Stay Healthy, Stay Happy. Here's How.

We all know the importance of healthy eating and maintaining a proper lifestyle, and how they help us throughout our lives. The very first step knows how to prepare for it. There is an effective way to inculcate healthy eating habits, and motivating yourself to achieve your health goal balanced by a realistic self-assessment and self-motivation.

-Maintain a Healthy eating habit: Having a healthy diet throughout the day is essential for leading a hassle-free life all along.

-Plan your meal ahead of time: Plan your schedule specifically asking questions such as: What you will cook? What do you need? Consider the type of food you and your family like along with food preparation methods and the time and energy required for preparing meals. This helps prevent confusions and stress in the last moment.

-Make a shopping list: You can shop at a local grocery store but try to get fresh fruits and vegetables from a local farmer or market.

-Keep a food journal: A journal can help you identify the link between your emotions and food. Practice awareness of internal food rules and external food rules to make healthy food choices. Use senses to savor food with kindness, not with anger, guilt, or fear. Develop eating habits with awareness rather than any judgments or distractions.

-Opt for nutritious foods:

Energy-boosting foods: Include complex carbohydrates such as whole grains and cereals, oats, brown rice, nuts, and oilseeds in your daily breakfast as they make a great source of energy-dense food.

Immune-boosting foods: Eat green leafy vegetables and yellow-orange colored fruits loaded with vitamins C and E, minerals, herbs, and spices.

Muscle building foods: For growth and development of bones and muscles, include protein-rich foods in your diet, such as homemade smoothies, oats, eggs, lentils, milk, and cottage cheese as they help keep hunger at bay for a longer duration.

Keep yourself hydrated: Consume plenty of fluids such as buttermilk, coconut water, and fruit-infused water to ward off symptoms of tiredness, loss of concentration, and headache.

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Simple Ways To Eat Healthy

• Spice up your diet- The spices, from black pepper to chili peppers, fresh herbs from cinnamon to basil, roots (ginger and garlic), citrus (lemon juice) and vinegar add flavor and enhance palatability to your favorite dishes with less sodium.
• Munch on healthy nuts- Go for a healthy fat that ranges from nuts, avocados to canola, and other oils-add flavor. Healthy nuts are also rich in omega-3 fatty acids that improve concentration and maintain brain and heart health.
•  Eat seasonal food- Shop for food items that are the peak of the season, coming from farmers’ markets and your local supermarket. Adding these locally available seasonal food items in your daily diet helps reduce an excess of sodium.
•  Enhance flavors- Sauté or sear of foods adds flavor. With roasting comes the natural sweetness of most of the vegetables, fish, and chicken. Cooking food in a microwave or steam is another healthy cooking that enhances the palatability of the food by adding a drizzle of olive oil and lemon zest.
• Visualize portion size: Familiarize yourself with standard serving sizes. Make your hands as a visual portion guide. For instance, one serving of pasta or one bowl of rice is about the front of a clenched fist, a small handful of whole nuts is about one serving or ½ cup of nuts, and one teaspoon of butter is equal to a thumbnail.

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(The author is an experienced Nutritionist and freelance writer)