7 Healthy Eating Habits From a Nutritionist

Transitioning into a healthier life? Switching out your fries for fruits? Your burgers for broccoli? That’s great to hear. Here are seven healthy eating habits you need to try! As an online holistic health coach, I offer health coaching to clients in the US and beyond to help them regain control of their health, lose weight, improve their energy and have a better relationship with food. If you want an insight into the type of services I offer as a health coach, check out these tips!

1. Put your phone down

This point isn’t about the food, it’s about the habit. Eating while watching tv, scrolling Instagram or texting creates mindless eating. Mindless eating leads to overeating, because your brain doesn’t register the calories consumed so you just keep going.

This is an important point for those who have a tendency to eat more than they need to. A study that explored this found that phone use while eating was associated with an increased appetite and a desire to eat higher calorie foods.

2. Stock up on veggies

You can never eat enough veggies. The more veggies, the more nutrients and the greater the beneficial effect. Veggies are also full of fiber, helping you to feel full and satiated after eating. A study found that the more vegetables consumed, the lower the total caloric intake, perhaps due to the satiating effect of vegetables.

3. Drink only water

If you’re a Starbucks fiend or sodas are your weakness, try and cut those out first. That daily Starbucks order is pushing you into a caloric surplus and causing a serious blood sugar spike. For example, Starbucks white hot chocolate contains 640 calories, while the deceivingly heavy green tea frappuccino has 560 calories. If you’re trying to watch what you eat, also think about what you’re drinking - liquid calories are often more dangerous than those eaten.

4. Eat at meal times

Skipping breakfast might seem like a good idea if you’re trying to lose weight, but actually it might leave you feeling more hungry at lunch time, leading you to eat higher calorie foods in higher quantities. Try to regulate your appetite by eating at each meal time.

5. Eat enough at each meal

Are you a serial snacker? Maybe you’re not eating enough at each meal? The 200 calorie soup might seem like the healthiest option, but realistically it’s not going to fill you up. Ensure that you’re eating at least 25g of protein, some healthy fats and a source of complex carbohydrates at each meal. This combination has been shown in studies to result in the highest satiety, lasting for the longest; particularly when protein is combined with fat.

6. Track what you eat

It’s a pretty dull life to track every calorie, every day, for the rest of your life. But you don’t have to - tracking what you eat even just for a week will give you an important insight into how many calories you’re eating and what the macronutrient breakdown of these calories is. You might be surprised. MyFitnessPal is a free, easy to use app that can help you with this.

7. Eat less sugar

Most people know that sugar isn’t good for your health, but it’s also making it harder for you to reach your goals. Simple, refined sugar like the type found in candy and chocolate is immediately absorbed in your bloodstream, causing an energy spike, an insulin response and a subsequent crash in energy.

Even if you’re limiting your sugar to just one chocolate bar a day, it might be causing you to crave sugar more. Sometimes it’s better to cut it out completely for a while, until your cravings lessen.

I hope these seven tips will help you eat healthier, feel happier, more satiated and closer to your goals. 2021 is a new year and new opportunity to regain control of your health. Please reach out to me for online health coaching starting in the new year!