How to eat healthy?

[CupOfMilk]

I am not sure if this is the right section of the fourm to go to but i guess it can be an addiction to unhealthy food anyways i want to be more heatly but i am an extreamly picky eater and really only like unhealtly food how do i break out of this habit and how do i start eating better? Also If you have a site that shows what is heatly and what is not that could help me aswell. Thanks.

[ImHe]

www.perfectweightamerica.com is a site that explains a pretty good amount of a healthy diet. You can always look on the FDA to find what is good and not good. The key to stopping the eating of junk is to plain not eat it, you have to beat the craving pure and simple. However, alot of the foods that are considered good for us really are very tasty.

Some examples are: using honey in coffee instead of sugar, well treated and grass fed cow meat, whole grain bread stone ground etc., natural dark chocolate. The list goes on. But, this has to be a plain out lifestyle change.

[DaniHansen]

The best advice I have for you is to enlist your parents into turning your eating habits around. If they don't buy the junk, then it won't be there for you to eat it. I have picky eaters when it comes to regular food; magically, any sort of junk food they're not picky about at all. Mostly because most junk food is sold in containers to just pop open and munch away. If you can find a way to make healthy eating as convenient as eating garbage just by making healthier choices, then that will go a long way. And, it really takes a family effort to do it right.

In the meantime you can start by laying off the soda and drinking water. That alone will make a big difference. Do that for a month until you're used to drinking water, and only very seldom drink soda after that.

The next month, stay completely away from any fast food places and eat at home instead.

You see where I'm going with this, right? Try and replace one thing at a time with a healthy alternative and stick to it for about a month until it becomes a habit. Keep in mind that if you're going to change your eating habits, it should be for a lifetime, and you didn't get into the habit of eating junk overnight, so don't try and change everything drastically overnight or you'll become discouraged.

Here are some other basic tips from a web site I stumbled upon:

Eat enough calories but not too many. Maintain a balance between your calorie intake and calorie expenditure—that is, don't eat more food than your body uses. The average recommended daily allowance is 2,000 calories, but this depends on your age, sex, height, weight, and physical activity.

Eat a wide variety of foods. Healthy eating is an opportunity to expand your range of choices by trying foods—especially vegetables, whole grains, or fruits—that you don't normally eat.

Keep portions moderate, especially high-calorie foods. In recent years serving sizes have ballooned, particularly in restaurants. Choose a starter instead of an entrée, split a dish with a friend, and don’t order supersized anything.

Eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes—foods high in complex carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, and minerals, low in fat, and free of cholesterol. Try to get fresh, local produce

Drink more water. Our bodies are about 75% water. It is a vital part of a healthy diet. Water helps flush our systems, especially the kidneys and bladder, of waste products and toxins. A majority of Americans go through life dehydrated.

Limit sugary foods, salt, and refined-grain products. Sugar is added to a vast array of foods. In a year, just one daily 12-ounce can of soda (160 calories) can increase your weight by 16 pounds. See suggestions below for limiting salt and substituting whole grains for refined grains.

Don’t be the food police. You can enjoy your favorite sweets and fried foods in moderation, as long as they are an occasional part of your overall healthy diet. Food is a great source of pleasure, and pleasure is good for the heart – even if those French fries aren’t!

Get moving. A healthy diet improves your energy and feelings of well-being while reducing your risk of many diseases. Adding regular physical activity and exercise will make any healthy eating plan work even better.

One step at a time. Establishing new food habits is much easier if you focus on and take action on one food group or food fact at a time


Remember that God gave us all things freely to enjoy. It's man-made junk that'll always be our downfall. Think about the fact that God made your body, and it belongs to Him, and so try to only put things into it that will give you health and energy and enjoyment without regret.

[Anje]

I am a fairly picky eater myself, yet I do love my food. I love junk food too. Breakfast would consist of cold pizza. Dinner would be a bag of my favorite potato chips. I refused to eat vegetables, save a select few...can't stand them. Fruit was the same. Wouldn't touch it. Never had a use for red meat, so that wasn't a problem. But, after years of rotten eating habits, which aggravated certain complications, I am currently paying the price for it.

Two weeks ago I ended up in the hospital twice. Well, that was enough for me. I'm not going through that again.

My entire eating habits have changed completely. Yogurt is a big YES. Lots of fruit, no red meat, lots of vegetables. Small meals as it is easier on your digestive system to break down. Eat more than once a day, even if it means snacking on an apple or a piece of toast. Nothing with sugar; nothing with fat. Meaning no butter, no margarine, no oils. I've cut back on my tea/coffee intake as that can be harmful to your digestive system as well and more water. Brown rice...whole wheat pasta.

My diet isn't for everyone. My diet isn't even for me, but if it means ridding myself of any potential problems, then I'm all for it. You're going to have to find your happy-medium.

Start looking at the packaging. Check the ingredients. Look them up on the internet and find out what foods do what. And have fun with it. Don't make it a chore as then you might get frustrated and potentially end up walking away from it.

[CupOfMilk]

What is a calory? is it good to have more or less?

[Ayala]

Oi, we're working from square 1, are we? :lol:

A calorie is a unit of heat energy that is commonly utilized in food consumption. The average person is supposed to consume about 2000 calories per day. Your specific caloric needs factor from your age, gender, activity level, and overall metabolism. So for some people, that number is higher, for some the number is lower. But for practicality's sake, just stay focused around 2000.

Understand that the body needs calories to function...But an overabundance of unused calories will lead you to an unhealthy body.

[HisLeast]

What is a calory? is it good to have more or less?

As JerAyala says, they're just a unit of measure of energy. If you don't get enough of 'em, its bad for you, if you get too many, its bad for you. So constantly eating more calories than you need in a day gives your body excess energy, and when the body has more energy than it needs it decides to store some for a rainy day. That storage device is fat.

Eating healthy is really about eating 3 ways...
1) fresher
2) less processed
3) more variety

To start, I'd suggest subbing in fruit and vegetables when you want a snack. Carrots, cellery, apples, oranges, bananas, all make great snacks. Apples and bananas especially because they take away the hunger feeling in a hurry.

[CupOfMilk]

How do you know how much calories you eat a day? how much does say an apple have?'

[Ayala]

Well if you want to get a good idea, just start researching the foods you like to eat and pay attention to the nutritional facts. You can keep a food log to help you.

And a normal sized apple is somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 calories, I believe.

[ImHe]

1lb of fat is 3,500 kcal (calories)

1 gram of protein: 4 cal
1g carb: 4 cal
1g fat: 9 cal
1g alcohol: 7 cal

Your daily caloric intake(or amount burned) is dependant on yours activity level. It could be 2,800 a day or as high as mine which is about 3,500. The idea is to match your calorie intake (amount eaten) to your caloric expendature (amount used) in order to sustain yourself.

It is only healthy to lose about 1-2lbs of fat a week due to your eating habits. so that would mean that you should cut 500 calories a day out of what you normal eat.

You want to eat foods generally well made, little to no processing, and low on the glycemic index (this is a scale of how fast the sugars burn) these foods are whole grains, wheats, etc.

[Anje]

I believe women need 1940 calories a day. I'm not sure about men. But if you'd like to know how many calories are in certain things, try searching on the internet...just type in calory/calories and you'll find many sites to help you out. Your questions got my curiosity up and that's what I did last night.

Have fun.