NEW PRODUCT

Posted by Susan Bowerman, M.S., RD, CSSD, CSOWM, FAND – Director, Worldwide Nutrition Education and Training

Making healthy food choices means taking a close look at your current eating habits, and making small changes that add up to new habits and better nutrition.

Why is it so hard to make healthy food choices? It’s not as if you don’t know which foods are healthy and which ones aren’t. But sometimes it’s difficult to make the right food choices when you’re constantly faced with temptation or don’t have a plan.

Not only do you have to make food choices every time you eat a meal or a snack, you’re actually making food choices all day long. Every time you see, smell or think about food—which happens a lot more than you might think—you’ve got choices to make.

The trick to making better food choices is learning how to “trade up”—nutritionally speaking. Look at the foods you’re currently eating and see if you can find some healthier choices to make instead. If your dietary patterns are generally good, and if you’re eating regular meals and snacks and including a variety of foods, then it’s just a matter of plugging in some healthier choices in place of those that aren’t doing you much good.

The first step in improving your diet is to take a good, hard look at your current eating habits. Write down everything you eat for a couple of days. You can’t make changes if you don’t realistically know what you’re working with or where your trouble spots are.

Once you’ve done that, look your food diary over without judging yourself. Just be objective. Look over your eating patterns and the food choices you’re making, and simply acknowledge that there are some things that you probably want to do differently. And while you’re at it, don’t forget to give yourself a pat on the back for the things you’re doing right.

Cut Back on the Highest Calorie Foods

The next step is to work towards cutting back on the highest calorie foods that you usually eat. Start with the high fat and high sugar foods first. Once you’ve identified the biggest offenders, use the healthy food chart below to help you find healthier swaps. As these healthier food choices get incorporated into your routine, you’ll gradually improve the nutrient quality of your diet, cut calories, and probably find that your meals are more filling and satisfying.

Know What You’re Eating

Once you’ve kept your food diary for a while, you’ll have a good sense for what foods you’re eating. But you also want to learn what’s in the foods that you’re eating. When you shop, take time to read labels. Look at ingredients and the nutrition facts so you can evaluate calories, fat and sugar content in the foods that you buy.

Keep it Simple

One good strategy for making better food choices is to lean toward foods that haven’t had a lot done to them. The closer a food is to its natural state or the less processed it is, the more nutritional value it tends to have. You’ll also be getting less fat, sugar and salt.

Be Realistic

If you’re craving ice cream, trying to satisfy the craving with a handful of celery sticks probably isn’t going to work. Perhaps a carton of Greek-style yogurt with some berries would work for you, or a sliced up frozen banana.

Plan Ahead

It’s easier to make better choices when you plan ahead. When you have a plan for what you’re going to eat for meals and snacks, you’re more committed to eating the healthier choices.

Keep your focus on replacing bad habits with better ones and know that every little bit adds up. As you continue to make better choices, they’ll become new habits, and over time your better choices will be the foods you crave.

Healthy Swaps, Healthier Food Choices

Body fat percentage and fitness level are more accurate indicators of your fitness progress than Body Mass Index (BMI). Dana Ryan, Ph.D., from Herbalife Nutrition explains why.

Source: https://youtu.be/NaFLYBnsnYo

When my kids were little, I always braced myself for the ‘back-to-school cold’ that swept through the house during their first week back in the classroom.  With the new school year upon us, kids are going to be bringing home more than just homework and new friends – they’re sure to bring home plenty of germs, too.  And even if you don’t have kids at home, you’re still more likely to get sick as the weather turns colder – so now is a good time to look at all you can do nutritionally to help keep your immune system running in tip-top shape.

Despite what your parents or grandparents might have told you, you don’t catch cold from being out in the cold air (or, as my mother always insisted, from going outdoors with wet hair).  But when the weather turns chilly, we spend more time indoors – which means we’re in closer contact with more people, and there’s less air circulating – so we’ve got more exposure to the germs that can make us sick. 

Your body has a built-in defense, of course – your immune system.  It’s your own personal army of ‘soldiers’ that protects your body by identifying anything foreign – from a virus to a bacteria to a parasite – and then seeking it out and destroying it.  And your body does rely on a good nutrition and a healthy lifestyle to keep your defenses up.  For one thing, if you eat a healthy diet and take care of yourself, you’re more likely to maintain your good health.

Fruits and vegetables are key players because they provide an abundance of phytonutrients – natural compounds found in all plant foods that help to promote health by serving as antioxidants.  You need antioxidants to balance out the processes in your body that cause oxidation.  Oxidative processes are a normal part of metabolism, but oxidation can run rampant in cells if it’s not kept in check – and that can weaken the body’s ability to fight illness.  So your body relies on a steady source of antioxidants from fruits and veggies to reduce this oxidant stress and, in turn, help to support immune function.

Your immune system also has some ‘special forces’ in the form of white blood cells.  These cells produce specialized proteins – called antibodies – that seek out and destroy invading viruses and bacteria.  Since antibodies are proteins, you need adequate protein in the diet to ensure you’ll be able to manufacture the antibodies your body needs.   Healthy protein foods – like fish, poultry, lean meats, soy foods and lowfat dairy products – provide the building blocks that your body needs to make these specialized proteins. 

Keeping your digestive system healthy is also important in supporting immune function.  Your digestive tract is home trillions of bacteria that have numerous functions in promoting health.  Some strains of bacteria help you digest the fiber in your foods, others consume intestinal gas, while others produce vitamins, like vitamin K and vitamin B12.  When your system is populated with these “good” bacteria, they also serve to ‘crowd out’ the potentially harmful bacteria that might enter your digestive tract.  Some of the best sources of these friendly bacteria are cultured dairy products – like yogurt and kefir.

Eating well really does pave the road to good health.  And to help your body in the fight against foreign invaders, your internal ‘army’ needs the best nutrition possible.  So call in the troops – and dry your hair.

Written by Susan Bowerman, MS, RD, CSSD. Susan is a paid consultant for Herbalife.