A dietitian can help you to make the best food choices and take care of your health. They will give you support, knowledge, skills and advice. You don’t have to have a health issue to work with a dietitian, here are 5 reasons on why you should see a dietitian. Many dietitians offer services virtually and most employee benefit plans cover dietitian services. You should check your plan today but first here are some tips from our staff which you can read below and implement into your daily lives.
Create a healthy eating environment
Your eating environment changes depending on where you live, learn, work and play. Regardless of where you are, try to make changes to your surroundings so that the healthy choice is the easy choice.
Use your senses
Being mindful of the foods you eat encourages you to pay attention to the aromas, textures, flavors and taste of food. Pay attention to your likes and dislikes using these senses.
Consider your eating habits
Think about the last meal or snack that you had. Can you describe:
- How you ate?
- Did you eat slowly? Were you distracted? Did you eat with others?
- Why you ate?
- Were you hungry? Was it offered to you?
- What you ate?
- What did you have to eat and drink?
- When you ate?
- What time was it? How long had it been since the last time you ate?
- Where you ate?
- Were you in a space meant for eating?
- How much you ate?
- How much food and drink did you have?
Being able to recall and describe answers to these questions means you were likely being mindful of your eating habits. However, in life different events can occur unexpectedly, and stress will arise. If your eating habits change when you feel stressed, you are not alone! Everybody reacts differently to stress, but there are healthy habits you can develop to help cope.
- Enjoy movement. Get outside for a walk, stretch or do some yoga, play an active game with your family.
- Get enough sleep. It’s recommended to get 7-8 hours a night. Start to develop a calming bedtime routine and limit screen time an hour before bed.
- Engage in activities you enjoy. Call a friend or family member, cook or bake, spend time with your kids, listen to your favourite music.
- Reach for brain nourishing foods. Fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats such as nuts and seeds, avocado, and fish all support brain health to cope better with stress.
Here are 8 great ideas!
1. Carrots and peppers with hummus
2. Almonds butter on banana slices
3. Greek yogurt topped with berries
4. Whole grain toast with peanut butter
5. Cheddar cheese and apple slices
6. Small handful of trail mix made with nuts, seeds and raisins
7. Whole grain toast with avocado and sesame seeds
8. Whole grain cereals with milk
Of course you still need to have your main meals, which starts with breakfast. However, do you struggle to make time for breakfast? Preparing it the night before can help save time the next morning and start your day off great! For example, a great way to enjoy this is having overnight oats: ½ cup oats mixed with ½ cup milk topped with your favourite fruit, nuts and cinnamon! Allow to sit in the fridge overnight for the oats to soak up and “cook” in the liquid.
Another great breakfast idea is a Pear Raspberry Yogurt Muesli.
Cholesterol is a fat-like substance that is part of your body’s cells and helps you to make vitamin D and certain hormones. However, having high cholesterol levels put you at higher risk for heart disease. Here are actions you can take to prevent or lower higher cholesterol levels:
| Some facts about sodium:
Some tips to help you reduce sodium intake:
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