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Women’s History Month: Healthy Eating for Healthy Living

I loved the occasional indulgence as anyone else. An extra teaspoon of sugar in my coffee.  Or another (just tiny, please) slice of coconut cake.  And I thought, give or take an area of weakness, I was pretty healthy. So when my friend Ashley, the aspiring nurse practitioner, asked if she could monitor my eating habits for a class assignment, I accepted immediately.

A week later when Ashley reviewed the food diary she asked me to keep, the healthy me I thought I was crumbled.  She started. Pork chops with twice deep fried potato wedges? I winced and the excuses began. Um, pork chops were on sale? She was unimpressed.  Popeyes take out? It was a road trip.  Bacon and frozen buttermilk waffles? It was Saturday. Everyone knows you have to treat yourself on weekends.  As if the embarrassing review weren’t enough, Ashley opened my refrigerator and cabinets, announcing more issues. Honey whole wheat bread. Low fiber.  Cereal.  High sugar content.  Fruit and vegetable quantity. Pitiful.

After this humbling invasion of privacy, Ashley offered tips on how I could improve my diet.  That mini-study was the beginning of a slow and steady quest to transform my eating habits. I encourage you to assess your eating habits; chances are there may be room for improvement.  Below are a few ideas, based on what I’ve learned over the years, to move in the right direction towards healthier eating.

Watch and Learn: I used to avoid documentaries for fear of too much knowledge encroaching on my food enjoyment.  But now I’m a walking advertisement for (free) documentaries like Forks Over Knives and Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.  Ignorance is bliss, but remember choosing not to increase your food knowledge will not keep your arteries from clogging up.

Try Something New: My goal is to buy a new fruit or vegetable whenever I go grocery shopping.  I force myself to try intimidating fruits and vegetables. I’ve come to enjoy pomegranate, brussel sprouts, acorn squash and bok choy.  It’s surprisingly easy to prepare these veggies—a bit of olive oil, black pepper and sea salt.  And if I don’t know something, I simply look it up…like how to open a pomegranate.

Buy Organic…When You Can:  It’s a major trend here in the States, but in other countries it’s just how food is supposed to be.  I shop at Trader Joe’s because it’s relatively inexpensive organic though I still stagger at the price of a pack of organic beef versus one in another grocery store. It’s training your mind to realize that there is a reason why it costs more, but this can be an uphill battle hence the “when you can.”

Go Meatless…When You Can: I’ve begun incorporating more vegetarian meals into my diet. I was always under the impression that no meal was complete without meat, but now I find myself sometimes opting for vegetarian-only meals. There are great and flavorful recipes online (e.g., Kayln’s Kitchen: http://punchfork.com/from/Kalyns-Kitchen/vegetarian).

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A.B Stephen studied health behavior and health education in graduate school. She currently works for a public health agency in the DC metro area. She enjoys writing and attempting flavorful recipes, sometimes even vegetarian ones.