Start Eating Healthy: Top Ten Tips

The most common question that gets messaged to me is:  What is the easiest thing I can do to start eating better?

Eating healthy can be hard and time consuming.  There are so many labels to read and so much contradictory information out there.   Sometimes you just need to get dinner on the table and don't have time to "research" what you are eating.

My family and I came up with our top ten tips to help you get started.  Pick one or all ten, either way it's a great start!


1. Pick up a box and glance at the ingredients list.  If it has more than 5 ingredients, do yourself a favor and put it back.  This is number one on our list, because it is probably the biggest and easiest thing you can do to start eating healthy.
 If you have a little more time on your hands, read the ingredients list.  If there is something you can't pronounce or don't know what exactly it is put it back.  If you can't grow Monosodium Glutamate (MSG), Disodium Inosinate, Disodium Guanylate, or Artificial colors in your garden, again, do yourself a favor and don't buy it.  By the way, ALL of those ingredients are in Doritos Nacho Cheese flavored chips. 

2. If it says HYDROGENATED anything,  don't eat it.  If you would like to know a little more about hydrogenated oils click here.

3. Switch your oils!  Get rid of your oils and replace them with Olive Oil or Coconut oil.  There is a big debate right now about which oil is the better choice.  For more on the debate between the two here is a little article comparing the oils.  I recently found out that you should save your Extra Virgin Olive oils for your dressings and toppings and use regular Virgin or regular olive oil for your cooking.  And here is an excellent article on how heat can affect your extra virgin olive oil.   While you are at it, give up your PAM spray and starting using an olive oil sprayer.  This was recommended by my friend a few months ago and is on my wish list!  (as soon as our 31 days of living well & spending zero is over!)

4.  Switch to Non-Teflon pans.  This is a personal opinion, but it just cannot be good to be eating pieces of your pans.  Yes, non-Teflon takes some getting used to, but get yourself that olive oil sprayer and you shouldn't notice much of a difference.

5.  Use real butter.  That is all I will say on this, because this article sums up everything I believe to be true.

6.  If you are buying prepackaged foods, don't be fooled when it says 0 grams trans fat per serving.  This means that there are still trans fats!  It should say 0 trans fats. .  period. . . that is all.

7.  When you buy eggs and/or meat, look for hormone/antibiotic FREE.

8.  Give up Pop/Soda (depending on how you prefer to say it).  Especially Diet.  If you must splurge on soda,  any soda with real sugar is your healthiest option.  Sierra Mist, although high in sugar, does avoid all the other chemicals sodas usually contain.

9.  Enriched, Enhanced, Fortified Foods are not necessarily better for you.   Generally, if something is Enriched, the vitamins were taken out while that food was being processed.  Then they try to add back in what they took out and ends up being heavily processed/ unhealthy.  For a great explanation and definitions click here.

10.  Homemade is always healthier.  It will always be healthier when you can control the ingredients and the process of your recipe.   Some say, there is just no time to make things from scratch.  I used to agree.  But it doesn't add much extra time or work to make a double batch of a recipe and freeze what you don't immediately need.  A great website to get you started in freezer cooking is Mama and Baby Love.  Even making single batches, I surprise myself sometimes with how little time and effort it really does take to make things from scratch!

I hope you can find a tip or two that you can fit into your life and make it that much healthier.  If you are not just starting out, I would add a tip:

11.  Be GMO free and buy Organic.  Save yourself some money and use the Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen Lists as your guide.  Also, here, is another article on how to buy organic on a budget.



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