Healthy eating: Changing your eating habits
What can you do to avoid unhealthy eating?
Every day you make choices about what you eat and how much you eat. Think about how your daily routine and your environment affect these choices. Do you tend to skip meals when you get busy? Do you eat out a lot?
Habits like these can trigger unhealthy eating. But there are things you can do to avoid unhealthy eating.
- Plan your meals. Write out a menu for several days at a time, and then make a grocery list for that menu. Post your menu on the refrigerator.
- When you can, double a healthy recipe and freeze part of it to use for meals on busy nights.
- Choose convenience foods wisely. Get prewashed salad mix, peeled baby carrots, or frozen vegetables that you can microwave quickly.
- Keep plenty of healthy snack foods on hand, such as fresh fruits, cut-up vegetables, yogurt, and whole-grain crackers.
- When you eat out, try to choose something healthy. Find restaurants that have heart-healthy items marked on their menus, and choose these items when possible. If you eat fast food, order the smallest burger, such as the child-sized, instead of a double or triple burger. Find places that let you choose healthy sides like fruit, salad, or milk instead of french fries and soft drinks.
- Eat smaller portions at restaurants by sharing a meal or taking some food home. Restaurants often give you much larger portions than you need.
- If you order fast foods, find ways to make these foods into a meal. For example, when you order a pizza, eat it at home with a salad, milk, and fruit.
- Plan your meals and snacks so you eat healthy foods, rather than waiting until you are hungry and grabbing something at the convenience store.
- Try not to snack while watching TV, working at the computer, driving, or making meals. You may end up eating when you aren't hungry. Plan your meals and healthy snacks ahead of time, and stay with your plan.
Test Your Knowledge
Whole grains, lean meats, low-fat dairy, vegetables, and fruits are healthy foods to include in your meals.
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Why is it important to make changes for healthy eating?
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| Author: | Debby Golonka, MPH | Last Updated: February 6, 2009 |
| Medical Review: | Ruth Schneider, MPH, RD - Diet and Nutrition Rhonda O'Brien, MS, RD, CDE - Diabetes Educator | |
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