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Guidelines for Better Eating |
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Components of Advanced Nutrition |
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Nutrition Glossary |
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We all have particular eating habits inherited from our childhood. If you grew up in a household emphasizing fresh vegetables, balanced portions and limited junk food, consider yourself fortunate! For others, often another reality was true. Perhaps poverty limited food variety or freshness; or working parents meant meals were prepared for ease and speed rather than nutritional value. Whatever our learned routine, we tend to continue unmindfully on our eating path and changing such ingrained habits can be challenging.
Fortunately we can teach ourselves new tricks! Reprogramming our eating habits calls for some uncomfortable discipline at first, yet once on the road to better nutrition the rewards quickly appear and spur us on! Improved health is an amazing motivator.
When setting out to alter your gastronomic lifestyle, keep the following in mind:
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Consume appropriate amount of calories |
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Living in America, most people learn a distorted idea of how much food we actually need to sustain good health. Instead of the "Land of Plenty," the moniker should be the "Land of Way Too Much"! Most of us had parents or grandparents who lived through very lean times earlier in the century and therefore, when boon times came, tended to overcompensate for this, especially when it came to food. The perception that more is better is now pervasive throughout society. However, this is simply not true when it comes to proper nutrition. We only need enough to get our nutrients and fill us full of energy, and the more you learn about the nutritional content of your diet, the more you will see that this can be accomplished with less quantity and more quality than that of the current average diet.
It all depends on your individual requirements. If you live an active lifestyle, you obviously need more fuel than someone with a sedentary one. Likewise, men and women have different caloric requirements, as do people of different ages. Check your caloric requirements with our calorie counter in our nutrition toolbox.
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Spread your calories throughout the day |
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Many make the mistake of thinking they will shrink their waistline by skipping meals or perhaps a hectic lifestyle prevents consistent mealtimes. Not a good idea! You will need those calories regardless and inevitably skipping a meal means gorging at the next. By distributing your intake of calories throughout the day, you can get a steady energy supply to keep you going evenly and moderately.
Here are some additional tips:
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Lower consumption of saturated fat and hydrogenated fat |
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Increase consumption of complex, unrefined carbohydrates |
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Increase use of foods fortified with vitamins and minerals |
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Drink more hydrating fluids |
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