Healthy
Eating Habits
One way in which
you can combat obesity is to develop healthy eating habits. This
means cutting out the rubbish and cutting down on foods that make
you fat.
Cutting out sugar
and reducing fat doesn't mean that your diet has to be boring.
It's not too difficult to adapt your favourite recipes and create
healthy, low calorie yet appetising meals.
You can adapt some
of the recipes you already use, by cutting out the unhealthy,
fattening ingredients and substituting healthier ones.
If you don't do much
cooking, now is the time to learn a new skill! This doesn't
need to be as daunting as it might seem - there are plenty of
recipes online and I'll be adding simple yet tasty recipes to
this site on a regular basis.
If you eat ready
meals, you need to take a close look at the ingredients. In
the UK, more of the big supermarkets are becoming health conscious
when it comes to own brand ready meals, which is good news.
However, whilst they
may be leaving out unnecessary additives and artificial colouring
and flavouring, you have no way of knowing if they using the
best quality meats and vegetables, and these "heat and
eat" meals can be very expensive.
One way to recreate
a cheaper and more nutritious version of your favourite TV dinners
is to save the packaging from your ready meals, buy the healthy
ingredients and have a go at cooking the meal yourself. Leave
out the sugar, salt, wheat or dairy produce and substitute herbs,
garlic and ginger, soya milk or flour. Make a point of trying
a new herb every week.
Serve your meals
with plenty of vegetables and don't just stick to the ones you
know. Experiment with new vegetables - if you don't know how
to cook them, ask in the market, get a book from the library
or do an online search.
Green leafy vegetables
are particularly good for you and provide the type of carbohydrates
you need, but which won't make you put on weight.
So, we've established
that if you want to be sure you develop healthy eating habits,
you need to cook for yourself.
Why not make this
a family activity or if you're single, get together with friends
to cook.
If you can afford
it, buy organic goods and if you have a garden or allotment,
grow your own vegetables. Again, make this into an enjoyable
activity for friends and family, rather than a chore.
When you have a cooking
session, make several dishes at once and cook large quantities
so that you can freeze several portions.
Experiment with dishes
from different countries, again substituting healthy alternatives
where there are unhealthy ingredients.
If you have kids,
getting them involved will not only make them more health conscious,
but will help them become independent and once they've mastered
a few recipes and are old enough to be left alone in the kitchen,
they can take over some of the cooking for you!
The next step is
to find some healthy recipes
and create meals which keep you fit and help you lose weight.
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