Principles of Healthy Eating | Fitness, Health and Happiness

I have come to realize that despite all the information that is out there there are a few things I?ve learned about nutrition and healthy eating that I am very unlikely to change.

Over the past 2 ?years my interest in nutrition and what I eat has become more of a passion and the connection between what I eat and athletic performance continues to fascinate me. I will always question and be open to new theories and trying new things. I will continue to make dietary changes as I learn and as my nutritional needs change but some things I know for sure and I can say with almost 100% certainty I will not change:

I don?t ?diet.? Stand in line at the grocery store and your bombarded with headlines about diets to lose weight easily and fast. The diet industry is a bazillion dollar business with promises of looking your best, lose 10 pounds in 3 days or lose weight without working out. The headlines and marketing [very briefly] catch my attention but in the end I put the magazine back on the rack without giving the headlines a second thought.?I eat to be the healthiest and happiest I can be.?

I avoid processed foods. With the nutrition changes I?ve made over the past 2 years I noticed the biggest improvement in my health, how I felt and my appearance when I eliminated processed foods. That one small step made the biggest difference.

I find alternative ways to handle stress. I have a tendency to be a stress eater. I am quick to grab something to eat when I?m stressed to feel that brief time of relief. I understand that I can easily fall into a cycle of stress>eat to feel better>feel bad physically and mentally about what I ate>stress>eat again. Recognizing this this about me makes it easier to rethink how I handle stress and successfully avoid the cycle.

I eat to run and what I eat affects my performance.?With eating a plant-based diet I feel less beat up and less run down after a long run or race and my?recovery time has decreased significantly.

I eat 5 times a day. When I eat 3 meals and 2 snacks I avoid, ?OMG I?m starving? which is when I?m more likely to grab anything that is readily available healthy or not.

What I eat affects my health. I have a history of severe migraines, often on a weekly basis, some of which ended up with me in the emergency room. In June of 2011 I eliminated processed foods from my diet and to this day I can say it takes less than the number of fingers I have on one hand to count the number of migraines I?ve had. Maybe it?s coincidence? I don?t think so and I?m not willing to take the risk.?Nothing is worth eating that means I would go back to having debilitating migraines.?

I?m not a doctor and I?m not a dietician [yet]. The principles are from personal experience, experimenting and with monitoring by my doctor.

Have you found nutrition and/or fitness principles that work for you? What are your principles of healthy eating? Do headlines of a quick fix or an easy diet catch your attention?

Tagged: blog hop, Fitness Friday, Fitness Friday blog hop, health and fitness, nutrition, plant-based diet, running, training, vegan, vegetarian

Source: http://jillconyers.com/2013/07/principles-of-healthy-eating/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=principles-of-healthy-eating

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