I was thinking recently about what it means to eat right. Looking at an icon that died recently from colon cancer (Chadwick Boseman), I thought to myself, cancer has become a real scourge to the world, and one of the major causes is related to what we eat. This thought led me to think about if I was really putting the right stuff in my body.
You see, most of what we eat, which we most times seem not to track, goes beyond just causing terminal health issues like cancer, diabetes, etc, in the long run; its also linked to mood swings, digestive problems, how we look outwardly, aging and so on.
So I did some research about ‘everything eating’, and I will share with you some of the secrets I discovered. Read on to discover healthy eating habits you should know for a much healthier approach to life.
What Constitutes a Healthy Eating Habit?
So what really makes a healthy eating habit. I pondered this question a lot. If I am to start eating right, what should I be focusing on?
It turns out that there are three major things we should be on our toes for when it comes to eating, and they are your food choices, hydration, and portion control.
Food Choices
It is said that “we are what we eat”, meaning whatever food we choose to put into our body will inevitably make up our body. And that is why choosing the right foods to eat is very important; that is, limiting or avoiding food that will compromise our body system in any way.
I decided to categorize the different foods available to us into junk food and healthy food; junk food being what is bad for our body and healthy food being what’s good. And I’m going to say more about these in a bit.
Hydration
Hydration here talks about our water intake. Water makes up 60% of the human body and is termed the most essential nutrient in the body. It is important to check in on the amount of water in our system because water aids in digestion, detoxifies our systems, hydrates skin, and does other cool stuff that’s necessary for living.
We basically need to take 2/3 ounces of water of our body weight (in pounds) daily. And I’m going to say more about that later. You can check how much water you need to consume daily based on your weight here.
Portion Control
Portion control is a very key element in eating right. If we abuse the amount of food we eat just because it’s the right type of food or a healthy choice, it’s also a bad habit. Overeating can cause obesity which already is a huge problem in most societies. Globally, obesity is one of the leading causes of death. It causes more than 2.8 million deaths each year. So we have to work on eating the right amount of food daily so as not to go overboard.
To do that, we would have to start keeping an eye on the number of calories we take in daily. There might be variations to this depending on the body size of the person, but generally,
“It is said that the recommended daily calorie intake is 2,000 calories a day for women and 2,500 for men.”
Now I’m not saying you should go all calories crazy or anything but, just keep an eye on the amount you eat in relation to the number of calories you need to consume in a day.
Again yours might not be about maintaining your weight, depending on your BMI, Body Mass Index, which is used to measure whether your overweight or otherwise, you might need to start eating less or more to lose or put on weight. To know more about that your BMI, take a look at this BMI calculator.
Now let’s get into something much more serious. I just talked about the three factors to watch out for when trying to watch our eating habits and why but then, what exactly does a good meal consist of?
What a Good Meal Should Consist Of?
When I was younger, I remember how they emphasize the idea of having a balanced diet in school. It was termed a ‘healthy meal’. For those who don’t know, a balanced diet is a meal that consists of the 6 essential nutrients our body needs: carbohydrate, protein, fats, water, vitamin, and minerals in their right proportions. The last two though are only required in small quantities.
The funny thing about this balanced diet is that I really didn’t believe it at that time when I heard it in school. But when I really thought about it, it was what was already common in society as family meals. Picture rice and stew with maybe fish, that already is a balanced meal. Rice serves as carbohydrate and fish as protein. The stew covers the fats, minerals, and vitamins because of the ingredients used in preparing it, oil, maggi, spices, salt, etc.
So most homemade meals are really healthy balanced meals, but in other settings, perhaps when we are on the road, we are faced with so many meals that are not balanced and are just there to, you know, fill us up, not really giving us what our body really needs to thrive on.
This leads me to my two broad categories of food: Junk food and Healthy food. Junk foods are meals that do not really meet up with nutrients requirements for our body and are most times dangerous to us because of our health from how they are prepared and processed.
Healthy food, on the other hand, meets up with the required nutrients, not too dense in calories, and is prepared properly. I am going to talk about each in detail later on.
What is Considered Junk Food?
So we’ve all heard or at least read about foods being junk and all, but here is the definition. Junk foods are defined as processed foods with negligible nutrient value and are often high in salt, sugar, and fat. They are usually very dense in calories and are by nature made to look as enticing and mouth-watering as possible. Tell me about it.
Just imagine a fat burger with cheese oozing from it and potato fries with fried chicken topped with a sweating bottle of coke, my mind screams SIGN ME UP ALREADY!!! But that’s exactly what it’s designed for. We find out that we consume more calories than we actually need and it most times has questionable processed ingredients in it and not as many nutrients.
I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news, but frequent consumption of junk food increases the intake of excess fat, simple carbohydrates, and processed sugar which may lead to a higher risk of obesity and cardiovascular diseases among other chronic health problems. While it’s not so bad to eat these once in a while as a treat, it shouldn’t be something we consume daily.
Healthy Meals to Eat
I’d say home meals are the best. Like I mentioned earlier, a healthy meal should compromise of all the essential nutrients in their right proportion. One thing that works for most people is having a food roster where you’ve already chosen meals that you’ve identified as balanced meals.
Then, as usual, lunchtime is when you are tempted to eating something.
Bad Eating Habits to Let Go Of
As you’ve been reading, you’ve probably seen a few bread crumbs in between the lines about this and ideas on cutting bad habits, but I’m gonna cut to the chase and list them all out already. Ready? Let’s go.
Too Many Meals Away From Home
Eating out is almost never as good as eating your own meals at home. Restaurants and take-out will always mean super-sized portions, along with more calories and sodium.
Solution: Put in the effort to prepare heavy time-consuming meals during the weekends, so you can keep them in the refrigerator, setting up your lunch before going out is a great idea. Check out these healthy lunch recipes.
Forgetting to Drink
Like I said before, hydration is very, very, very important. It happens to me a lot and I can credit my mom for that; especially if the meal is kind of watery, like maybe cereal. Drinking water helps digestion, makes you feel full faster, and is essential for the other workings of your body system.
Solution: Well, always have a glass of water close by whenever you are eating and take in water first before you start your meal. That at least helps to register in your mind a gap you need to fill up, if not during, at the end of the meal, and ultimately helps digestion.
Eating in Front of a Screen
One of my favorite things to do is eating while watching a movie. It gives me this happy feeling but honestly, that is not ideal. It can cause mindless eating as we eat not minding how much, just to cover the duration of the movie or show.
Solution: There are two options. Have a set amount of allowable low-calorie healthy snack to go with, or quit watching while eating. Finish your meal before you begin.
Skipping Meals
Never skip breakfast. It’s just wrong. For one thing, it could reduce your performance during the day and for another, it’s going to make you overeat during lunch.
Solution: Eat before going out.
Giant Portion Sizes
It’s very easy to overload your plate when it’s your favorite meal (even a healthy one), but it’s never a good one. You’d just be preparing the way for obesity to come into your life.
Solution: Take it easy and stick to a regular smaller plate. Smaller portions scattered round the day is better than a large meal.
Eating Junk Food for Lunch Because You Didn’t Plan
That’s the thing, you hardly have great choices when you go out there. And these junks can be so tempting, you end up eating less nutritious high-calorie food cause you didn’t think ahead.
Solution: Prepare your own lunch packs and live it up with an amazing fruit shake. There are so many healthy lunch ideas you can implement.
Eating Too Fast
Eating very fast is a bad habit that has been strongly linked to being overweight. That’s because we don’t give our brain time to catch up. The brain doesn’t signal that you’re full until about 15 to 20 minutes after you’ve started eating. If you gulp down your meal in 10 minutes or less, you could end up eating way more than you need.
Solution: learn to keep down your fork or spoon after each bite. If you are holding the food like say a burger, keep it down after every bite. That way you chew properly, swallow and maybe even remember to drink some water before taking the next bite.
Emotional Eating
We have good days and bad days, and depending on which it is, we sometimes use food as a way to celebrate or lick our wounds. For the latter, the idea is that maybe eating something good or sweet can maybe switch off the bad in your life temporarily. While this may be true, we all know that we tend to overdo it and eat more than we ought to — talk about binge eating. And it all leads to putting on some extra pounds that we didn’t bargain for.
Solution: Try to find another stress-relieving activity. Take a walk, call a friend, do anything as long as it keeps you out of the kitchen long enough.
Great Eating Habits to Adopt
While I have already said a lot on the subject of habits. I would still like to mention and list out a few habits to keep in mind, this time in the positive spectrum.
1. Drink plenty of water or other calorie-free beverages
Keep a water bottle by your side so it’s easy to implement.
2. Enjoy your favorite foods
Learn to enjoy your food but always do it in moderation. Best you have a small-sized bowl for your meals.
3. Eat several mini-meals during the day
This goes with the last tip. It is better to eat small-sized meals 4 or 5 times a day than large servings at once.
4. Eat protein at every meal
It helps to make you feel full longer, so it a great tip to incorporate protein in your meals. Improvise with meals like healthy seafood, lean meat, egg whites, yogurt, cheese, soy, nuts, or beans into your meals and snacks.
5. Be careful about nighttime snacks
Don’t fall for the tempting offer of snacking carelessly after evening meals. If you must, choose low-calorie snacks, and low-fat drinks and ice cream.
6. Weigh yourself once a week
It’s always good to know what’s up with your body and whether you’re doing the right things. By this, you get to know whether you need to try adding or losing weight programs.
7. Always eat breakfast
We’ve talked about this already. Missing morning meals can really mess up your day, slow your metabolism leaving your performance in the dust, as well as making you overeat later on. If you really have to go, plan ahead and prepare something to take with you.
8. Clean your fridge of fattening foods
Take away the temptation. Food items and snacks that are rich in fat and are perhaps very enticing to eat should be kept away from cupboards and refrigerators.
9. Get enough sleep
Studies show that sleep deprivation is linked to being overweight. The science says that when you’re sleep-deprived, your body overproduces the appetite-stimulating hormone ghrelin but under-produces the hormone leptin, which tells you when you’re full. So start getting enough sleep! Learn to sleep and wake up the same times every day to help form a habit.
10. Eat more fruits and vegetables
Learn to eat vegetables and fruits as they are rich in fiber, vitamins, and water. They also fill up the stomach fast and are very nutritious. The best way to implement this habit is to eat fruit alongside every meal (make smoothies for lunch). Let that be your dessert.
So that’s that for habits. I really hope you implement these ideas I have shared with you. Your health is in your hands and, like they say, good health is wealth.
If you have great eating habits that you would love to share or perhaps a bad habit you’re trying to get rid of, please share in the comment section below.
Originally posted on cozzythoughts.com
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