You have to admit, on the whole, most people’s eating habits are nothing to be proud of.
According to statistics by the CDC and the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services, among others, here’s the gist on the average American’s eating habits:
- The average American exceeds their recommended daily intake of refined grains, sugar, saturated fats, and sodium
- Around 90 percent of Americans eat more sodium than what is recommended
- 80 percent do not eat the recommended intake of vegetables and fruits
- Poor nutrition is directly connected to three health-related epidemics in the US; diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes
Clearly, we have a lot to take care of diet-wise. So why not start with the basics?
To get you started on the right path, here are some details on maintaining a healthy, balanced diet to guide you!
A Note on Calories
There’s a certain formula making the rounds online; it involves multiplying your total weight with 12, after which you subtract 500 from it. The number you get is the number of calories you must consume every day to lose a pound a week. If you want to lose 2 pounds a week, subtract 1000.
Aside from being dangerous and unhealthy, this popular formula is immensely flawed. A number of factors go into determining what your total number of calories should be for each day.
The average person needs to consume 2000 calories a day to maintain their weight. Any subtraction or adjustment would depend on not just their gender and age, but their activity level as well. The number also doesn’t take your muscle and fat levels into account, making its efficacy dubious at best.
If you are to follow a healthy balanced diet, stay focused on eating better calories, instead of cutting down on them altogether. A 100gms of sweet watermelon will offer more nutrition than a bag of chips that’s 34gms.
How to Maintain a Healthy, Balanced Diet
1. Learn to Read Food Labels
Sugar-free, fat-free, organic, all-natural, gluten-free; all of these labels don’t necessarily translate to a healthier meal. Even with such tags, the food might still have a lot of added chemicals and sugar. Case in point, diet soda, which has multiple studies backing its ineffectiveness for one’s dieting goals. When buying food, always look at the labels and don’t be taken in by ‘healthy’ packaging and buzzwords.
2. Follow Serving Sizes
The next time you sit down with a family bag of your favorite salt-and-vinegar chips, you might want to check the serving size first. While not an exact science, the serving size written on different food packages is not far off in terms of accuracy. Yet, most of us don’t pay attention to it. Instead of getting tempted into overeating, buy a kitchen scale and try to measure how much food you should have and stick to it.
3. Don’t Limit Yourself from Anything
This isn’t to say that you should binge on a box of donut holes every month! But a sweet treat once a month, or perhaps even a cheeseburger at your annual family cookout will not only be a special treat, but will feel immensely rewarding, since you know that you’ll be practicing healthy eating habits alongside. In short, less guilt!
4. Educate Yourself on the Intricacies of Healthy Eating
Dr. Susan Stukes from the Philadelphia Health Coaching Service Seva Life states: “All the systems in the body are interconnected. What you eat has a huge emphasis on how you look and feel. Moreover, the foods you eat can increase or decrease the inflammation in your body.”
Taking this into consideration, even if you do cut out all processed foods and junk food from your diet, you’ll still need to make up for all that emptiness by substituting healthy food so there’s less inflammation in your body. And the best way to do that is by getting help from a certified health coach. Only a professional will be able to give you the right healthy recipes for nutrition. Otherwise you’ll just be harming yourself.
Take the First Step toward Healthy Living!
Search for the best health coaching programs and get started on improving your life. Remember, a healthy, balanced diet can help you maintain a healthy, balanced life!
