Everybody wants to eat healthy these days. Many people are starting to realize that the fad diets that were so popular not so long ago just don’t work. To lose weight or just stay healthy, you have to change the way you eat – for good. You have to change the way you look at food. You have to change the role that food plays in your life. Stop using food as entertainment and anti-depressants and start using it for what it’s there for – fueling your body. With so much information out there about what we should and should not be eating, it’s hard to know what’s actually good for us.
Cook your own food and eat at home. It seems like common sense. The food you make at home is bound to be healthier than fast food – depending on how you cook. If you shop wisely, it’s cheaper than eating out. You get to spend time with your family and get everybody in on helping you make dinner. It can really be a fun time and kids really like to help. The trick to cooking at home is planning. It’s so much easier to plan out meals in advance than it is to come up with the night’s dinner on the fly. You’re much more likely to run for fast food if you don’t know what to cook. Eat less meat. You don’t have to completely cut out those steaks you love to grill out in the summer, just cut back. American’s are obsessed with meat. Each American eats the equivalent of three quarter pounders a day. If everybody in America cut that back to the equivalent of one hamburger a day, it would be like taking half a million cars off the road. Livestock accounts for 18 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. When you do eat meat, look for animals that are raised on local farms and fed natural diets. Eat real food. If your great grandparents wouldn’t automatically recognize it as food, chances are that it’s more manufactured product than it is food. Who really wants to eat something that can’t even be classified as actual food? Read the labels of the foods that you buy. If the list of ingredients could be turned into a novel, chances are it’s been completely over processed. Look for labels with a short, reasonable ingredient list. A good way to eat more real food is to only shop along the outside of your supermarket. The fresh produce, breads, meat, and dairy are all kept on the outside of the store. The majority of the processed foods are kept in the isles in the middle of the store. If you limit the foods that you buy from these isles you’ll know you’re getting good foods. Buy local foods. Enough can’t be said about shopping for locally grown foods. You just can’t go wrong when buying from local farmers. The food is fresh, it hasn’t been transported across the country in some fuel-guzzling semi, you know exactly where it was grown, and you’re helping local farmers make a living which keeps the good healthy food coming. Any chance you get you should stop buy your local farmers market and get some veggies to have with your dinner.
Start your own garden. This one goes along with buying local foods. It doesn’t get more local than your own backyard. There are tons of benefits of growing your own veggies. You know what went into growing your food, you know exactly where it was during its entire lifetime, you get to spend time outdoors, it’s a very relaxing hobby and you get the satisfaction of knowing those tomatoes you’re cooking for dinner came right out of your backyard.