Let’s be honest, who can say they continuously eat healthily? I for one can definitely not say this! 

A healthy balanced diet is so important, it helps to maintain good health to make you feel your best. A healthy diet provides the body with everything it needs to keep up good health. Eating unhealthily too often, can lead to health issues and complications. Let’s dig in to find out what we need to do to keep ourselves fit, strong and healthy– no pun intended!

Healthy eating doesn’t necessarily mean you have to cut out junk food. Junk foods do not give the body the nutrients and other elements it needs to remain healthy. You should aim for a well-balanced diet.

Meal Planning 

We at Make Me A Plan love it when a plan goes well, that’s why we strongly recommend creating and following a meal plan. This will make it much easier to keep up with healthy eating. Not only can meal planning help to motivate you to eat and feel well, but there are also many more benefits:

-        Time saving – Planning meals for the week will help you to manage your time better

-        Portion control - Planning and preparing meals in advance can help you to manage your portion sizes, meaning you will be less likely to overeat

-        Reducing the amount of food waste

-        ‘What shall we have for dinner’? – Common question, right? Planning your meals ahead will save you the stress of having to decide what to eat and cook last minute.

-        Save money – Cut out the impulse spending, planning meals ahead will help you to be, and feel more prepared

-        Enjoy more variety of foods – When life gets busy, it is easy to cook the same meals over and over again. Planning your meals ahead will allow you to prepare something healthy for the week ahead 

Benefits of a healthy diet

There are many benefits to eating and drinking healthily, physically and mentally. If you are anything like me, you may understand the basics and the importance of healthy eating, but actually thinking of all the different ways in which it plays such a huge role in your physical and mental wellbeing becomes a bit of a blur. Without a healthy-balanced diet, our bodies and brains will function at a much lower level. Below, I have listed just some of the many physical and mental benefits healthy eating promotes:

Physical benefits-

-        Supporting muscles

-        Boost your immunity

-        Strengthening bones

-        Helps to achieve and maintain a healthy weight

-        Helping the digestive system to function

-        Healthy pregnancies

-        Lower risk of developing heart problems and diabetes.

-        Better overall health 

-        Improved gut health 

Mental benefits- 

-        Better mood

-        Decreased mental illness

-        Stronger ability to handle problems 

-        Increased confidence

-        Increased self-esteem

-        Clear thinking

-        A greater sense of calm and peace

Motivational tips to healthy eating 

-        Identify all the reasons of WHY you have chosen to start eating healthily – This will help you when times get tough, reflecting on your reasons why, will enable you to stick to the initial plan.

-        Hire a nutritionist to help you reach your nutritional goals.

-        Set yourself realistic goals.

-        Reward your success – Each time you achieve your goal, reward it! This incentive will provide you with what you need to continue working towards bigger goals.

-        Write it all down - Believe it or not, there is a huge difference in what you think in your brain, compared to writing things down in black and white. Keeping food journals will guide you to reflect on your progress in the weeks ahead, allowing you to see how far you have come. 

-        Do it together- Team up with a friend or family member, providing support when it is needed.

Above all, be kind to yourself. We all have bad days, but each bad day is rewarded with a good day! A positive mindset is key to good performance. Remember that things don’t just change overnight, it takes time and actually a lot of effort to improve!

Hydration

As humans, we naturally have a huge percentage of water in our bodies. Drinking enough water is vital for your health. You probably already know this, but we should aim to drink 6-8 glasses of water per day. Not only is water healthy and cheap, but also contains no calories and no sugar, preventing damage to your teeth. There are many important benefits of water consumption within the human body:

-        Delivering oxygen throughout the body

-        Boosts skin health

-        Regulating body temperature

-        Flushes away body waste

-        Helps to maintain good blood pressure

-        Boots the productivity of the brain

-        Weight loss

-        Prevents damage to vital organs 

-        Healthy heart

I find that water can taste really bland, making it quite hard to enjoy a glass of water, resulting in little motivation to continue healthy drinking, but it doesn’t have to be boring… spice it up a little! 

Motivational tips to healthy hydration

-        Add some flavour to your water by adding fruit.

-        Introduce water into your daily routine. You could plan to drink a glass of water after every meal, after you have been to the toilet, even after brushing your teeth.

-        Set daily goals.

-        Always keep a reusable water bottle with you, wherever you go! This way, you can’t forget!

-        Use your favourite cup/bottle.

-        Use a water tracking app to turn water consumption into a game. This will also allow you to track your progress.

A healthy balanced diet is key to the performance of how your body works, and to promote overall health. For some, healthy eating comes naturally, but for others, it can be a really difficult concept to come to terms with. 

If you struggle with the idea of introducing a healthy diet to your daily routine, here are some simple tips to help make things a little easier:

-        Introduce a healthy diet one day/week at a time, try not to overwhelm yourself.

-        Move at your own pace, you should have a good relationship with food, not a stressful one.

-        Say no to sugary drinks

-        Most importantly, don’t be too hard on yourself, it is a good idea to allow yourself some flexibility. Reward yourself for your achievements, promoting you to carry on whilst looking forward to a nice treat. It would also be good to keep a food diary, allowing you to keep track, and look back once you become more comfortable with healthy eating. 

Check out our social media pages  – Make Me A Plan, where you can find a simple fruit and veg bingo card, encouraging you to enjoy a different range of fruit and veg. Ticking off as you go, how fast can you complete the grid?

Ps – if you want some guidance and to ponder the big questions in life, why not check out the Philosopher-in-Residence series. Out every fortnight on a Thursday, and written by our Principal Planner, Anna Pascoe. You can take a peek at the latest edition here