How to Stay Healthy

Your diet is a bank account; spend your calories wisely on "good investment" foods. Good investment foods consist of high-volume, high-density, high-fiber foods that fill you up on less. Soups, salads, vegetables, whole grains and beans are great examples of good investments. Here are some tips that incorporate good investment foods with other ways to stay healthy.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• A positive mental attitude is most important
• A realistic approach to eating healthy
• Supportive friends and family who want to make good choices in regard to foods, and living as well

1. • 1
     Don't beat yourself up. Food isn't your friend, nor enemy, so you aren't bad when you overeat, nor good when you don't-this mentality leads to bingeing. If you go overboard, just dust yourself off and start over, instead of punishing yourself-leaving a bigger mess to clean up.
   • 2
     Don't compare yourself to anyone else. Our society has given us several unrealistic role models. Fortunately, JLo, Beyonce, Tyra, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Kim Kardashian are the new hotties embracing their curvy figures. Only dogs like bones. Men like curves.
   • 3
     Negotiate with yourself-as in checks and balances. This mentality allows us to have everything, just not everything at the same time. If you know you want dessert with dinner, do not have a sweet treat during the day. If you know you want pasta or carbs or alcohol at one meal, stay away from it at the other.
   • 4
     Serve smaller portions. Serve food on smaller plates. You will be able to eat more indulgent foods if you eat less. Ordering an appetizer as an entree will allow you to sample indulgences such as crab cakes, as long as you pair it with a vegetable or salad.
   • 5
     Use only real ingredients. Don't use any manufactured foods or anything with ingredients you can't pronounce.
   • 6
     Cook with color. The brighter the natural color, the more healthy and loaded with antioxidants a food is. Spinach, sweet potatoes and blueberries are perfect examples.
   • 7
     Cook using local and in-season ingredients. They are healthier because they are fresh from the farm instead of being shipped thousands of miles ahead of time and being picked prematurely. A summertime peach is a better choice than a pineapple shipped from hawaii.
   • 8
     Cook more raw foods. Raw foods have live enzymes that give you that overall glow that extremist raw foodists have. Make small changes and substitute cooked vegetables for salads.
   • 9
     Prepare ahead. Choose a cooking day, buy disposable containers and prepare healthy meals and snacks for the week. Also, cut up fruits and vegetables making them more convenient. If it is already done for you, you might forego something packaged and fattening. When flying, don't rely on fattening plane or airport food. Think ahead.
   • 10
     Plan! Plan! Plan! Keeping fit is about planning. Your diet is a bank account, so spend your calories wisely.
   • 11
     Spoil your appetite. If you are going to a party or out to dinner, prepare an apple or whole grain bread with nut butter so you don't eat everything in sight at the party. Even eating a healthy snack before dinner will save you from overeating. Cancel your membership to the clean plate club. Make a concerted effort to leave food on your plate.
   • 12
     Do exercise that calms and clears your mind. Even though yoga doesn't make you drip in sweat, it calms the mind from "food noise" and prevents overeating.

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