I was thinking about all of the ways that I've already altered my lifestyle to encourage a "healthier" me. I thought I'd share 25 quick fixes that you could all start doing at anytime to help improve your health. Some of these may seem really obvious and I bet many of them you already do, but this is just a little on-going list I'd like to start on how to eat healthier and simpler long-term. I could easily write a paragraph on each one of these items, so please feel free to leave a comment and request such information. For now, I thought I'd keep it as simple as possible.
Good luck making the switches!
1. White rice to
brown rice, black rice or brown grain blends; which may include long grain rice varieties. Trader Joe's sells a great "Brown Rice Medley" that costs around $1.99 for a bag.
2. Regular pasta to
whole grain pasta. There are definitely times when I still eat regular pasta, for example, when I make lasagna or order homemade pasta at a restaurant, but for the most part, it's only whole grain pasta for me.
3. Soda to
seltzer. Duh.
4. Any other cooking oils/sprays to only
extra virgin olive oil or
canola oil.
 |
I am probably bias, but grown and bottled olive oils
from Italy are the best |
5. White bread to
whole grain bread (check the food label to make sure the first ingredient is "whole ...") You should be getting 4 - 6 grams of fiber in each slice. May I recommend Trader Joe's Fiber Multigrain.
6. Salted peanut butter to
unsalted peanut butter. May I also recommend trying almond, sunflower seed, or any other type of nut-butter.
7. Cooking with heavy cream or whole milk to using
plain yogurt instead. Substitute yogurt in place of cream in almost any recipe.
8. Any other kind of milk to
organic fat-free milk.
9. Soy sauce to only
low-sodium soy sauce. Use sparingly.
10. Salt shaker to just
fresh pepper or
fresh squeezed lemon for flavor.
11. Packaged trail mix to
making your own trail mix -- use unsalted almonds, pecans, walnuts, dark chocolate chips, and crasins (no sugar added, all natural, if you can find them). This will save you calories, various preservatives, and money.
12. Any type of condiment or spread on your sandwich (not that I ever used these anyways) to
sliced avocado.
13. Any other kind of yogurt to
fat-free Greek yogurt. Try Fage, Oikos, or Chobani.
14. Ground beef to
ground turkey (again, not for every dish all the time, but give it a try for most).
15.
1 yolk for every 2-3 egg whites. When I make
scrambled eggs, I use 1 whole egg and one or two additional egg whites.
16. Pork bacon or pork sausage to
turkey bacon or
turkey sausage, this is a mega fat-reduction.
17. When making any recipe that calls for sugar, I often only
add half as much as the recipe calls for. Sometimes less. You could also play around with adding just a little bit of honey in some cases.
18. Butter to, well,
still butter. Just use less. Much less.
19. White potatoes to
sweet potatoes. You can still enjoy white potatoes every once and while, but for the most part, incorporate
sweet potatoes as their nutrients are sky high.
 |
| Roast sweet potatoes with a drizzle of olive oil and fresh pepper |
20. Milk chocolate or white chocolate to
dark chocolate. Go ahead and try at least 70 -
85%. This is my
favorite!
21. Drink at least
8 glasses of water a day.
22. Exercise every day for
at least 30 minutes. Take the stairs, get off the subway at an earlier stop and walk, clean your filthy apartment/house/basement/garage, plant a garden, walk the dog longer, play, join a yoga/pilates studio, go skiing, don't drive -- walk or ride your bike, go out dancing, go for a hike, just go outside for an adventure.
23. Buy
lean cuts of meat (like
tenderloins, sirloins, top round steaks) and buy
skinless chicken.
24.
Go meatless at least once a week.
 |
| Shop at your local farmers market as often as you can |
25. Buy more
"real" foods (not food-like substances, processed foods, packaged foods etc...)
 |
| Enjoy what you EAT! |
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