Diet Vs. Healthy Eating : What’s the Difference?

How many of you have tried a diet, lost a couple pounds and then stopped and gained them all back? Or how about a diet that leaves you starving all hours, leading to binging late at night? They advertise these diets as healthy, but sometimes, they are anything but.

I hate diets. Sorry, I don’t normally use the word hate, but diets are something I am strongly against. They are geared towards a temporary mindset. Whether it’s a diet for a day, week or month, they always will have an end date. Or, they are costly, and require you to pay for the rest of your life if you want to continue.

I am a big fan of healthy eating and lifestyle change. Change your eating patterns, be aware of the food you are consuming, eat real food, cook your own food and most importantly read food labels. Those are just some quick basics.

Real food doesn’t even have food labels. Do you have to have a food label on that banana you are buying? No, because you already know what is in it.

I wanted to share some tips and tricks on how to focus and gear more towards healthy and clean eating and get you away from that diet mentality.

Stop Counting Calories

Counting calories is normally associated with dieting. Keeping track of calories is not needed if you are eating a well balanced diet. Even if you are trying to lose weight, it is not necessary to count calories. If you switch over to more whole foods, your body will be getting less processed food and more food that is richer in nutrients. This means your body will be using, storing and burning a higher percentage of the food. When you are eating foods lower in nutrients such as processed foods, your body will be consuming less nutrients. These foods are what are considered ‘empty’ calories and have less nutrients, so they can be harder to digest and more often tend to lead to stored fat.

Choose Whole Foods

When choosing your food at the grocery store, choose whole foods over processed ones. Start at the outer edges of the store and grab fresh fruits and vegetables first, dairy and high quality meats. Only enter the middle aisles for specific items and limit your consumption of processed foods and prepared items. Read labels to limit additives, and choose foods that you can pronounce most of the ingredients on the label. If possible, try making your own salad dressings and dips from scratch as well.

Meal Prep

Life can be hectic and busy and sometimes eating healthy can be hard. Especially when we get home from work and still have to cook dinner. Meal prep doesn’t mean that you have to cook the entire meal in advance. It just means doing little things that can make cooking and eating healthy that much easier. Start with chopping up fresh vegetables in the fridge. This can be used for meals during the week or for snacking throughout the day. This way you are more likely to grab these instead of the cookies and unhealthy chips in the cupboard.

Meal Planning

This one is similar to meal prep, however it deserved a whole separate heading. Sometime throughout the weekend, sit down and plan what you would like to make each day of the week. This way anything you can prepare in advance that is needed. For example, making a batch of muffins and granola on Sunday so that you have easy breakfasts throughout the week. Great options for grab and go too. This also eases the stress of each day wondering what you are going to make and if you have the ingredients.

Everything in Moderation

This is extremely important. Most diets fail because you are depriving your body of the things you are craving and when you indulge, you feel you have failed. I believe in everything in moderation, so if you are craving pizza one night or a glass of wine, just go for it. We are too hard on ourselves most of the time. Don’t feel guilty if you indulge and eat unhealthy, just pick back up the next opportunity and keep going. Remember, progress and clean eating is a lifelong goal, so as long as the majority of the time you are eating healthy and living healthy, you are on the right track!

Swap for Healthier Alternatives

This means ditching the highly processed cookies and chips, or at least reducing consumption. Be mindful of the ingredients as most have trans fat and MSG included in the ingredients, even if it’s not on the label. There are lots of healthier options of chips and cookies out there. Or an even better idea is to make a fresh batch of your own cookies throughout the week. There are tons of healthy cookie recipes that take 5-10 minutes to prepare and only 10-15 minutes to bake so in the evening after dinner, try whipping up a batch before you settle down to watch tv or a movie.

Overall, eating healthy doesn’t have to be bland and boring and it shouldn’t deprive you of all the indulgent treats you previously loved. You can still eat dessert, and enjoy the glass of wine, just choose the healthier option where available and do so in moderation.

Remember, dieting is always meant to be temporary as it usually forces you to give up something you enjoy or drastically changes your diet to be unrealistic. If you follow the steps above as a starter point, you should be well on your way to living a healthier life, having more energy throughout the day and living guilt free while still enjoying your chocolate chip cookies!

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Heather