Tip Talk: Eating Habits for Good Health
“Dietitians say the best eating habits for good health include eating vegetables first, drinking plenty of water in the morning, keeping a stash of healthy food on hand for emergencies and relaxing before a meal. Registered dietitian nutritionist Patricia Bannan says she often flips ingredients to make meals healthier, such as having a bowl of berries with a little ice cream instead of a bowl of ice cream with a few berries.” – Reader’s Digest (7/2018)
This quote is fairly self-explanatory, but let’s touch briefly on each point.
Eat your vegetables first. For one, the fiber in vegetables will start working to satiate you so that you are able to realize yourself becoming full before you over eat. For two, eating your vegetables first ensures that you will not get full from the other foods on your plate before making it to the vegetables (which are an absolute necessity!).
Drink plenty of water in the morning. Forget any scientific reasons why this may be important and focus on logic- what you do first thing in the morning helps set the tone for your entire day. If you drink a lot of water in the morning, you are more likely to continue doing so throughout the course of the day. Water intake is vital to weight loss in particular, but also to health in general.
Keep a stash of healthy food on hand for emergencies. I HAMMER THIS POINT TO ALL OF MY CLIENTS!!! If you get to a point where you are entirely too hungry to function, you are not in a mental state to make the most healthful food choices. Keeping nutritious snacks on hand (i.e., protein bars, almonds, etc.) for times when your appetite starts kicking in unexpectedly, or when there are no healthful options available, is crucial in preventing moments of #hangry.
Relax before a meal. Relaxing before a meal is beneficial for several reasons. We talk a lot about breaking the psychological attachment to food and focusing on viewing food as fuel. Relaxing before a meal is one way to do that as it prevents you from rushing into a meal stressed, thus using food as a futile attempt to resolve this stress. Relaxing before a meal may also help change the tempo of a meal, encouraging you to eat a slower pace. This allows your body to pick up on cues of satiety before you reach a point of overeating.
Flip ingredients. As important as it is to make wise food selections, it is just as important (if not more) to prepare fair portions of these foods. Instead of preparing a ginormous bowl of ice cream, go conservative on your portion of the ice cream itself before dressing it up with more nutrient-dense toppings such as fruit, crushed almonds, etc. This concept also applies to the portions we put on our dinner plate. Our plate should consist of ½ vegetables, ¼ protein, ¼ complex carb source. That’s right carb-lovers- our plates should not be covered in carbs with a dallop of protein and veggies on top. 😊 No need to omit any fave foods, just consume them in moderation!
