baked, roasted, sautéed or grilled and just move past the fried ones. Another trick is to go for an a-la-carte rather than a buffet is it allows you to customise and choose. In the long run, you will thank us.

#3. Choose food with Vitamin D, Calcium and Potassium

Poached

egg is a good source of Vitamin D

Potassium helps you keep your blood pressure in check whereas the other two are very important for your bones. Calcium can be found in all dairy food items and hence having a glass of milk every day can take you a long way.

Depending on sunlight might not be the correct choice for your dose of Vitamin D, so you should also start having cheese, tuna, yolks etc. to supplement that.

#4. Cut down on artificial sugar

Stay away from these

This is not something new that we have brought to you but nevertheless, it has a lot of importance. Artificial or added sugar can ruin up to a week’s effort when it comes to a balanced diet.

I know it can be difficult to stay away from soda and candies but it does more harm to you than good. They are high in calories and have little to no nutrients. So cut down on these as much as possible.

#5. Do not limit yourself to a few items

Asparagus and Kale Caesar Salad

Add a variety of food items to your diet. This will not only give you the much-needed nutrition balance but will also break the sense of monotonicity.

Experiment with fruits, vegetables, meat, legumes etc. to come up with dishes that tingle your taste buds.

#6. Start small and gradually go hardcore

Voraciously sub food brand 04/2018

Since you are already used to a particular way of eating, going cold turkey on it will not only make it super difficult for you to sustain it, but it will also affect your appetite and mood. Go slow and make changes gradually.

Do not follow online tips on ingredients and recipes blindly as they might not be in line with your preferences and cultural requirements. Go slow and experiment. Build a chart for yourself.

#7. Watch your binging habits

Vegan BBQ

We all love to overeat, if I may call it so, once in a while. We also know the consequences of it. Let's try to limit and control that. Some ways to do that include drinking lots of water, keeping a granola bar handy, not skipping meals like breakfast, lunch and dinner and indulging in fruits like apples and berries. Eating these can prevent you from feeling ‘bingy’!

#8. Do not go easy on liquids

Coconut water is very good for your health

No, we are not talking about alcohol. Drink plenty of fluids. Coconut water, fresh fruit juice, smoothies and healthy shakes are some examples of liquids that you must incorporate in your diet as they add to your nutrients intake and limit the consumption of added and artificial sugar. Stay away from aerated drinks and alcohol as they contain a lot of artificial sugar and calories.

These are some ways in which you can either switch to or maintain your healthy eating habits. Cheers to being healthy!