6 Simple Steps to Eating Healthier

I received a call from my friend the other day for advice on how to eat healthier. When we were neighbors, I ate incredibly healthy, bordering on a hippie lifestyle minus the vegetarianism, so she figured I was the best person to contact about what to buy and eat.

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When we moved, we stopped eating healthy. Something about living in temporary housing does that to you, I guess. Convenience trumps healthy when your kitchen is practically non-existent and you don’t have your stuff. However, now that we are living in our own house and have all of our stuff, it’s time to go back to our previous eating habits.

So here’s what we are doing, what we’ve done, what I told my friend to do, and what I think you should do to start eating healthier.

First, I want to point out that this isn’t a diet. Diets, in a word, suck. They do not work. In fact, unless you are morbidly obese, I wouldn’t personally recommend dieting. The goal here isn’t necessarily to lose weight (although that could be a positive bonus for you), it’s to feel better and healthier.

With that said, let’s begin.

Start Small

The absolute worst thing you can do is jump right in and buy nothing but health foods right off the bat. You are absolutely going to set yourself up for failure. You should start small, however you feel is best. The rest of these tips will help you to start off small and work your way up to a healthier, all natural lifestyle.

Don’t Deprive Yourself

Instead of getting rid of things that you really enjoy, try substituting them for something equally tasty but healthier. For example, instead of buying regular cookies, try getting some healthier ones, perhaps organic or all natural. That will help ease your transition. You will, eventually, remove this from your diet (except for the rarest occasions), but for now, the newer cookies are at least not as unhealthy as the former, heavily processed alternative.

Fast Food

Fast food isn’t all completely bad for you, and if you find that you rely on it a great deal, you don’t necessarily have to stop, just order something new. Stay away from the fried items – french fries, fried chicken and chicken nuggets, etc.. Instead, get the grilled and broiled items – hamburgers and grilled chicken. Maybe 86 mayo, mustard and ketchup…if you can handle it. Order a bottled water instead of a soda (these dehydrate you and pack on the calories). Lots of fast food places also serve salads, just don’t get the fried chicken on it – opt for grilled. Or, if you get a sandwich, grab some fruit – lots of places serve apples and oranges. Some even sell yogurt with fruit. Yum!

Read Labels

Reading labels is the simplest thing you can do to improve the health of your family and the quality of the food you consume. Many of us buy the “best deal” items, which are the cheapest items in a certain category. However, in my opinion, the best deal is really what’s healthiest.

Did you know that most of what you bring home from the grocery store contains high fructose corn syrup and MSG? Simply replacing these with alternatives without these ingredients can increase your health dramatically.

Foods that contain this include tomato sauces, hot dogs, lunch meat, cheese “product”, pre-seasoned meats and chicken, etc… Simply reading labels and buying an alternative product without these ingredients goes a long way. There are plenty of sauces, hot dogs and lunch meats that aren’t packed full of nitrites and corn syrup. In fact, they are all natural. And instead of buying cheese “product” – like velveeta or cheese in a can – get a brick of cheddar for a snack. Instead of buying pre-seasoned meats and chicken, buy the regular, unseasoned stuff and buy spices. A little garlic and minced onion go a long way on some of these food items.

Another change is your snack items. Chips don’t have to disappear, merely replaced with more suitable chips. Forget the potato chips, and don’t go for baked either. Get tortilla chips. Their ingredients consist of corn, salt, and oil. That’s it! Get a healthy salsa dip with only natural ingredients (tomatoes, vinegar, jalapenos, peppers, etc…), and you actually have a pretty healthy snack!

Buy Frozen

Stop buying canned vegetables, and start buying frozen. Canned vegetables have no nutritional value what-so-ever. In fact, you might as well throw out the vegetables and drink the water they were soaking in for weeks before you bought it. Why not fresh veggies? Fresh veggies aren’t necessarily “fresh”. At least frozen vegetables were frozen in their fresh state, so they maintain that freshness. Vegetables don’t keep for very long, and start to wither. However, if you want a nice raw, vegetable snack, a little fresh broccoli and carrots are great too. Just don’t buy fresh for cooking. It simply won’t keep.

Stay away from canned fruits too, with the exception of pineapple and jarred applesauce. All canned fruits, except for the ones I just mentioned, are in syrup containing sugar or artificial sweeteners. Opt for frozen and fresh fruits instead.

Whole Grain All the Way

Brown rice, whole grain or whole wheat bread, whole grain cereals (without all that nasty sugar) and whole grain pastas are a great substitute for the alternatives. These items are not bad for you, just their highly processed alternatives are. In fact, read the bread label. Opt for something all natural, something you can read and know exactly what is in it. You’d be surprised what you’ll find in your bread, even wheat bread, like corn syrup and other garbage. Try whole grain wraps as well. Less carbs, but still pretty filling.

This is a starting point. Move slowly, read your labels, and take those baby steps. It’s not perfect, but it’s a great place to begin and you’ll do your body and your family a huge favor by eating healthier, nutritious foods while not depriving yourself of the foods you love and the convenience you enjoy.