Whenever we think of a HEALTHY diet, we inevitably think that we need to cut off all the sweet, sugary food in our diet. This is somewhat true to a certain extent but if we prevent ourselves from eating any of these treats, repercussions may occur in the future. The first step to a healthier lifestyle is to have a healthy diet that consists of:
  • Lots of fresh fruits
  • Lots of fresh vegetables
  •  Lots of fibre
  • Limited sodium intake
  • Limited sweet and sugary food
Limiting sweet, sugary food high in calories does not mean not eating it totally. If you do not have a craving for these food then its fine but reality is most of us would want to sink our teeth into some of these yummy goodness once in a while. This is totally fine :) the only think we need to do is PORTION CONTROL! We can allocate a certain day of the week whereby we allow ourselves to snack on these sweet goodies in controlled amounts. This day could be called a “rest day”. Even on these “rest days” we should aim for snacks and treats that have reduced- sugar and are low in fat. Also, whenever we eat these treats and are craving for more, we should ask ourselves if we really needed to eat another portion. Remember, the more we eat sugary food stuff, the more we crave for it and the less we consume these sweet treats, the more our body would not crave for it. We can then slowly wean ourselves off these sugary food from once a week to once a month or even longer. Another tip to a healthy diet and lifestyle is that whenever we feel like consuming unhealthy food, we can opt for other activities such as exercising or doing something that we like.  This keeps our mind off food. If your mouth is really feeling “itchy” and needs to bite onto something, reach for a fruit such as a banana that is able to satisfy your cravings for sugar. Sometimes when we feel like eating something, we are actually not hungry. Rather, we are just thirsty. The next time you feel like eating, try drinking a glass of water and wait for 10 minutes. If after 10 minutes you still feel the urge to eat, go for a healthy snack ;) Hunger can also be induced by our own mind. If psychologically we think that we are hungry and need to eat something sweet, most of the time our hands would reach for that bar of chocolate or the bag of candy. Whenever you feel the urge to eat, ask yourselves if you are really hungry (especially if you have just eaten not long ago). We should train our bodies to eat at fixed timings so that we do not disturb the production of digestive juices. We can achieve this by eating at the same time everyday so that our bodies would adapt to our eating timings. To optimize the production of gastric juices for quick digestion, we can eat 5 small meals a day instead of 3 large meals. Our bodies can be “programmed” according to our eating habits. If we choose to eat healthily, our bodies would not only feel better, we would also feel happier and less moody :) Healthy eating is a choice we make and even though some of us may feel that it is something very hard to be achieved, it is actually not. Take small steps towards having a healthy lifestyle and one day you would be able to achieve this goal ;)