You can make changes to your diet – one step at a time- and still enjoy a delicious variety of nutritious foods. This post will help suggest options to help make some of those changes.
Once again, start with your food diary (having logged everything you consumed for a week), and then review what you’ve eaten and target things you should avoid. Reference the list of items to avoid here – there are so many delicious and healthy options – you won’t go hungry!
Packaged/processed foods
- -Fresh healthy options are always your best bet; here are a few examples:
-Baked, grilled, broiled or roasted chicken or fish
-Grilled or seared lean meats (grass-fed beef, bison, chicken)
-Steamed, grilled or roasted veggies
-Salad mix with or without pieces of grilled or pan-seared chicken or fish
-Fresh made pizza (want the recipe?)
-Turkey or low-fat ham and cheese sandwiches (want the recipe for healthy homemade bread?)
-There are many sites dedicated to healthy meal options – use this list as a springboard for thinking about healthy options in the style of a traditional meal (meat, veggie, bread, salad). There are more options than steak and potatoes or burgers and fries.
-None of the options above take much time to prepare (except for pizza) and many of the ingredients can be pre-staged to accommodate a quick meal and a busy lifestyle - Alcoholic beverages
-Be very careful with these, the calories add up so fast, and there are many detrimental effects of alcohol abuse. Some studies indicate that moderate consumption may have some beneficial effects; do the research, but don’t start drinking to try to improve your health!
-Fruit juices, seltzer water mixes, the rare sugar sweetened soda, sparkling fruit juices
see the options previously listed for soda - Bacon, sausage, cured meats
-These are not good for your health, try to avoid these altogether.
There are no good healthy meat based substitutes for these, but here are some recommendation is you feel you must consume this type of meat product.
-Look for organically raised uncured bacon or organically raised uncured turkey bacon
-Look for uncured sausage made with organically raised meats
-Avoid these or keep them to a minimum to avoid excessive fat consumption and the detrimental effects of fried foods - Sauces, dressings, and toppings
-Look for lighter dressings and sauces made with healthy oils, and vinaigrettes
-Watch for low-fat sauces, but beware of added sweeteners or chemical thickeners - Candy
-Fresh fruit
-Try a small amount of dark chocolate, you get an antioxidant boost as a bonus
-Dried fruit (a small amount – ounce for ounce more calories than fresh fruit)
-Candy should be avoided because of the high sugar content which quickly raises blood sugar levels, potentially damaging to tissues and results in the unused sugar being stored as fat
-Save sweets for a rare treat or special occasions (and even then – only having a small piece) you will save yourself loads of calories and protect yourself from blood sugar/insulin spikes and peaks
These suggestions are a starting point to get you thinking about the many healthy and delicious foods that can be a part of your diet, and to help you replace some of the things you need to avoid. There are many web resources available for healthy quick recipes.
Want to know more about anything mentioned in this post? Let me know – leave a comment.