How to Improve Your Eating Habits and Manage Your Weight ~

You can improve your eating habits tremendously by making the right choices and doing  things just a bit differently. Healthy eating and an active live style can also reduce your risk of becoming overweight and obese which increases your risk for developing other chronic health conditions such as heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke and many forms of cancer.

Consider These Tips for Healthy Eating

• Consider Starting your Day with Breakfast ~ Breakfast fills up  your "empty tank" ~ also known as "breaking the fast".  Breakfast gets you going after a long night without food..  Eating breakfast will  give you better endurance, strength, and concentration throughout the day.
  
• Eat a Variety of Foods.  Please don't feel like you have to give up things that you really like and enjoy-such as hamburgers, french fries, hot dogs and ice cream.  Understand you just have to be smart about how much you eat of these and how often you eat them.  Your body needs nutrients such as fats, carbohydrates and proteins as well as vitamins and minerals.  You can get these nutrients from a variety of different foods but you must balance your food choices to stay on a healthy course.
• Whole Grains, Fruits and Vegetables (Must Haves!!) ~ These foods give you energy, they also give you vitamins, minerals and fiber and quess what? ~~ They taste good too..  Try foods like brown rice, or whole-wheat bread.   Strawberries, bananas, blueberries  and melons are fantastic tasting fruits.  These fruits and vegetables are amazing in salads or on a sandwich.  And remember they come in a variety of forms ~ fresh, cooked. frozen, canned, dried.  So, no excuses not to eat your veggies and fruits.
• Watch You Portion Control ~ A portion is the amount of food a person eats.  Portions and servings are different.  A serving is a specific amount of food,  and it is probably smaller than you may think. Check out these examples:
• A serving of meat is two to three ounces this is roughly the size of the palm of your hand, a deck of cards or an audiocassette tape.
• A serving of fresh fruit is one medium piece and that would be about the size of as baseball.
• A serving of cooked pasta, rice or cereal is 1/2 cup or half a baseball or a rounded handful.
• A serving of nuts is 1/3 cup, or a level handful.
• A serving of peanut butter is two tablespoons or abut half the sixe of a golf ball

Eating the right amount of food at each meal is just as important as eating the right foods.  Consider these other tips to improve your eating habits.

~  If you normally use or drink whole or 2% milk try using low fat or fat free milk.
~  Instead of drinking soda drink water or other calorie-free drinks.
~  If you tend to always have a second helping, try putting the food away after you serve instead of placing serving dishes on the table.
~  Instead of white bread and pasta- eat a variety of whole-grain foods like whole-wheat bread, low-fat popcorn and brown rice.
~  Pack sandwiches, yogurt and lowfat crackers instead of buying fast food on the road.
~  Instead of snacking on chips and junk food- keep graham crackers, peanut butter, low fat cheese and and crackers along with fresh fruits and veggies on hand for those 'snack attacks'.
~  Try grilling and roasting instead of frying.
~  And remember ` Don't Skip Breakfast'.



Remember the saying "Eat to Live ~ Don't Live to Eat" ~

To Your Continued Health and Success ~
Miss Julia

JuliaGrayOnLine.com