Generally, we eat what tastes good to us. That’s why most diets don’t work. If we could eat foods that taste good, but also are good for us, then we would have no problems losing or maintaining our weight. This article will detail ways to gradually integrate great tasting healthy foods into our diet in three simple steps without dieting. If you start to choose healthier, cook healthier and snack healthier you will reach your goal much sooner than trying to follow someone else’s diet.
The first step is identifying a list of healthy foods that you enjoy eating. Some of my favorites are strawberries, apples, various nuts and greens. Plan out your normal menu for the week of what you would normally eat. Once a day, decide to do a food substitution that will incorporate one of the items that you enjoy from your healthy foods list.
By using your own healthy foods list, you are not eating what someone else says you should eat, you are eating something what specifically tastes good to you. Eating foods that you like will make it easier to keep them as a permanent part of your diet. This will make it easier for these changes to become a lifestyle change and not a “diet”.
My normal weekly menu consists of fried meats, a starch and some type of vegetable on the side. Instead of the fried chicken I would normally eat, I substituted in toasted almonds and cashews with a little cajun seasoning sprinkled on top. You could take it a step further and sauté the vegetables with the nuts to ramp the meal up a level.
The second step is substituting with other items while cooking to reduce fat intake. Depending on the recipe, applesauce can sometimes be used for butter. Also, many baked items can do without the egg yolks. Low calorie sweeteners can also be used in place of sugar to reduce your daily intake. More increasingly, you can find the website of the product on the actual box and refer to the company for various lower calorie ways to use their mixes.
The third step is to carry along two healthy snacks from our healthy foods list to get us through the day. You need to take two different snacks so that you have two options. If you take one and just “don’t have the taste for it” then you will ditch it and purchase a candy bar. If you carry two snacks, you will probably be interested in one of them at least.
Make sure to make a chart of your food integrations and substitutions and get rid of any that don’t end up tasting good. Eating healthy only becomes a chore when you are forced to do it or when you are doing it by someone else’s rules. Choose healthier, cook healthier and snack healthier. Eat by your own rules and become a healthier happier you!!