Healthy Eating Habits for Staying Trim

Scottsdale, Arizona based celebrity personal trainer Lucas James and nutrition expert and trainer Jason Apfel share their secrets for avoiding unhealthy snacks and maintaining your body weight.  Check out these pointers for simplifying your healthy eating habits to keep you on track towards meeting your health and fitness goals!

Clean out the kitchen and eliminate all junk food

Throw out any high-calorie, high-fat foods that will arouse your hunger and tempt you to overeat or cheat on your nutrition plan: processed foods, chips, crackers, cookies, pastries, ice cream, candy bars, sweets etc.

Keep snacks out of sight

Pack them away from your work-space and out of sight.  If sweets are kept in a jar as a ‘decorative’ piece, try wrapping them in gift paper to send the right message: they are ‘rewards’.  If you tend to keep snacks on hand, stick them in tough-to-reach, hard-to-see spots in the cupboard, fridge or freezer. One recent Cornell University study found that women ate more than twice as many Hershey Kisses when they kept them in clear containers on their desks, versus in opaque containers on their desks or even fewer when kept six feet away.

Avoid “empty calories”

These include sugar-containing sodas, sweets, ice cream, alcohol, fruit drinks and processed snacks. “Empty calories” have the same caloric impact on your body, but lack many beneficial nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber etc.

Keep healthy snacks close at hand

Fill your kitchen with lean protein, fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, good fats, and low-fat dairy products. Some examples of each food type are: Tuna or Chicken Breast, Cherries or Nectarines, Oatmeal or Brand-flakes, Rice & Beans, Almonds, Fish-oil from salmon for healthy Omega-3’s and Greek Yogurt or Skim Swiss Cheese.

Plate your main course in the kitchen

Keep your entrée and side dishes in the kitchen instead of resting on platters at the table. Keeping them off the table makes you rethink second helpings and allows you to enjoy conversation without temptation. Feel free to keep plain veggies, salad, or the fruit at the table during dinner or for dessert.

Plate more Veggies

If you like lots of food on your plate, fill up with fiber! Try eating a large salad and a super serving of veggie fixings like broccoli, snap peas, cabbage, kale, spinach and other low calorie vegetables.

Snack on berries

Blueberries, blackberries, cherries, and raspberries tend to be slightly lower in sugar in comparison to other fruits. The anti-oxidants they contain help to strengthen the immune system while their fiber helps control cholesterol levels. They are also low calorie and low-fat snacks!

Don’t skip meals

Missing out on foods that provide the necessary energy our bodies need throughout the day can leave you extremely ‘hangry’ (hungry-angry).  Not only will this cause spikes in blood sugar levels when you do eat, but your body will try and hold onto the fat and carbohydrate stores it has to adapt to the ‘starvation’ state your body thinks it’s in.

Eat smaller meals more frequently

Aim for five to six meals/snacks per day. Try spacing out your meals every three hours. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner count for three meals, so find the time to incorporate three healthy snacks such as low fat cottage cheese with berries or a hand full of almonds. Finding foods that are healthy snacks will help curve your hunger later on!

Use smaller plates and tall, skinny glasses

Numerous studies have shown that platting influences eating habits and portion size. Larger plates leave more room for larger portions.  Large plates also promote people to fill their plates, increasing their calorie intake. If you use smaller plates, you tend to feel you are getting more and therefore will eat less.

Drink Alcohol after your meals, not before

If you enjoy a glass of wine or beer with your meal, have it at the end.  Alcohol tends to increase hunger and decrease inhibitions.