4 Tips For Eating Healthy Every Day

Healthy eating means balancing the food you eat to keep your body in great health.  When you eat healthy foods that are fresh and contain the nutrition you need, you'll have energy all day, get the vitamins and minerals you need, stay strong for activities you enjoy, and maintain a healthy weight.

Here are 4 great tips for eating healthy on a daily basis:

1.  Don't skip meals
Eating 3 meals with light but nutritious snacks in between is the ideal way to maintain both energy and a healthy weight. When you skip meals and get hungry, you're more likely to choose foods that aren't very good for you.

If you are eating away from home, take food with you or know where you can buy healthy food from when on the go.

Healthy eating pyramid similar to that of the Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)2.  Learn about how to prepare healthy foods
Instead of deep frying, try grilling, stir frying, microwaving, baking, and even boiling.  You should also try fresh or dried herbs and spices to add flavor to your food. Check this blog on a regular basis for tasty from-scratch recipes that won't make you feel deprived!

3.  Avoid sugar (and artificial sweeteners)
Drinks and foods that contain a lot of sugar are a major source of empty calories.  What this means, is that these foods and beverages contain a lot of calories that your body may not need, and don't contain many (or any) vitamins or minerals.  However, if you absolutely must drink soda pop, stick with the regular variety - diet sodas contain a lot of chemicals that taste sweet, but which actually have been shown to INCREASE your appetite, and make you want to eat more, and they also are completely empty of any nutrition. So stick with regular, and try to cut down to once a week or save it for special occasions.

4.  Avoid fad diets
There are no good food nor any bad foods.  Just about any (real) food can be a part of a healthy diet, when eaten in moderation.  You don't need to buy low-carb, fat-free, or even diet foods, as these foods normally are highly processed, and have lots of other added ingredients (none of which are good for you) to replace the carbohydrates or fat. You're better off to choose plenty of whole, fresh, unprocessed foods, and make it a habit to eat a nice balance of these, and avoid processed foods with artificial ingredients as much as possible.

Not big on cooking, or don't know much about preparing your own healthy foods at home?  Check out http://www.newholisticliving.com/cookingfromscratch.html for some helpful tips and resources.