Three simple steps to eating healthier

Posted on May 20, 2010 by LJ Earnest
Categories: Simplification

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This is a guest post by Trish Smith, Owner of Simple Meal Plan. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

The variety of diets available to the average person these days is pretty mind-boggling. You can choose from low-fat, low-carb, high protein, dairy-free, raw, vegetarian, vegan, Atkins, South Beach, and more. Of course, there are those who must eat a restrictive diet for one reason or another: They suffer from Celiac’s disease, are diabetic, are lactose intolerant, and more.

But for those of us who can choose to eat pretty much anything we want, how do we go about choosing a healthy diet? There’s a simpler, quicker, easier alternative to all those diets, and it can be summed up in one sentence (doesn’t get much easier than that!):

Eat more fruits and vegetables.

The reasoning behind this is simple: virtually all pre-packaged, convenience, and fast foods contain preservatives, artificial colors, sweeteners (natural AND artificial), added fat, added sodium, and more. Even those packaged foods that don’t contain all that stuff usually do not have the same health benefit of their natural counterpart; for example, fruit juices, while they may be 100% natural, do not contain the same amount of fiber as an actual piece of fruit.

So how do you begin on this simple diet? There are three simple steps:

Choose your goal. Do you want to lose weight? Stay at your current weight? Reduce the amount of sugar, sodium, or artificial substances you eat every day? Of course, if you have significant weight that you need to lose or have additional health issues (such as diabetes or high blood pressure), you’ll want to check with your doctor before making significant dietary changes. But figuring out what your goal is will help you determine the most effective places to cut out prepackaged food, and think about what foods you might want to replace them with.

Keep a food log. For one week, keep a diary of everything you eat. Carry a small notebook everywhere you go, and write down every meal, every snack, and every bite. This will help with the next step.

Replace with fresh. The last step is to look at places where you can replace packaged, fast, or convenience food in your diet with fresh foods. Do you usually grab a granola bar for breakfast? Tomorrow morning, try eating a bowl of granola or oatmeal, topped with fresh fruit. Usually grab a fast food taco for dinner? Try getting the ingredients to make a homemade Mexican meal – with the right recipe and a little strategic grocery shopping, it won’t take much longer, and the results will be worth it. You’ll be consuming less fat, sodium, preservatives, sugar, and other less-than-healthy stuff, and the food will taste a lot better, too.

Have you tried eating more fresh food and less pre-packaged food? We’d love to hear about it in the comments!

Trish Smith brings you information each week that can help you make better food choices – from how to find locally-produced food, to how to prepare that food in a way that’s easy, simple, tasty, and healthy.

Photo by Nick Saltmarsh

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