How to eat healthy.

I really need to learn how to eat healthy. Any tips, advice or recipes?

My typically day includes: bagel w/ cream cheese for breakfast, pizza for lunch and maybe fried chicken with rice or something for dinner (if I even eat dinner that day). And I eat a lot of junk food which obviously is bad. I need help!

Re: How to eat healthy.

It would help if you told us what you like/don't like....

For breakfast - you could have plain cherrio's w/ skim milk with bananas.
Whole wheat toast/flagel w/ peanut butter. Eggwhites are great too.

Lunch - chef salad w/ lite dressing, the 100 cal sandwich rounds are a great size for a lunch sandwich. Some lean cold cuts w/ veges.

Dinner, grillled meat, chicken or fish with a tossed salad and vege and a small carb.
Some of the frozen veges have a little sauce on them, you can add some grilled shrimp or perdue short-cut chicken and you'd be all set.

Check the weekly menu threads for ideas.

Maybe someone can tell me the skinny _____ website - i forget which one a lot of people use....???


Also, drink lots of water and eat a few snacks between meals - almonds, peanut butter w/ celery, fruit/veges, humus.

Message edited 5/30/2011 8:48:17 AM.

Re: How to eat healthy.

Well unfortunately you are already eating some of the worst foods you can be eating as your main meals.

Forget the junk food throughout the day. Throw out the soda, the prepackaged snacks and anything artificial. Replace those snacks with mixed nuts, fruits, vegetables, hummus, etc.

A bagel with cream cheese is the worst. Forget both. Have some egg salad on whole wheat toast or oatmeal with fruit or greek yogurt with granola or peanut butter on a sandwich thin.

For lunch, can you bring leftovers from dinner? Pizza every day is not healthy. You can have low calorie soups. Or chili. You could have grilled chicken with a side of vegetables. If you go out or order out a lot during work, do steamed veggies and brown rice at chinese instead or a salad from the pizza place rather than pizza. You can order grilled chicken on the salad and go light on the dressing.

For dinner, get rid of the fried. Make chicken, but bake it, grill it, stir-fry it... don't coat it and fry it. You can make lemon chicken or chicken with a special vegetable or fruit topping (like mango bbq sauce, or tomato-basil salsa, or tomato-olive relish, or ginger-soysauce marinade). These are much better options. Rice is fine, but you should only be having a very little portion of rice.

DRINK LOTS OF WATER.

Re: How to eat healthy.

The worst thing you can do is make a huge, sudden change that you won't be able to maintian. There are small changes you can start making to your daily diet that will improve what you eat. Start by eliminating one really bad thing each week. Maybe this week you cut out the junk food snacks and change to something healthier.

Also, remember that drinking juices and sodas can add on 100s or 1,000s of calories a day. Stick to water or 1 diet soda a day. If yu need flavor in your water, add a slice of lemon or lime. Crystal light will also do the trick.

Here are slight modifications to each meal you can make that will help:

Breakfast: if you don't want to give up your bagel w cc, then switch to a mini bagel with low-fat cream cheese for now. Or what about a mini bagel with 1 or 2 egg whites? Also, try a healthy cereal (Kellogg's Smart Start is yummy) with some low-fat milk. Add on a banana mid-morning if you need something extra.

Lunch: instead of pizza, try a big salad with as many veggies as you want. Just remember not to over do any dressings (only non-cream based!) because that can easily pack on calories.

Snack: carrots/celery, low-fat sting cheese, a piece of fruit, 100-calorie packs, pepper slices w hummus, etc. If you're a nibbler, try a package of blueberries. Eating one a time can last a while!

Dinner: swap out fried chicken for grilled chicken or a piece of fish. Marinade it in something yummy and bake or grill it - you won't miss the fried. Then add on a big helping of your favorite veggie.

If you need a dessert, try fage 0% yogurt, a weight watchers ice cream bar or share some low-fat popcorn with your DH.

Start with small changes so you don't feel deprived. In time, you will find it's much easier to start eating healthy and making it a habit you can stick to.

Re: How to eat healthy.

Also wanted you add that you should not skip any meals. It messes with your metabolism and causes you to over-indulge at your next meal.

Sip on water throughout the day. It keeps you hydrated and makes you less likely to eat those empty calories.

HTH!

Re: How to eat healthy.

Thanks for all the tips!

Re: How to eat healthy.

I'm not the best at this but I have made an effort to buy more fruits and veggies since having my daughter and right when I get home I clean and prep them so I can easily eat them. It's easier to eat watermelon as a snack if it's already cut up and so on. I also started packing a lunch for my husband to take to work. Is it the healthiest always, no but it's better then the crap he will buy. His lunches are: turkey sandwich with light mayo/mustard, lettuce, and onion. A deli pickle, a pear, a grapefruit w/sugar and yogurt with granola. He eats this as a snack or a late breakfast.

The pp is right....making a sudden switch will be hard and not worth it but small changes can be easier.

Breafast: Whole wheat bagel and peanut butter, or cereal and fruit. Most stores you can buy pre cut fruit. It's more money but like I said the conv. will help you to get used to it.

Lunch: BIG salad and a SMALL piece of maybe a whole wheat pizza. Miso soup and a few pieces of sushi. The goal is to load up on less calorie food that is sustaining. A Sandwich with whole grains and good fats. Try swapping avacado for mayo and so on.

Dinner: Like they said have chicken but grill it, or bake it. Maninating it gives it a good flavor. Try kabobs with veggies, meat and rice. Do you like seafood? It's so easy on the grill.

I can honestly say this is the perfect time of year to start a new food plan. Grilling makes it so nice, and being outside is great. You can also try swapping many mayo based foods for olive oil.

Re: How to eat healthy.

I did a couple of things to start eating better. One was to switch things out. I only use skim milk. I stopped putting sugar in my coffee. I only have whole wheat bread. I eat brown rice instead of white rice. I just made little, healthier changes in my everyday eating and that made a difference.

Another thing was I think about what I eat during the day. I think about what I'm snacking on during the day. If I ate garbage, I make sure to eat fruit for dessert after dinner. If I ate out for lunch I'm not going to get take out for dinner. Things like that.

Re: How to eat healthy.

I would really pay attention to food labels. While calorie intake does matter you have to look at what makes up those calories: carbs, fat, fiber, sodium, protein.

Look for items that are high in fiber and protein (they will keep you full longer). Greek yogurt is a great example- its very high in protein. I mix mine with strawberries and a packet of splenda.

Snacks can be a problem for alot of people. You can continue to snack throughout the day, just change what you snack on. Try nuts, fruits, dry whole grain cereal (like cheerios), etc.