Healthy eating: top tips to keep you on the right path

You’ve gone to the local market, bought your pesticide-free avocados and asparagus, and prepared everything just right for a healthy family dinner. But how can you turn this into a routine?

How many families have eaten healthy on weekends and then gone back to quick, unhealthy meals during the week?

Changing your diet and lifestyle is hard, especially if everyone is at a different level of enthusiasm.

We asked Leslie Beck, a top Registered Dietitian in Toronto, for tips to keep you on track to a healthier life.

Planning ahead

Eating healthy takes time, and if you don’t plan ahead ordering a pizza and having it arrive at your door in twenty minutes can start to look pretty appealing.

“Being organized and meal planning is key,” said Leslie. “It can save you a couple of bucks too.”

Do your best to plan out your meals for the week and prepare as much as possible, so you can whip up a healthy family sized meal in the time it would take to go out and get some fast food.

“It might sound like a daunting task, but spending 15 minutes on weekends creating a meal plan is the best thing you can do. It will eventually become part of your routine.”

Replacing not restricting

One of the biggest reasons most diets fail is they restrict your food intake, causing you to crave and overeat.

This is why there’s no such thing as gracefully breaking a diet.

Cravings will diminish if you replace instead of restrict your foods.

The easiest ways to replace instead of restrict are:

• Keep a large supply of healthy fruits.
• Be sure that your healthy options are visible. You’re much more likely to grab a snack that’s already out rather than go to the cupboard and grab something.
• Find fruits and vegetables with strong flavour.

It’s also key to note that whether you are restricting or replacing your diet, breaking your diet at least a little bit is inevitable.

“Don’t think that it’s the end of world,” Leslie said. “It happens to everyone. The best thing you can do is acknowledge that it happened, and then continue on eating healthy. It shouldn’t bring you down.”

Proper portioning

Food portions in Canada are much larger than they need to be. By slowly working your way back to an appropriate size-think only one piece of chicken and a helping of steamed vegetables instead of two or three-your body can adjust gradually to the newer and healthier eating patterns.

“Cook as many of your weekly meals ahead of time, but instead of eating most of it that night, portion it right away and you won’t have to worry about overeating. And you’ll cut down on your prep time.”

Caring community

Having a comforting and caring community is crucial to helping you accomplish your weight loss and healthy eating goals.

If one family member is trying to eat healthy and the others are eating savory sweets, it can jump start cravings.

It’s best when a family unit eats healthy together, but that can sometimes be impractical. If not everyone can partake, it’s important that they are still supportive.

“Getting your kids involved in anyway is key to success,” Leslie said. “Engage the whole family when making your weekly grocery and meal list so that everyone has a say in what they’re eating. Having everyone making decisions will vary the meals you’re having, reducing boredom and repetition.

“Research and studies also show that children who are involved in hands-on prep of their food, everything from mixing the food with their hands to setting the table, are much less fussy eaters, which opens you up to more options.”

Success story

It’s difficult to change a diet and a lifestyle, but it can be accomplished.

Tania Chowdry is a 36-year-old mother of two who decided to start eating vegan when she was 30. No one else in her family is vegan, but she has kept with it.

“When I first started eating vegan my parents called me day in and day out,” she said. “They’d say ‘how can you eat like this? You need to eat your meat.’ And I very firmly told them I didn’t.”

Tania gave up eating meat for ethical concerns, which is one of the biggest reasons why she has managed to stay motivated.

“Eating vegan or vegetarian is something I really believe in, and it made the transition very easy. It wasn’t an overnight decision to stop eating meat, it was very gradual, but once I cut it out of my diet I had almost no cravings. And there’s so many healthy alternatives out there. All people want is something tasty and good-looking. If I gave it to my children they’d probably not even notice there’s no meat.”