What I learned about healthy eating in 2010

A lot! This is still my problem area though, but it is a problem because of emotional eating – not because I don’t know what to eat. I will go more into that tomorrow. But, what did I learn about eating healthy this year?

Planning - Probably the biggest thing I learned is that planning is key – if you don’t plan you will probably fail. Not really fail, but you will probably not eat as healthy as you could. I know on the weeks that I planned I did much better with my healthy eating than I did on the weeks that I didn’t. I know we all get busy and it is easy to not plan, but that is a big mistake! What I found works best is to plan a menu for the week on Saturday or Sunday and go to the grocery store to buy all the items you need for your plan. Another thing that I know works is preparing some meals in advance on the weekend for the week – that way if you get home late from work one night you will still have something healthy to eat instead of stopping at a fast food place or ordering pizza. I never do that! Hahahahaha!!!

Calories in Calories out - From all the research I have done and all the books I have read I have pretty much decided that to lose weight it really is just calories in calories out – just as simple as that. But, and a big but – you can do it the healthy way and you can do it the unhealthy way! You can count calories and eat all processed foods and you will lose weight, but you won’t be as well nourished and you will have more craving and possible binges. I found for me it was best to keep my calories anywhere from 1400-1600, but that of course depends on how much you weigh. If I would go much below 1400 I would be starving and then inevitable eat everything in sight or at least the first thing that I see. LOL! And, then burn more calories than you eat and you WILL lose weight.

Only Healthy Food in the House - Another thing that I found helpful, - but not always easy when you live with other people- is to not have unhealthy foods in the house. Don’t have it in the house and then you can’t eat it, right? Easier said than done unless you live alone! I don’t know how many times I “cleaned” out my pantry and refrigerator this year purging of the unhealthy foods that have a tendency to sneak in my cupboard. Hahahaha! One thing I think can help a little is to put the unhealthy foods in the garage refrigerator, if you have one – out of sight out of mind concept.

Eat Fresh Vegetables and Fruits, etc. not Processed Foods - I really try to eat organic and do eat many vegetables from my garden – which I love. I realize I forgot to say yesterday that gardening is exercise. It really is – believe me! But, even if you don’t have a garden you can buy organic veggies and fruits and even if you don’t want to pay extra for organic you can still buy fresh fruits and vegetables. I think it the long run it is cheaper than buying processed food, if you can manage not to waste them. I try to have at least one fruit or vegetable with each meal, and with my two snacks. That is my plan every day anyway!!

Super Foods – I have learned a lot about Super Foods, see my post on the subject, and I really do think that they really can aid in weight loss. I think it is probably because they are so nutrient dense that when I eat them I have fewer cravings. My husband thinks I am crazy making all these shakes and concoctions with these un-pronounceable foods. But, hey, just my opinion.
Eat Healthy Snacks – I found that when I at healthy snacks I do much better sticking to my plan - snacks an apple and peanut butter, Greek yogurt and fruit, or a handful of nuts. When I didn’t eat snacks then I would be ravenous at my next meal and inevitably overeat.

Try New Healthy Recipes - I tried many, many, many new recipes last year – all of them delicious. You need to make your food interesting or you might be tempted to revert to your old ways. I have my favorites, but I plan try some more this year too. I posted many of them throughout the year, but some good sources for healthy recipes are Biggest Loser cookbooks, Precision Nutrition (on my links), Cooking Light on-line or the magazine. Plus, there are a wide variety of recipes on-line with any ingredient or spice you can think of.

Give Yourself a Treat Every Once in awhile – I mean every once in awhile, not all the time. Hahahaha! I think you have to live, so if you go out to dinner for your birthday have dessert, if you really like frozen yogurt have one every now and then. The danger here though is how often to allow yourself. I’d say once a week would be good. But, that doesn’t have frozen yogurt several times a week – it means have it one time!

That is what I learned about eating healthy. If I would have done everything I have outlined above I would have reached my goal without a problem. I know all these things inside and out, now if I can just follow the guidelines all the time! Tomorrow I will talk about why I didn’t follow my own guidelines all the time. That sounds terrible, but hey if it was that easy everyone would be at their ideal weight, right? Tomorrow I will talk about, in my opinion, the tough stuff.