While most people say they would like to find healthier alternatives to the foods they eat, few actually do anything about it. We are comfortable with our existing diets. We don’t want to go through the effort and stress of looking for and trying something different.
But healthier food choices are not always that difficult to find; they are often just inches away on grocery store shelves from the regular foods we buy.
And sometimes we don’t give obvious healthier options the credit they deserve.
Milk is a great example of healthier options displayed immediately beside our regular choice, and us not realizing how much healthier the options can be.
There are at least four varieties in the milk case at the grocery store: homogenized (3.25% butter fat), 2%, 1% and Skim (non-fat). So how much difference can there be if the fat content is just 1% different from one variety to the next?
When you compare the fat content alone, you see huge differences, which can make huge differences to your weight management efforts:
- 5% more fat in homogenized milk versus 2%
- 100% more fat in 2% vs. 1%
- 225% more fat in homogenized vs. 1%
Think about it. If you had a choice of two foods that were more or less the same, but one had 62.5% more butter fat than the other, would you even think twice about which one was far healthier, and which one you’d choose?
A Few Other Healthy Food Alternatives That are Easy to Choose
- Brown Rice Instead of White Rice – You’ll find them beside each other and you can prepare them both in the same way, but brown rice has three times the fibre of white rice and has higher nutritional values.
- Fresh or Frozen Vegetables Instead of Canned – Check the salt content of most canned vegetables and you’ll see why fresh or frozen are a better choice.
- Make Your Own Trail Mix – Snack foods are the weak point in most people’s diets. If you have made the leap to healthier snacks, like trail mix instead of potato chips, then the next step should be easy. Prepared trail mix often contains added salt and sugars. If you buy the ingredients of your favourite mix separately, and put them together at home, you’ll have an even healthier snack.
It’s far easier than you think to find lots of healthy food alternatives that can make a huge difference in the success of your weight-loss program. Talk to your local Herbal One nutritional consultant to find out more.