Do you know what healthy eating looks like? Everyone knows that we should eat healthily. Generally, we all know that a diet of chips, pop, pizza, burgers, beer is not considered healthy. And if you were to ask most people they would say that to eat healthily you eat salads, tuna, chicken breast and it all tastes awful. But what does it actually look like?
Does eating healthily really mean that you feel deprived all the time? Does it mean that once a week you get to eat a huge reward meal? Does it mean that you weigh and measure everything you eat? Does it mean that you never eat what you really like and only eat to feed yourself and never enjoy food again?
Well, the truth is that it depends. Yup, that answer sucks but for the most part, that is the truth.
It is true because we are all different. In my house, when we had all of our kids still living at home, I used to say ‘name one dish that we all like and that is what I will make for dinner.’ because we could never come up with that one thing, we were never all satisfied at the same time. Our bodies are made up the same way our tastes are, all different.
Several years ago when Doug and I first buckled down to lose weight, it seemed to melt off of him. We ate the same meals, his measured to him and mine measured to me and for me the scale hardly budged. So even in our house eating the right way didn’t work the way the “insta-experts” will tell you.
Now, there are some simple guidelines for eating healthy. But again, it depends on how you eat on a regular basis. If you are not either overweight or underweight, that may just be how your body processes the food you eat, but you could still be nutrient deficient. I know all sorts of people that look healthy but they eat really poorly and therefore are not really healthy. Just because your weight is in a healthy range, it doesn’t mean you eat healthily. The opposite is also true. I know all sorts of people that eat really well and yet are carrying more weight than they should.
But what does aa healthy diet look like to most people?
According to The Canada Food Guide
There are some simple guidelines to help you see what a healthy diet should look like.
This is not necessarily the diet you would use to lose weight, this is the government’s idea of what it takes to make our bodies get the most balanced nutrition to make our us function properly. There is a big difference in eating for a purpose like losing weight or gaining weight and eating to mak tour body function at its best. Remember, to have your best immunity, best brain function, stress relief ability, you need to fuel your body with the best things possible.
So;
- Eat more fruits and veggies, you probably don’t eat enough
- Eat protein at every meal
- Eat smaller portions of starchy foods
- Eat less processed foods
- Drink more water
- Limit your alcohol
- Eat slower
The easiest diet is, you know, eat vegetables, eat fresh food. Just a really sensible healthy diet like you read about all the time.