How did you LEARN to eat healthy?

took a 6 week nutrition class. very informative learned to make better choices while still enjoying the foods that i liked

You really have to learn to filter out all the conflicting information. . . on this site, on the inerwebz, on TV, in the newsstands. Like Sabine said, listen to your body, and read everything. Certain things will begin to resonate with you. You may need to do some experimenting to find your Happy Place, but when you do, you'll know it. Just use common sense.



*edit. I will learn to type, someday.....:grumble:

I like to keep it simple. Remember the food group pyramid they taught us in school? I eat anything from there. I've modified percentages but that's about it and I got those from reading sites like this and other fitness sites.

I'm assuming if you are on here are trying to lose weight like I am, then you have not always eaten the best, most nutritious foods in the proper amounts, also like me.
If you have changed the way you eat, added or deleted certain foods from your diet, or modified the way you prepare foods, where did you get the ideas to make those changes?
Did you read books, research on the Internet? Watch documentaries? Talk to a nutritionist?

I am having a bit of confusion on what exactly is HEALTY and what is not. I feel safe with, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and meat). But what about dairy? Wheat and grain? Good carbs and bad carbs? Sugar?

The more I research, the more contradicting theories I see. So I'm just wondering if you have a source that you believe in that you base your healthy eating habits on. Sell me on how your diet is the right one. But please don't bash anyone else's way, we are all working towards the same goals in our own ways. There are some types of diets that are not right for me, I could never be a vegetarian, but I'm interested in how vegetarians chose that way.

Vegetables are always a winner---we never eat enough of them and they are the supreme food for nourishment per calorie. Fruits are good in moderation--one or two servings a day (because of the fructose content, they need to be lightly consumed, especially if one is sedentary). Nuts are an excellent source of nutrition, but again, they need to be eaten sparingly as they are very high in calories (fat). Dairy is good as long as you don't have a lactose or casein intolerance (and many people do). Full-fat plain yogurt is one of the healthiest foods you can eat. I put some on my lemon and garlic chicken and rice tonight--YUM! Chicken (free-range, no hormones or antibiotics), organic eggs and fish (wild caught) are all good choices for animal protein. Grains are, again, good in moderation. We eat far too much grain and our bodies and innards are really not that good at utilizing a lot of grain. Wheat isn't a particularly good grain since the last few decades of messing with its properties has made it an entirely different food from what our ancestors ate. Most days, I eat just one piece of 100% organic rye bread, two on my heavy workout days (sour dough raised, which is better for you than yeast raised). I eat the odd bowl of oatmeal (once or twice a week) for the beta glucans it contains (good for the immune system among other things). I just put a little bit of butter on it and I might throw in a few pecans or walnuts. Mixing fruit and grain together is a bad Idea (don't ask). Eating table sugar is ALWAYS a bad idea. Sugar not only makes people fat, it makes them sick as well. There's a book called, The Fat Switch by cardiologist, Richard J. Johnson, M. D. that discusses why fructose (table sugar is 50% fructose) is so very bad for you and contributes to chronic disease. The little bit of fructose that we get in a couple of pieces of fruit per day is not the problem. It is the 75 pounds of fructose that the average person eats in the 150 pounds of sugar that most people eat per year that IS the problem. The amount of fructose that is in one can of soda is equal to the amount of fructose in a DOZEN oranges. And there is no fiber in the soda to slow down the transmission of the fructose into bodily systems. Sugar wreaks metabolic havoc.

I have done a lot of investigation into various foods and this is the diet that works for me and makes me feel good. We also need to get into the habit of viewing exercise as essential to good health and body fat control.

p.s. New research has demonstrated that full-fat dairy (remember now, no sugar) is a very good part of maintaining weight loss because of some unique properties that it has.

I don't think any food is unhealthy if eaten in moderation. A diet of ice cream and cookies isn't going to be good but if you want to eat that sometimes and it fits in your budget then go for it. I think as you start tracking calories you start to figure out what fits for you. What things you'd give up because of the calories and what you're willing to sacrifice for. Unless you have an issue with a particular food then I see no reason to cut it out.

You'll get all kinds of advice to not eat gluten, dairy, meat, grains, etc but if you have no issue with those foods why put yourself through the drama? Weight loss comes down to calories in, calories out. As you move along you'll probably just naturally start making better choices. One thing I would recommend is not to fall into the trap of eating low fat, no fat products or believing that drinking some shake or supplement is going to be the fix you need. Eventually you have to live in the real world and doing that eating real food is much easier than counting on a crutch.

My main concern is not losing weight any more, it is eating healthy. Cooking healthy. Teaching my son to eat healthy. I do think there are some things that I may potentially cut out of our diet or at least limit severely. Sugars and breads mainly are on my list at the moment. Im not one to take things to the extreme, and I don't follow restrictive diets. I just find myself wondering if we could feel stronger, better, clearer if we (people in general) ate better. But right now, i'm trying to figure out what better is.

I agree with the poster who says don't fall into the trap of eating no-fat foods--they are extremely unhealthy because they often just substitute sugar for the fat that they take out. Plus, fat is an essential part of our diet and it provokes satisfaction at fewer calories than simple carbs. You are on the right track in cutting out sugar and cutting back on grain. I am currently on a two-week fast from fructose and it is simply amazing how much more energy and endurance I have. I look forward to adding moderate amounts of fruit back into my diet but I will never eat sugar again. Dr. Johnson's book was a real eye-opener as to why eating sugar is SO very bad for us. Even fruit juice with is packed with fructose is a bad idea. Pediatricians are finally clued in to the fact that apple juice (the most fructose-laden of them all) is hardly a healthy drink for children (mind you, it is better than soda pop, but not by much). Many children who are chubby will slim down when their choices of drink are restricted to water or milk,

I saw some friends I hadn't seen for ages. they had all lost weight and looked fantastic.
They got me onto clean eating- Paleo.
I did a tonne of research, and jumped in with both feet, emptying out the cupboards etc.
it's been all good for me since then!
I have always had kidney stones, a recent flareup ( not drinking enough water) made me realise a lot of the foods which are superfoods I was including in my diet, aren't great for people with calcifications due to their high oxalate content.
I'm still refining my diet but feel good and am healthy and happy.
We are all individuals and need to follow our own cues.
Good luck.

You would likely really benefit from reading Dr. Johnson's book. He is a cardiologist/renal specialist. He has recently received a National Institute of Health grant to investigate the cause of an epidemic of renal disease among young sugar cane workers in several tropical countries. He expects that the results will show fructose to be the culprit because it significantly raises uric acid levels. It seems that the workers drink a lot of sugar-sweetened fruit juice or, even worse, soda pop to ward off dehydration but their uric acid levels skyrocket and blows out their kidneys.

There are no Unhealthy foods as long as you eat them in Moderation. My wife and I started last year in Jan and at the start it was about reading labels and checking calories, for the first 6 months calories was all I was worried about, once I got a good start on the weightloss I started looking at protein so i would not lose too much muscle and then watching my sugar and sodium. It is a progress thing that takes time. Good luck to you.

Add: one rule and its my only rule that has helped more than anything: NEVER EAT ANYTHING BEFORE IT IS LOGGED. if you do that you will never be over unless by choice.

I've watched documentaries and joined facebook groups. I've learnt a lot from online friends I have never met.

My turning point was watching "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead". But you don't have to do full time juicing only to get healthy. 1 juice a day with the right ingredients can get you started in eating the recommended daily intake of fruit and veg, all in one drink! Then a healthy lunch dinner and snacks with water to drink and you are a whole day better off than you were yesterday!

I'm now also looking into the health benefits of The Gerson Diet , Paleo, Vegan & Raw Clean Food Eating. There are tonnes of support groups on FB if you use it.

Other documentaries I've watched are Hungry for Change and The Beautiful Truth. I'm watching The Gerson Miracle online right now and want to watch Forks over Knives.

I hope this has helped.

Not too long ago my mom said "if your grandparents or great-grandparents wouldn't recognize it as food then don't eat it." This is probably the best advice I've ever heard. Get rid of all the stuff that's filled with chemicals - packaged foods, processed food, non-fat chemical-filled stuff - and go back to the basics. It's not easy to cut everything out at once, but I think it's pretty good advice!