What are your best healthy eating habits? (vitamin, carbohydrates, vitamins)

[Joke Insurance]

Originally Posted by nancy thereader

Less candy corn.

I feel the same way about Salt & Vinegar Chips

[Joke Insurance]

Originally Posted by Sunnysee

I eat salmon as much as five days a week, and have for a few years. I drink a teaspoon or two of Raw, unpasteurized, unfiltered Apple Cider vinegar. I just finished a bowl of fresh, raw blueberries and blackberries with nothing added to them.

I usually eat a large bag of spinach each week. Hmm....I don't like that stuffed-feeling anymore and just eat less at a time. I eat raw garlic at least once a week and raw onion other days. Hmm....thinking.....

That is probably what I need to focus on right now; not getting that stuffed feeling but at the same time, not wanting to eat when I'm constantly around food at my work. Any tips on that if possible?

[LittleDolphin]

My eating habits are similar to what others have posted:

--drink only water, one daily glass of red wine, one cup of coffee
--cook from scratch, very little processed food
--concentrate on healthy fats: olive oil, canola oil, eat salmon and tuna
--use animal protein sparingly, usually in a stir -fry with lots of veggies
--sugar intake is minimal, use honey, molasses in some of my cooking
--very little white flour products; no junk food enters my home--chips are addictive for me
--emphasize whole grain products such as wheat pasta
--use beans/legumes often
--big label reader and avoid hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated fats
--if a label has ingredients I can't pronounce, I'll avoid that food
--dessert, if any, is usually fresh fruit
--limited dairy products, and then low-fat
--keep my weight within healthy bounds, doesn't vary by more than a few pounds

Does this sound difficult to you? After years of practice, it has become second nature to me.

[jade408]

1. Eat more veggies (at home I make half of my plate veggies)
2. When eating out, don't eat the whole entree (save half for leftovers)
3. drink more water
4. drink mostly calorie free beverages
5. eat real food (made with real ingredients)
6. exercise and mix up your workouts: intervals, strength, cardio, flexibility, yoga, pilates, do everything
7. pick habits you can stick with forever

[Mikala43]

1. Very few processed foods
2. Cooking with high impact flavors: chili, citrus (zest), ginger, garlic, fresh herbs
3. Rarely eat out
4. No rice, pasta, potatoes, very little bread. Use lettuce leaves or seasoned nori instead of bread for sandwiches.
5. Always have a lot of healthy food prepared
6. No junk food in house
7. Try to always "rotate" foods: chicken/turkey, fish/seafood, beef, pork each night
8. Try to always have at least two veggies with protein for dinner
9. Rarely drink soda (once every few months). I'm not big on water so: aloe juice, V8, coconut water, lots of green tea, black tea, and plain coffee
10. I don't have a sweet tooth, but will have a square of dark chocolate on occasion

[Chickrae]

I have always eaten raw cucumbers. It seems to keep you cleansed and has alot of nutrients

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

I don't drink or eat anything with milk or made with milk in it. we are not designed to consume cows milk. I had a health issue and my Doctor pulled me off milk products. She told me that people are mostly lactose intolerant, most not knowing that they are. Many of our problems can be found with consuming things that we were not supposed to consume.

Here is what I don't eat or drink:

1. Milk, Cheese, creamy things that have milk in them.
2. Baked goods including bread because of the milk.
3. Chocolate or candy that may have milk in it.
4. Ice cream, yogurt, or similar items
5. Pancakes


Here is what I do eat:

Anything else as long as it doesn't have milk in it.

Breakfast: eggs, potatoes, sausage for breakfast with some juice and fruit

Lunch: Salad with a light oil and grilled chicken. No chease at all. Fruit of some kind.

Dinner: Salad, grilled meat of some kind, vegetables, beans, rice.

[sunkisses87]

Habits I started recently:

1. As little processed foods/fast foods as possible
2. At least 3 large servings of veggies a day
3. At least 3 large servings of fruit a day
4. Only dairy I have is soy milk and Fage 0% greek yogurt
5. 10-12 glasses of water a day
6. 1 cup of coffee, 1 cup of green tea, 1 cup herbal tea
7. As many natural foods as possible(foods with only natural safe ingrediants)
8. Real foods as opposed to diet(i.e. honey or pure 100% maple syrup instead of splenda or other "fake" sugars, butter instead of margarine)
9. Stay away from breads, sugar, simple carbs.
10. Brown rice and oats for grains.
11. Junk food-only on ocassion and in moderation.
12. Lean meats and fish, baked chicken instead of fried, lean ground turkey instead of ground beef.

[Cunucu Beach]

My "best healthy eating habits" are:

emphasis on vegetables, less so on fruits, very lean meats, whey protein smoothies (usually made with almond milk), yogurt/kefir (both homemade), low fats and fats I do consume will be olive or peanut oil (no soy or corn oil), a few walnuts and almonds every day, little bread, egg substitute (to reduce cholesterol intake).

no pastries, no cookies, no ice cream, no trans or saturated fats, no alcohol.

Restricting carbs, especially what comes from grains, is an absolute must for me.

[snowflyst]

I lost 135lbs 4 years ago and I've kept every pound off since. I'm 5'9 and weigh 145lbs today.

I get so sad when I see people, including my own family, struggle to loose weight and just get it .... wrong. I eat more today (and not just the healthy foods either) than did at any other point in my life, and I'm going on 38. Plus, I haven't worked out a day in all that time and dont intent to. Working out sucks and is a big fat waste of time.

In a lot of ways, it's super simple, but there are a lot of things you need to know on how your body processes food and why it retains, vs sheds the calories. Anyone can find out if you research like I did. I'm not some super smarty pants, just got sick and tired of being fat.

While it is not overly complicated, it takes a lot of typing out that I just don't have time for at the moment. I'll give you a quick snapshot.

To know about your metabolism: Think of it like a paper shredder or garbage disposal. You don't want to jam in there more than the machine can handle and you also don't want to let it run dry for any more than a short period of time. It's a 'sweet' spot of how much to give it so that it runs at peak performance. It's the same thing with your metabolism. Most people are either stuffing your belly too full, or then they diet and they don't give it enough. The absolute WORST is when you don't give it enough. because it quickly 'learns' there is something not right and it will store all those calories you DO give it as fat. There is a reason your stomach gives a hunger pang and when you tell it you are ignoring it, it freaks out and will conserve. Never EVER let your stomach go hungry. Take food with you where ever you go.

You are going to have to learn to listen to your body and feed it when it wants food, and don't stuff it full when it doesn't. It takes some practice, but before long you will forget about it and it will just become second nature. My sister (who is over weight) complains all the time how I can be skinny yet eat 24/7. I used to be much heavier than her, but its not just WHAT you eat, but the key is when and how much. Also, forget dinner. You dont eat meals now, you eat when you are hungry. I probably eat 'something' more than once an hour and I'm up until probably 2am most nights and that goes on all day for me. I've been up for less than 2 hours and I've already ate 4 eggs, 2 ricecakes smothered with peanut butter, and an apple and I'll probably get up and find something to eat again real soon.

The other major thing to know about is the food aspect and 'what' to eat. Once you loose the weight and get your metabolism working for you again, you can pretty much eat anything you desire, but until then, it takes a bit of work to eat the right things to get to that point. I could probably give a list of good and bad foods, but I'm pressed for time, so I'll just keep it short for now. Sugar is bad. It will go straight to your thighs. And I mean all sugar, which includes bread, pasta, rice, fruits, ... it all turns the same in your body. Now I have sugar all the time (both good and bad sugar), but at first you cant give that to your body because it will store it vs shedding and burning it - not what you want. At the beginning, concentrate on eating lean proteins (chicken breast, tuna, lean turkey, salmon) and vegetables. You must eat this all the time. Don't starve in any way, so you'll be making and munching A LOT. This is where my family gets confused. My sister says she must be doing something wrong because she eats and within 20 minutes she's hungry again. THATS PERFECT!! It's training your metabolism sooo good an yet you want to stop it? Arg. Needless to say, she doesn't get it. If she would keep that going for just a short while, she could go back to slowly introducing all the crap she already eats and her body would just burn it off.

Anyways, to get back to this post. I guess tricks for me would be:

1. Eating all the time, but never getting that full and tired feeling.
2. Dont waste time on the gym. It's a farce. Use that time if you will to look into how your body works when you feed it. If you work extremely hard for an hour at the gym, you MIGHT burn 300 calories (and that's sweating your socks off). Do you know how quickly in a day you can blow that whole gym work out with just one single serving of low fat chips? Trust me, you'll get out of the gym and be hungry and needing energy and what's the first thing you do? You eat. Even healthy food has calories. Goodbye 300 that you just burned.
3. Stay away (for the first while anyways) anything that will turn to 'glue' in your system. Think of whatever food you want to eat. Imagine it going into a bowl and you pouring hot water over it. After 30 minutes, does it just turn into a paste? If so, STAY AWAY. That's what it's doing in your insides and it's hard to burn off.