Tips on healthy eating habits

Eating right is important for keeping a healthy weight and keeping an energy balance—the balance between the calories in what you eat, drink, and calories you burn when moving.

We all realize that we have to eat to live, but too little of the right kinds of food can lead to poor health.

Here are some tips to help develop more healthy eating habits

Schedule three meals a day into your routine. It’s important to be nourished adequately throughout the day to prevent fatigue and to perform at an optimal level.

Eat a healthy breakfast. Include grains and fruits. Try a high-fibre cereal with low fat milk and sliced bananasa.

Eating small frequent meals can be less taxing on your digestive system.

Snack between meals to curb your appetite and provide a little energy. Try a piece of fruit or a few crackers with peanut butter.

Do not let yourself become so hungry as to overeat at mealtime. Overeating burdens your digestive system.

Drinking water or having a small bowl of soup before meals may keep you from overeating at your meal.

Eat slowly and chew your food thoroughly to aid in your digestion. Take time to savor your food.

Obtain protein from a less complicated source, such as nuts, legumes, grains and sprouts.

Choose low fat dairy products, lean white meats or wild fish if animal products are desired.Combine vegetables and grains with a small amount of protein for a synergistic effect.

Choose a variety of whole grain products to include millet, barley and buckwheat.Choose a variety of fruits and vegetables that are deep in color, such as the dark orange of a carrot or the deep green of spinach. They contain more nutrients.

Choose organic products to eliminate chemical exposure. Chemicals are harmful to overall health.Avoid processed food as it contains ingredients that have been changed from their natural state. These unnatural foods are difficult for your body to assimilate.

Choose sea salt as it is equivalent in nature to the salt within your body. It is very cleansing. Refined salt causes fluid retention and increased blood pressure.

Eliminate sugar or choose an unrefined sugar, such as turbinado or honey.

Drink plenty of clean water to aid in flushing toxins and the waste products of natural cell metabolism.

Eat less in the evening if you are no longer exercising throughout the remainder of the day.

Try to eat more vegetables than meat. Animal fats add more unhealthy (LDL) cholesterol to your body than your liver may be able to metabolize correctly.