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Are you one of the millions of people who have made a resolution to better health in 2010? If so, one of the best ways to improve your overall health is to make smarter food choices. But, you don't have to go on a strict diet to gain the benefits of healthier eating.
In a bad economy it's very easy to fall into the trap of "dollar menus" and "buy one, get one free" junk food. It seems that the cheap foods are often the most unhealthy. But it is possible to make small dietary changes that can benefit your health without hurting your pocketbook.
Here are some suggestions that can help you make changes in your diet and help get you on the road to better health.
1. Do you drink soda or other sugary beverages? Try having a glass of water instead. Dana Angelo White from Healthy Eats wrote...
Sugary sodas and drinks have lots of empty calories. Drinking two 20-ounce sodas a day adds up to a 300-plus calories a day and whopping 122,000 extra calories a year. Trade it for water and you can drop up to 35 pounds.
2. I'm not a big fan of "fat free" foods, but switching to "low fat" is a great way to reduce some fat and calories. If you're still drinking whole milk, try switching to low fat. And whenever possible, give low fat foods a try. Look for low-fat mayo, low-fat cheese, low-fat salad dressing, low-fat ice-cream, low-fat yogurt. But not all low and reduced fat foods are created equal. Gina from The Candid RD wrote...
The reduced fat has the same amount of calories, and it's really calories that you need to watch when attempting to lose/maintain weight, right? Also the reduced fat PB has about 4 grams less fat. But does that make it better? Peanuts contain healthy polyunsaturated fats, so in my opinion the 4 grams less fat isn't so great. The reduced fat peanut butter has only .5 grams less saturated fat, which is actually the fat we want to stay away from. They both have partially hydrogenated oils, which is why I generally choose natural peanut butter.
3. Don't deprive yourself. Rather than eliminating your favorite unhealthy snacks, just try to limit the amount you eat. This is what I do...
If you like chips, open the whole bag and divide it up into reasonable portions using some zip-lock bags. Then put all the little bags back into the chip bag...this way you won't be tempted to sit and munch on the whole bag.
4. Are you someone who never eats vegetables? Try having just one serving a day. If you already eat one serving of vegetables a day, try having two servings a day. The serving doesn't have to just be a bowl of plain vegetables, Stacy from Homemakers Who Work wrote...
If you’re making pasta with tomato sauce, chop up some peppers, mushrooms, carrots, eggplant, or spinach and toss that in, too. Macaroni and cheese? Add fresh or frozen peas. Ham and cheese sandwich for lunch? Add lettuce and tomato, maybe sprouts and avocado if you’ve got them.
5. Reduce your sodium intake. If you're not paying attention to the amount of salt in your diet, you are probably getting too much. If you add salt to your food, try to use less. If you love soup, try some of the low sodium varieties. If you're eating canned vegetables, try switching to frozen. Gigi from Cranky Fitness wrote...
The salt from your shaker might be the least of your worries given the hidden sodium in many processed and restaurant foods (even if it doesn't taste salty - it's in there) - accounting for about 80% of our daily consumption. On average, we should only be taking in about 2300 milligrams (about one teaspoon) of salt a day. But as you might expect, we Americans like to do everything big and are actually consuming about 3400 mg a day.
These are just a few little changes you can make in your diet...And the best thing about small changes, is that they often lead to bigger changes. Will you be trying to eat healthier in 2010? Do you have any tips for people who want to make small changes in their diet for better health? Let us know in comments.
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