Healthy eating tips

Reduce portion sizes
North Americans are notorious for large portion sizes. Give yourself smaller portions at every meal. If you are still hungry after eating, consider having a bit more. If you leave the table hungry, you will likely snack on unhealthy foods so try to get the good stuff in at the dinner table and make sure you are fairly satisfied but not too full.
Eat smaller, more frequent meals
Experts tell us that this way of eating is better for us. Also, if you go for long periods between meals, you are more likely to get to the point where you are too hungry and will then over-eat when you finally have food in front of you. You may also suffer from energy lows and highs as your blood sugar levels react to your irregular eating habits.
Stop drinking your calories
Fruit juices, coffee drinks with cream, and regular pop are liquid calories that don’t do much to quench your thirst and add up the calories quickly. (Unsweetened fruit juice is an easy way to get a serving of fruit, but shouldn’t be used just to quench your thirst. Fructose is a naturally occurring sugar in fruit juice so be careful with how much juice you drink). If weight loss is your goal, you may be able to reduce your caloric intake significantly by reducing or eliminating these kinds of drinks. Water is your best bet for quenching thirst and is good for you to boot!
Start a meal with veggies
Try to start all your meals with fruits or vegetables, like salads. If you can get slightly full on the good stuff, you will eat less of other foods which may not be as healthy.
Eat whole foods
Avoid processed foods as much as possible as they tend to be high in fat, salt, sugar and preservatives. Be wary of products that make health claims about their ingredients. If you look at the nutrition facts table you may discover, for example, you will obtain a fibre serving, but you will also consume unhealthy amounts of fat and/or sugar.
Limit added fats
As much as possible, limit or avoid the fats you can see such as margarine, butter, mayonnaise, dressings and oil.
Choose lower fat milk products
These products will provide the same nutrient value with less fat.
Be careful of “low fat” items
Choosing low fat or fat free items can help you reduce your overall fat consumption. However, some of these items contain large amounts of sugar to replace the missing fat. Have a look at the nutrition facts table before deciding whether these items are the best choice.
Stick to the outside of the grocery store
When grocery shopping, stick to the outside aisles as much as possible where you will find mostly whole and unprocessed foods. Be careful in the frozen foods section where you will find prepared foods that contain a lot of fat, sodium and preservatives. You are better off with the frozen vegetables over French fries.

Doctors Nova Scotia

Healthy eating tips

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