Five (REALISTIC) Ways To Eat Healthier This Month

Eating a healthy, balanced diet is one of the most important things you can do to protect your health. In fact, up to 80% of premature heart disease and stroke can be prevented through your life choices and habits, such as eating a healthy diet and being physically active.

Eating a healthy diet is not about strict limitations, staying unrealistically thin, or depriving yourself of the foods you love. Rather, it’s about feeling great, having more energy, improving your health, and boosting your mood. Below are five REALISTIC ways to eat healthier this month:

1. Go, go, H2O!

We all know drinking water helps in nearly every aspect of wellness, but drinking the recommended amount of water per day can be tough. Electrolyte additives offer the same, if not better benefits that drinking six or more glasses of water a day would.

2. Choose food over supplements

Though there are some who sincerely lack certain vitamins and minerals that can’t be achieved through diet alone, most of the good things our bodies need come from food — not store-bought supplements. Research shows that certain supplements haven’t been tested to meet many purity and safety standards, making them unreliable sources of nutrition.

3. Opt for color

When in doubt, throw some color on your plate — natural color, that is. Bright greens from crunchy vegetables or vibrant reds from tangy fruit will not only make your meal Instagram-worthy, they’ll give you a healthy boost.

4. Pack your lunch

Avoiding typical restaurant or fast-food grease may seem obvious, but according to Harvard Health Publishing, even more important than that is the ability to control portion sizes when you pack your own lunch. Try something fun like a DIY Bento box!

5. Shop the perimeter

Shopping a supermarket's outside aisles ensures that you’re getting healthy alternatives to processed foods like produce, meat, and dairy. When you move inward, most, if not all, of the products contain unnecessary additives and sugar.