Part of eating a balanced diet is looking at what you are eating now and making the adjustments required to make it healthier. While this can initially sound like deprivation, it helps you to sustain a similar eating pattern but to enhance what nutritionally it offers you. It is about an attitude change almost as much as anything else.
For starters, it might be a good idea to turn to a tuna or chicken sandwich on granary bread, if you’re used to getting a burger for lunch. The idea remains the same – meat, pasta, seasoning – and in contrast, if it looks a little tasteless, there’s a lot you can do with pepper, paprika, or a variety of other light spices.
For others, the thought of replacing a candy bar with an apple or a bag of crisps with a handful of fruits and nuts is tantamount to replacing a small puddle swimming pool. If apples aren’t for you, however, there’s a large variety of fruits filled with flavor and nutrients. And none of that means you will never again eat candy. An occasional bar can actually make it easier to stick to the diet over the long term.
Talk about the role soft drinks are playing in your diet too. If you can replace a couple of soft drinks with a glass of water or fruit juice every week then you’ll benefit from the improvement this brings. It might sound dull, but on a hot day, there’s really no better taste than an ice-cold glass of water.