Eat healthy & Enjoy your meals.

With so much advice and research out there on nutrition and dieting, how do you know what to listen to and how to eat healthy? This article will give you some general tips about eating healthier.


If you're like most people you don't want to eat bland foods that taste like cardboard. If those are your only options then dieting and eating better are likely not to be your top priorities. You want flavor and taste. There are not too many people who can go eating the same things for the rest of their lives that have no flavor.



1- Fruits like strawberries, watermelon, oranges, bananas and blueberries are all loaded with vitamins and minerals and taste good. You can eat as many of these as you want. Add them into your meals as side items. Add some frozen blueberries into your morning oatmeal or cereal to add some healthy taste to your breakfast.




2- Granola? Granola is a healthy combination of whole grains, nuts, honey and dried fruits like cranberries and raising and coconut. Some flavors of granola also combine flax seed which contains omega 3 fatty acids which are essential to your body's daily functioning. At Sam's Club they sell a brand of granola called Bear Naked that contains no high fructose corn syrup and tastes good. You can combine it with yogurt to give it some crunch. Eating granola instead of a candy bar is a healthy snack alternative.



3- Healthy drinks, Sodas and diet sodas. Neither one is good for you. So avoid them. Replace them with healthy drinks - the best one being water. But water can be bland. Try adding some 100% grape juice to give it a sweet flavor. Or try adding some lemon juice to give it a bit of a sour flavor. You can dilute any fruit juice with water to get the sweetness you want without all the calories. Even though grape juice is healthy for you, it does contain a lot of sugars.


4- Avoid empty calorie foods. This includes most alcoholic drinks. Alcohol contains 7 calories per gram compared to 9 calories per gram for fat and 4 calories per gram for carbs. Red wine is the only alcoholic drink you can consume due to its health benefits. One to two glasses a day is enough to get the health benefits.



5- Read the labels. Be sure to read the food labels and see just exactly how much you can eat that constitutes as a serving. Here's an example: eating a piece of dark chocolate everyday is good for your heart but the serving size on a Hershey's bag is 4 pieces which adds up to over 200 calories when all you need is half of one piece to get the heart benefits. Take the time to read the labels and watch the calories.



The advice on how to eat healthy is not new. It is the same now as it has been in the past. Yes, there is plenty of conflicting information out there but if you make the simple choices then you'll be on your way to a healthier lifestyle and a slimmer waistline. These tips are just a start.