- Watching your waistline? You're not alone. Experts seem to be in agreement that 4 grams of fat per serving of any food or beverage is a healthy guideline. While you may not be able to follow this when at your friends' home for dinner, or attending a banquet, it is certainly do-able at home, where most of us eat the majority of our meals.
- The flip side of the above idea is to work at eating more meals at home, or from home. Leftovers placed in a Bento box will give you size guidelines for servings, keeping your lunches at work more in proportion with the waist size you're trying to maintain.
- Remember that healthy eating is not all about your weight. Balancing your food sources also balances your nutrition, resulting in a healthier you. Keep the scale tipped toward fruits and vegetables and you will most certainly come out ahead.
- Limit meat servings to the size of your palm. This helps you save room for the really healthy parts of your meal, where most of the vitamins reside--veggies and fruits.
- Because meats carry the signature of all that they have eaten, choose organic meats whenever possible. Avoiding the pesticides, herbicides, hormones and antibiotics given to animals raised traditionally in CAFOs will help you live a longer, healthier life.
- If you're a vegetarian or vegan, watch your protein and iron intake carefully to assure you are getting your dietary needs. Supplement if needed, to get what your body needs to thrive.
- Don't forget fiber. If fruits, vegetables, and whole grains are not your thing, use a product such as Benefiber to add fiber to foods you do enjoy. It stirs into soups, stews, yogurt, pudding, beverages, home-baked items; you get the idea. Shoot for 35+ grams per day and you'll be loving life and living healthier. Fiber is akin to the broom that sweeps your insides, as it pushes through your digestive system, carrying with it toxins and other no-nos that need to be eliminated.
- If you are willing and able to enjoy dairy products, choose organic. Dairy products that are produced traditionally have been found to contain high levels of hormones and antibiotics. Too much exposure to antibiotics is causing continuing mutations of bacteria, making it tougher to fight infection. Also of great importance, hormone additives, which are given to dairy cattle to increase milk production, are believed to be at the root of the earlier puberty in our youngsters. The health problems associated with this problem are just beginning to become evident, yet you can avoid this problem and help your children develop normally.
- Vary the colors of your fruits and vegetables, shooting for every color of the rainbow throughout your week will ensure that you are getting the full spectrum of vitamins, so important to your vitality. Focusing on the red, yellow and orange produce will provide your body with more antioxidants, the cancer preventing super-stars. It is also important to include plenty of cruciferous veggies in your diet: broccoli, cauliflour, brussel sprouts, kale, Bok choy and cabbage.
- Finally, wishing you did not have to give up that decadent dessert? Here's my tip and the healthiest technique my husband and I enjoy together. We share meals quite often when we go out to eat. Restaurant portions and fat content of those meals have grown in proportion to Americans waistlines. If you'd like to avoid this fate, you can easily cut your calories in half by choosing a meal together and sharing it. Surprisingly, we have found that this strategy empowers us to enjoy whatever food we are in the mood for, without the guilt of eating the entire meal. Doggie bags are so yesterday!
If your continued good health is a primary concern to you, you may want to check out Organic Journey Online, where I focus on eating healthier and adding organics to your diet. In addition to helping you get motivated to make the change, OJO helps you with cost-saving ideas, product and brand choices, recipes, nutrition and techniques for pulling it all together.
Following are a few posts at Organic Journey Online that you may find enlightening:
Why Eat Organic and Strive to Live Green:
Getting Started: Day One
Ready to Make the Switch to Organics? What's First?
Coming up at OJO, you'll find a series of brand name and product lists to help you with all the decision making that often scares new "converts" away. I'm sharing some of my family's favorites in every category of foods, in the hopes of helping you get through the market without losing your nerve. Join me!
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