Healthy eating habits

Understand your food labels

Healthy eating habits can help you prevent and manage common diseases and illnesses. Understanding food labels can help you make healthy choices at your next trip to the grocery store.

Serving Size. Many food items contain more than one serving size. Other nutrition facts such as calories and sugar are listed based on one serving. If you eat two servings, you are eating twice the amount of calories, sugar, etc. listed on the packaging.

Percent Daily Value (%DV). This tells you how much of a nutrient (such as fat, protein, etc.) goes toward your daily nutrition total. Daily value percentages are based on a 2,000-calorie diet and can be adjusted according to your diet.

The Good and the Bad. It’s no secret that some nutrients are healthier than others such as calcium, vitamin C and fiber. However, some nutrients like cholesterol, sodium and sugar should only be eaten in small portions to prevent or avoid complications with diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and other illnesses.  For example, people with diabetes should try to have less than 2,000mg of sodium per day.

Beware of misleading claims on food labels like “sugar-free” and “calorie-free.” They still may contain unhealthy amounts of other ingredients. Additionally, labels that claim to have reduced amounts of an ingredient can still have a higher amount than you might expect.

Mindful eating habits

Over eating is easy when you have large amounts of food in front of you. Here are some tips to help you manage how much you eat.

• Keeping junk food out of sight– Replace candy with a fruit bowl.  Put cookies, chips or sweets on a high shelf where it is harder to reach and move healthier food where you can see it.
• Eating out- Many restaurants give more food than one person needs for one meal. Share a plate with someone or save some of your meal and put it in a “to-go” box. This way you are not wasting food and you can eat it later.
• Slow down while you eat- Eat regular meals such as breakfast lunch and dinner and never let more than four hours pass without eating to avoid overeating or eating too fast at your next meal.
• Listen to your body- Don’t eat until you can’t eat another bite. Eat until you aren’t hungry any more.
• Snacking- If you feel hungry between meals, eat a healthy snack, like a piece of fruit. It can keep you from eating too much during your next meal.

Eating from large packages- Don’t eat straight from the package. Serve the food in a small bowl to prevent over eating.