It is a known fact that eating a healthy meal is key to living a healthy life. Sooner or later, you will have to stop indulging in fatty foods because this will lead to heart complications, high blood pressure, and will eventually bog down your system.
Despite this, it’s difficult to stick to a healthy diet, especially when eating healthy may mean sacrificing the enjoyment of consuming mouth-watering food. Does eating right mean eating tasteless food? Not at all. You can lead a healthy lifestyle, and at the same time, enjoy your food! Having weekly healthy meal plans usually helps you ensure that what you’re eating is healthy, appetizing, and nourishing!
Really, it’s not that hard to create a tasty and healthy food. You don’t have to be an expert either! Below are several ideas you can think about when creating healthy meals.
Balance your Meals
Eating a well-balanced diet has always been the central idea when you’re trying to lead a healthy lifestyle. With this in mind, you should always take into consideration the nutritional content of the food you are preparing. A complete and balanced meal should comprise of a wide variety of food such as dairy, fruits, protein, grains, and of course vegetables.
Know your Portions
People have this misconception that when you are on a healthy diet, you should deprive yourself from indulging on your cravings. This is totally wrong! Simply because you have given up eating fatty foods doesn’t necessarily mean you should sacrifice eating what you usually love.
Healthy diets rely on the proportion of food you consume. When you crave for something that is not 100% healthy, instead of taking a whole portion, why not take a quarter or half of a portion? You can even make it more fun and exciting if you share it with a friend. This way, you are able to satisfy your craving but at the same time, stick to your healthy diet by lessening the amount of calorie intake.
To better control your calorie intake, make it a point to know your portion sizes. For instance, 3 ounces of meat is equivalent to the size of a deck of cards. Moreover, a matchbox is approximately the basis for an ounce of meat. Always remember to not consume meat in excess of 3 ounces. If you are serious about recording your food intake, go get yourself a kitchen weighing scale. Through this kitchen tool, you can accurately and precisely weigh out each portion to better count your calories.
Get in the Kitchen
There is nothing healthier than having to prepare your own food in the comforts of your own home! This way, you can take pleasure in the joys of cooking, and at the same time, you’ll be able to control the ingredients. You can eliminate or minimize the fatty preservatives.
So, there you have it. Eating healthy doesn’t have to be stressful. You just need to be creative, know what is right for you, and have the right attitude to stick to your goal!
By James Kim | James is a guest writer for foodonthetable.com. Food on the Table is a company that provides online budget meal planning services. Their goal is to help families eat better and save money.
At the stage in my life where most people are wiling to stop and look at their lifestyle, (foods and activitys) It may already be on the downward spiral. We do not have to get sick and fat and lazy.. However thoes lessons are best learned early in life. Past collage when all the pizza and beer days are mostly in the past, start then taking care of yourself. If you don’t – no one else is going to, it is a life time of poor choices that set you up for various middle age and mature age issues. You can teach your kids the best and when they are older they will go back to what is comfortable for them. Badgering a kid is not the way to teach, example is. Is it too late for you in your 50’s no, 60’s no, 70’s not really. By the time in your late 80’s … well it is – what it is. The meat of the matter is don’t wait, and don’t put it off. This part of life is like the others, one day at a time, one task at a time. You won’t run a marathon your first week, but you might run the stairs a little easier. You won’t suddenly give up every sweet or salty, but you might not add extra of either to your menu. Look at the choice you have and give something out of your usual a chance. It could be a very good thing.