7 Simple Ways to Eat Better Today

It’s so much easier than you think to eat healthier!

We are creatures of habit whether those habits are healthy or unhealthy. When you record your food in an effort to eat better, you’ll find that you basically eat the same things every week. These are the foods that are ingrained in our heads as “food.”

When you decide to eat healthier, the trick is to start slowly. No one can wake up one day with no training and then suddenly run a marathon! The same thing applies here. Make small changes gradually over time to improve your eating habits.

Here are 7 Simple Ways you can Eat Better Starting Today

1. Observe Yourself

For this first step, don’t try to change or do anything differently. Do nothing to eat healthier. All I want you to do is observe your habits. Just jot down everything you eat and drink in a day for a few days. You are getting a snapshot of where you are right now.

2. Kick The Cap’n to the Curb – One Small Change

Gradual changes are the way to go. Over the next few days, choose one meal or one dessert to improve.

Maybe you’ll try this: No cereal with a cartoon character on it! Have a banana and a hard-boiled egg instead. It takes the same amount of time to prepare (quicker if you hard-boil the eggs in advance) and the Cap’n won’t miss you for one meal. Promise.

Small changes will increase your confidence. So if you’re not a cereal eater, start by making one dessert healthier. I know it sounds crazy, but try frozen grapes for dessert for just one night. It might be more satisfying than you think! Or swap out the fries for some fresh veggies and dip. There’s a reason this comes up so often in nutrition talks – it’s because it works!

3. Eat Mindfully to Eat Healthier

Eat with all of your senses. Sit down and truly focus on the taste, textures and colours of the food. Put your food on a pretty plate (studies actually show people eat less when they do this!). Only do one thing while eating: est. Don’t eat in your car or while mindlessly browsing Facebook. When you pay close attention to your food while you eat, your brain will get more satisfaction and will be quicker to recognize that you have eaten.

This might be tough at first – we’re all about multi-tasking and distractions these days. But if you can stick to it, your mind and body will thank you in the end.

4. Watch Your Portions

Have you noticed that portion sizes have gone crazy in the last few decades? Bagels have gotten enormous! Look at how serving sizes have grown and just for one day, stick to exactly one serving size. If you love ice cream, buy one individual serving size.
Put yourself in a situation where it would be a huge effort to get a second serving; most of us won’t drive to the store just for a second serving. But if you do, use the time in the car to remind yourself of your goal and ask if this purchase will help or hurt your potential to reach them.

5. See the True Colors

This is one of the best ways to eat healthier! And it’s EASY.

Taste the rainbow… and I’m not talking about a bag of Skittles or M&M’s! Mother Nature has provided all the colors of the rainbow and we should take full advantage. Each colour gives a different phytonutrient. Make it a little game to try to get at least two different colors on your plates each meal.

A banana, strawberry, and blueberry smoothie claims three colors and that’s just breakfast. Get creative.

6. Only Eat When You’re Hungry

When you decide to eat, honestly ask yourself if you’re hungry. If the answer is no, ask yourself why you want to eat. Are you bored, frustrated, stressed, or sad? Find other outlets for emotions besides food. Go to a kickboxing class instead to relieve stress. Feed hunger, not emotions.

7. Mind the Liquids

Drink. More. Water.

Don’t drink your calories – unless it’s a healthy protein shake or a fruit smoothie which counts as a meal. If you’re into soda, try to reduce your intake by one a day, or see if you can’t swap it out for flavoured carbonated water. And try to limit alcohol as much as possible.

A grande latte from Starbucks is 190 calories and it has barely any nutritional value in it – and perhaps even worse, your mind won’t think of it as food. Jamba Juice’s large Aloha Pineapple Smoothie is 520 calories (that’s more than the average healthy meal) and people think of it as a drink. Don’t fall into this trap!

Get Started…

Start by implementing one small step at a time and before you know it, you won’t recognize your own healthy diet. What you know doesn’t make a difference. It’s what you do that counts. So make go ahead and actually get started.