11 December, 2013

Achieve a Healthy Lifestyle: A Food Journal

Being healthy is a lifestyle. A lifestyle consists of repeating habits, in other words, making healthy decisions and engaging in healthy actions. To get to that point, you have to ease into it, especially if you want to drastically change your lifestyle. Think, one step at a time.



In order to change your lifestyle, and not just your diet, your body needs time to adapt to the changes you are making so that your body doesn't go into withdrawal. This happens when you try to change something suddenly, such as going from eating sugary foods every day to eating none. The body has become accustomed to having sugary foods every day, so if you decide to cut it out from your life, without easing your body off of it, you will crave it, and ultimately, start eating sugary foods again.

A great way to adapt your body to a healthier lifestyle is to write in a food journal. This is
a great habit that initiates healthy eating, and healthy living. Every day keep track of what you eat and drink . Write how you feel after each meal and snack, to see how different foods affect how you feel, and how much they fill you up. After doing this for a while you will notice what you eat, and discover foods that do not agree with you. It is a great first step in eating healthier, because eating healthier is a lifestyle change.

Being enlightened into what you are putting into your body on a daily basis, will propel you to change your lifestyle, not just go on a diet to lose some weight. Keep track of what you drink, and how thirsty you feel as well. Once you start drinking more water (a good measure is to drink 1 full glass before each meal, plus whatever you drink during and after should help you reach the recommended 6-8 glasses of water a day), you will realize you are less hungry, because sometimes when you feel hungry, you're actually dehydrated and need more water.

Having recorded my food and water intake over the last six months I find it helpful in holding myself accountable to what I consume, because I am always looking back as to what I ate,  I stay motivated to eat healthy. Have you used a food journal to keep track of what you eat? What benefits have you had from doing so?

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