4. Shopping for healthy eating. Firstly, check with your local shopping supermarket on what day they have vegetables and fruit delivered. This way you can purchase your perishables when they are at their best. I prefer a greengrocer as they tend to select their own produce at markets. Also if a farmers market is in the vicinity where you reside buy from them as the produce comes fresh from their fruit orchard, market garden or vineyard. Organic produce is the best for healthy eating.
Select produce that is in season. Imported and cold storage produce lose much of their goodness over time. More information on why this can be an un-healthy eating habit will be explained in healthy eating tip #9.
Avoid shopping close to meal times as you are more likely to add un-healthy snacks. More often than not, a packet of candy, chocolate or a take away meal will replace your healthy eating plan. A definite recipe for weight gain due to un-healthy eating.
If you are on a budget, review the items on special at home and plan your healthy meals around them. Make a habit of writing a shopping list based on healthy eating meal recipes and snacks required for a week. My family searches through our selection of healthy eating recipe books and clippings to decide what healthy, tasty snacks and meals we would most enjoy eating, as well as to bake and cook. My children are encouraged to vary the healthy eating recipes they choose from week to week.
5. Making the right choice for healthy eating.
Unrefined carbohydrates and fibre should be at the centre of your healthy eating plan . The following foods should make up the bulk of our diet:
Beans, lentils, wholegrain bread and cereals, and also potato (the added toppings and butter are un-healthy eating habits)
Foods that are rich in protein, such as meat and fish, can be added in small amounts. A good healthy eating serve of meat should not be larger than the size of the palm of your hand.
We also need vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals for healthy eating which are found in fresh fruit and vegetables. Research shows that the mineral contents of fruit and vegetables is considerably less than 5 decades ago. It has dropped a massive 65%. The maximum amount of minerals that can be found in food is 22 minerals - but we need 60 to maintain basic health.
Nuts, seeds, oily fish and olive oil provide a healthy eating recipe for essential fatty acids.
Eating yoghurt, preferably home-made, helps maintain a healthy gut. Other foods that have a beneficial effect on the intestine are fermented foods. Healthy eating foods include cheese, curd, fish sauce, pickled vegetables, cider, beer and wine.
Replace sugar with stevia for healthy eating. This comes in tablet form or powder and is 300 times more sweeter than sugar. Only small amounts are necessary when baking your tasty healthy cakes, biscuits and slices. Stevia can be found in health food stores.
6. Foods to avoid for healthy eating
Foods that make for un-healthy eating include processed meat such as salami, mettwurst, strasbourg etc.
Also try to avoid canned foods or dried foods that contain additives.
Reduce your intake of sugar, coffee, tea, fizzy drinks and alcohol which are stimulants not recommended for healthy eating.
The following fats are noted un-healthy eating habits: deep fried foods, hydrogenated fats, vegetable oils, full cream dairy milk products and margarines containing transfatty acids and hydrogenated oils.
Overall, to follow a healthy eating regime’ for life, reduce your intake of convenience foods, dairy products and meat.
