How healthy is your eating habits?

The food you eat can affect your health and your risk for certain diseases. To eat healthier food, you may need to change some of your daily habits. You also may need to change some things in your environment. Your environment includes everything around you, like your home or the place you work.

You don’t need to make huge changes to eat healthier. And you don’t have to change your habits all at the same time. It’s best to set small goals and change your habits a little bit at a time. Over time, small changes can make a big difference in your health.

This information will help you make useful changes for healthy eating.

• Changing your eating habits and your environment can help you eat healthier foods.
• A healthy diet is good for your overall health. It also can help you reach a healthy weight and stay there.
• To improve your eating habits, it’s best to make small lifestyle changes that you can keep doing over time.

How can you change your eating habits?

To eat a healthy diet, you may need to make some changes. Remember that you can change your eating habits a little bit at a time. Small changes are easier to make and can lead to better health.

Here are some ways to make healthy changes in your eating habits:

• Keep more fruits, low-fat dairy products (low-fat milk and low-fat yoghurt), vegetables, and whole-grain foods at home and at work. Focus on adding healthy food to your diet, rather than just taking unhealthy foods away.
• Try to eat a family meal every day at the kitchen or dining table. This will help you focus on eating healthy meals.
• Buy a healthy-recipe book, and cook for yourself. Chew gum when you cook so you won’t be tempted to snack on the ingredients.
• Pack a healthy lunch and snacks for work. This lets you have more control over what you eat.
• Put your snacks on a plate instead of eating from the package. This helps you control how much you eat.
• Don’t skip or delay meals, and be sure to schedule your snacks. If you ignore your feelings of hunger, you may end up eating too much or choosing an unhealthy snack. If you often feel too hungry, it can cause you to focus a lot on food.
• Eat your meals with others when you can. Relax and enjoy your meals, and don’t eat too fast. Try to make healthy eating a pleasure, not a chore.
• Drink water instead of high-sugar drinks (including high-sugar juice drinks).