What is a diet?
Most people have the understanding that a diet is a method that people do to lose weight. This is not fact. A diet is what people eat, no matter what the expected outcome would be. Whether you eat McDonald’s every single day, or you eat healthy and nutritious meals; you are dieting. Having a healthy balanced diet is difficult for most people to achieve. This is because busy lifestyles, the research needed to obtain a healthy balanced diet, and the discipline to commit to a healthy balanced diet. These factors all contribute towards people unable to keep up with being and having a healthy lifestyle.
Why is it important to have a healthy balanced lifestyle?
It is completely possible to have a healthy lifestyle, and have a healthy balanced diet. You see it every single day! People have busy lives yet still are able to commit to this. But how? Extra body weight, increased levels of saturated fatty acids and high fructose corn syrup cause health problems. Obesity, and increased body weight can lead to multiple implications, including Alzheimer’s disease. A healthy balanced diet is the most important method to not only weight loss, but to giving you the best chance to increase your longevity! That is the goal in the end, having a long and healthy life.
80/20 Rule
Essentially, the 80/20 rule consists of doing 80% of one thing, and 20% of another thing. In our example here The 80/20 rule would be 80% of eating a healthy balanced diet, and that other 20% would be eating foods you enjoy that are not necessarily healthy. This allows you to have a healthy balanced diet, while also enjoying the food that you love. An example of this would be as follows:
Breakfast (healthy), Snack (healthy), Lunch (healthy), Snack (healthy), Dinner (healthy), Snack (unhealthy)
Here, majority of your day you are eating healthy and only a small portion is eating unhealthy. In this example this is a healthy balanced diet with only a small portion of your diet is being unhealthy.
Falling in Love with Healthy Foods
I mentioned above That you can choose to eat the foods that you love for the 20% of the time that you are eating unhealthy. Another way of finding yourself a healthy balanced diet is to fall in love with healthy foods. For me I have fallen in love with Buddha bowls. I enjoy making a variety of different Buddha bowls, but essentially they have the same foundation. I also love eating Mediterranean food such as Greek salads, and a variety of Lebanese dishes. Find different flavours that you will fall in love with, and when it comes to eating healthy it will be easy breezy lemon squeezey.
Forming Good Habits
Forming good habits is a hard feat, but all it takes is showing up. I have previously written an article about forming good habits, and all it takes is taking two steps. One of those steps is showing up to the plate everyday. The first day you ensure you follow the 80/20 rule, and the second day, and so on. Soon it will just be habit for you to follow this rule. There may be hiccups along the way, but you have set yourself on the right path to giving yourself a healthy balanced lifestyle. Remember, the ultimate goal is longetivity!
Prep Your Meals Every 4 Days
Meal prepping is very tedious, however if you choose from three different meals and you prep them for days in advance you don’t need to store them in the freezer, and you can store them in the fridge. By simplifying your meals and then prepping them for every four days that will allow you to eat fresh foods, while also being able to meal prep healthy and nutritious meals. I recommend meal prepping two different lunches, two different dinners, and prepping steal-cut oatmeal for breakfasts. This provides variety, but does not overload your meals. Downloading an app such as Centr can assist in finding the meals, and helping you plan grocery shopping around those meals .
Experiment with New Recipes
Try new things, new styles, new cuisines to find what types of meals you will ultimately fall in love with. Remember, when you find your favourite dishes, like me with Mediterranean foods, meal prepping and eating healthy won’t be as difficult as you may think. You can find many different recipes online that will give you a variety of different options to eating healthy, joining a meal prep program such as HelloFresh, and again downloading apps such Centr can provide you an easy way of discovering new recipes that will soon becoming a family favourite.
I hope this article gave a new perspective on diet, and finding a different approach than fad diets to helping you love a longer and healthier lifestyle. There is a new shift towards eating healthier, and this shift I truly believe will thrive. Marketing and advertising of foods filled with dangerous additives will shift in abundance to more cleaner and simple ingredients. It all starts with us. Good luck out there, and please comment did you find the article useful or do you have another approach. I would love to hear it!
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Hello,
My name is Andy, and I am a freelance medical writer. I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Sciences. I have a keen interest in Nutrition, Neurological Diseases, Development Diseases, and Ocular disorders. Please contact me if you are looking for a medical writer with knowledge in the fields listed above.