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Four techniques will help you make healthy eating part of your daily routine, if you choose to apply them systematically.
What does “healthy eating” mean to you and what advice would you give to someone who wants to adopt it? If you ask this question to a group of people, it’s likely that everyone will give you a different answer. For some “healthy eating” means “I avoid ‘fast food'”. For others it is identified with eating more fruits and vegetables . Those who have a health problem, e.g. hypertension, or some food allergy , will answer in a different way.
There is no one correct answer to the above question. Each of us has different wants and needs , which naturally affect the way we eat and of course can change over time.
Regardless of the definition you give, the important thing is that healthy eating becomes part of your daily life and the following tips may help you.
1. Look at the big picture
At some point it will happen to you too. You are human. You will be late at the office, you will be tired, you will be bored. Then, you’ll have neither the energy nor the will to prepare home-cooked food, and you’ll naturally order out. So one of the first tips for a healthy diet is to be a little flexible. You can, for example, choose the best option from the menu (a sandwich, a salad, a soup) or the closest thing to a home-cooked meal .
If you want something on a pizza or souvlaki, don’t worry. Order it and enjoy it. In such cases, remember that a healthy diet is not defined by individual meals , but by choices you make day by day. Just as a good meal will not save you, a bad meal will not destroy you.
2. Preparing tapers
You may have heard it before, but preparing meals in advance and keeping them in the freezer is especially helpful. You will need to spend a few hours in the kitchen one day of the week, but you will save time in the following days, because you will simply defrost and reheat. Cook a larger amount of meat, which you will divide into portions. Do the same with the legumes.
3. Fruit everywhere
Classic advice to those who want to adopt a healthy diet is to increase the consumption of fruits and vegetables. One way to achieve this is to make the process of choosing a meal or snack as easy as possible . Put the fruit on the table or counter, and the cut vegetables in front of the fridge. Hide the sweet and salty snacks in the cupboards. This will help you – most of the time, at least – to make the best choice effortlessly.
4. Make a general plan
You don’t need to plan a weekly menu in every detail. It is good, however, to have three more specific (but different) options in mind for each meal. So, every time you will easily choose the meal depending on whether you want something sweet or salty.
