Eating Better: Some Helpful Tips

I shared last week about my goal to eat better and get healthier in 2017. My husband and I have had five weeks to try different things to find out what works best for us. So I thought I'd share a few a few tips that we've found helpful. 

​Drink a lot of water. Now, for someone like me, it's way easier said than done. But when I focus on drinking water, I'm not nearly as hungry. I also have found that it helps to take large drinks instead of little sips of water. The glass I currently use can hold 16 oz. I try to drink 1/3 to 1/2 of it at a time. 

Don't drink your calories. This was another hard one for me. Before December of last year, I loved drinking juices and teas. In Finding Joy, I mention that Chelsea is addicted to blueberry sweet tea and let me tell you, I can say the stuff is good from experience lol. Now, the flavored Texas Teas I did drink are a whole lot better for me than sodas, but still. When you're counting calories and eating 1200 or less per day, I try to keep the sugar drinks to a bare minimum. 

Eat your big meal in the middle of the day. We started doing this recently and it's been a great change in our routine for more than one reason. Previously, we'd eat super light all day, knowing that the bulk of our calories would come with the evening meal. That meant we were often hungry through the day and then would end dinner, have quite a few extra calories left over, and then eat a snack afterwards. Now, when we eat our heaviest meal at lunch time, we have way more energy for getting through the day, plus we can balance our calories better. Not only that, but it gives our bodies a chance to digest all of that food during the active part of our day. 

Don't eat after 8 p.m. This is another one we've just started doing. We're trying our best to only drink water after eight so that we don't go to bed with full bellies. I'm sleeping better this way because I'm more comfortable, too. Before December, I had a lot of issues with acid reflux at night. I haven't had a single episode of it since we started eating better. 

Don't skip breakfast. I typically only eat about 110 calories in the morning, but I find I feel a lot better going into the day when I do. 

Have a healthy snack. This is something we do every day. Around 3 or 3:30 we have a snack that's usually 150-200 calories to help us get through the afternoon. 

It's okay to have something sweet. Really, it is! But it's all in moderation. We usually try to keep track of our calories and then, after the evening meal, we'll have something sweet. It might be candy, some dried fruit, or slightly sweetened cereal. Most often, it's some form of chocolate. And whatever we eat, it's to cap off the 1200 calories we've got to work with for the day. It also gives us something to look forward to food-wise and a great way to end the day. 

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I hope you find some of this helpful! Eating better and managing calories is definitely an on-going adventure!