5 Ideas That Have Helped Me Make Healthier Eating Choices

I’ve learned over time you don’t have to have a strict diet to make healthy eating choices. I most definitely don’t deprive myself because, for me, that only leads to binge eating.  But I have found a few little tricks that help me make better choices and I’ve even lost a few pounds along the way.  

1. I don’t bring bad choices home from the store.  I don’t buy the high calorie or high sugar snacks.  If they are in the house I know I’ll eat it.  If it’s not there, I’m not so tempted.
2. I make healthier choices easy.  I buy the already cleaned, baby carrots or I’ll get some bell peppers, wash them and cut them up and put them into snack size baggies so I can just grab one.  I always have apples and/or bananas on the counter.  Sometimes I’ll get grapes, then pull them off the stem, wash them and put them in snack sized bags for work or just in a bowl making them easy to eat at home.  With all that done, it makes a healthy snack an easy choice.
   
3. I cut back on the sauces, dressings and gravy.  I’ve never been a gravy fan, so that was easy for me.  Sauces, spreads and dressings, however, were another matter altogether.  I’ve always loved them.  So, I learned to cut things down to the serving size.  I read every label and will only use a serving size (usually 2 tablespoons), and in some cases, even a bit less is still plenty.
4. I never go to the store (any store) hungry.  That’s a disaster waiting to happen.  If I’m hungry I’ll always find myself wandering around a store looking for who-knows-what.  And I will find it and “it” is usually something I don’t need.
5. I’ll tell people around me that I’m trying to be healthier.  If I do that, I always feel bad if they catch me eating sweet stuff.  And the people I know will say something to me, so I’ll “save face” and just not do it…….most of the time:)

Recently I read that, according to researchers at Cornell University, data from 112 studies focused on healthy eating behaviors showed that ““better” eaters made their choices thanks to health-conscious people in their lives who took charge of their surroundings”  That means if I make better choices my family may do the same.

So, these are 5 simple ideas I’ve found to help me make healthier eating choices and as a bonus possibly influence my family’s choices too, and none of them make me feel like I’m being deprived of anything.   I hope you can use one or two of them too.  

Do you have ideas for making healthier choices?  I’d love to hear it.  Every idea is another tool.