Habits for Good Health......

Making good choices is not about being skinny, it is about being healthy. Of course you should try to maintain a healthy weight for your height, but don't obsess about it being perfect. It is important to take care of yourself to keep your body working well and to help reduce risk of cardiovascular & heart disease, cancer and diabetes. If the habits listed below would mean a lot of changes for you, I recommend picking one or two at a time to work towards. Once they become easy, pick some a couple of new ones to work on, keep adding slowly until you can do most or all of them. Trying to do this all at once would be overwhelming for most!

• Exercise at least 150 mins. each week, include some weight training and cardio.
• Skip sugar drinks and alcohol most of the time.
• At each meal, half of your plate should be fruits &/or vegetables. 
• Eat a variety of fruits & vegetables (think the entire rainbow). This helps to ensure you get all the vitamins/minerals you need. 
• Chose lean meat. Eat only one portion of meat once or twice each day. A portion of meat is about the size of a deck of cards.
• Have meatless meals at least a couple of times per week.
• Consume low fat dairy products.
• Don't be scared of fat, healthy fats are good for you. Just don't drown your food in fat, a little goes a long way.
• Include fish and small servings of nuts in your meals regularly.
• Chose 100% whole grains.
• Skips sweets, fried foods and salty snacks most of the time. 
• Ideally consume mostly whole foods or minimally processed foods.
• Read labels. If the ingredients don't sound like food, then don't buy it. Generally it is good to buy items with just a few ingredient lists and without food additives. 
• Eat out less and prepare food at home more often.
• Eat more plant based foods. You can use beans for meat in many recipes. If you use canned beans, rinse and drain them to remove the salt. For more tips on cooking with beans follow these links:  http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/legumes/NU00260 http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/healthy-recipes/RE00084
• If you have a strong craving for something fried, sweet or rich - just eat it. Get one portion, eat is slowly and enjoy it. Try to keep "treats" to a couple of times per week.