Below is a list of nutritional behaviors consistent with those committed to living healthy lifestyles, weight loss and weight management.
Nutrition Habits for Adults
- Drink at least ½ your total body weight (measured in pounds) in ounces of H2O daily (Use the water intake calculator)
http://waterintakecalculator.com/ - Drink 8 ounces of H2O prior to every meal
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195666312001572 - Eat a minimum of 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables daily (Use the Daily Fruit/Vegetable Calculator)
http://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/everyone/fruitsvegetables/howmany.html - Eat breakfast daily
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11836452
- Maintain a Food Journal or use an App to track daily intake; write down everything you eat.
- Consume 3-6 small meals per day, eating about every 2-3 hours (do this in an effort not to overeat at any one meal).
- Eat only fruits or vegetables after dinner or 9:00 pm (whatever works best in your lifestyle).
- Have a well-defined beginning and end to each meal
Other ideas from participants of previous Nutrition Habit Challenges:
- I am not going to snack after the dinner meal and I am going to drink at least 6 to 8 glasses of water per day. Me writing this will keep me motivated and want to keep on top of my goal.
- “Say a prayer prior to each meal, being thankful for what I have, not what I am missing”
- “Eliminate soda, juice or other calorie containing beverages” (12 ounces of soda has 140 calories and 34 grams of sugar; 12 ounces of OJ has 168 calories and 31 grams of sugar)
- “No fast food lunches” (1 Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich has 440 calories 37%fat, 37%carbs, 26%protein; Subway 12” Turkey Sub has 560 calories 11%fat, 64%carbohydrates, 25%protein)
- “One sweet per week”
- “No second helpings after dinner”
- “Eat a meal/snack within 45 minutes of a workout”
- “Eliminate cheese from sandwiches” (1 slice of cheese has 100-120 calories)
- “Prepare healthy meals and snacks for the next day the night before”
More ideas from previous participants!
- I will eat no more than 100 calories after dinner
- I will stop eating in the living room and all other rooms other than the kitchen, and I will eat at least 1 serving of fruit or vegetables with each meal.
- I will not eat white carbs- white breads-candy-over processed foods-cakes cookies…. If it is white I can’t eat it!
- I will be consuming three servings of vegetables per day (currently less than 1) and logging in all of my calorie intake on FitBit
- Have a prepared and cooked dinner everyday
- Eliminate processed sugar found in canned, boxed and frozen foods
- Walk at least one mile a day
- No fast food lunches at work and no more than 16.9 oz per soda day
- Only a teaspoon of sugar in one cup of coffee or tea versus the huge amount I normally put in
- No eating/drinking calories after my dinner meal
- Drink at least 2 large glasses of water before I eat anything after dinner
- Drink NO fruit juice
- I plan to change my mentality from “snacking” after dinner to having another healthy “meal” of vegetables or fruit only
- In the evenings, I will limit my snack choice to a single serving to avoid binge eating for the remainder of the evening. The choice of snack doesn’t matter as long as I limit it to a single serving
- I will commit to using my mindful eating practice at one meal per day. This means that I will:
1. Rate my hunger (scale of 1-5) before my meal.
2. Say grace before I eat
3. Eat my portioned amount for 30 minutes
4. Check in with my hunger after 30 minutes
5. Then decide if I want to have seconds - Physical activity with family for at least 30 minutes everyday!