Strategies for Creating Healthy Eating and Active Living

To consume healthy foods, it takes a little strategy and accuracy. However, before you will get dizzy of thinking about the strategy, there's nothing wrong if we follow the suggestions of Walter C Willet, MD, author of Eat, Drink and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Living.

1. Instead of using butter, preferably using olive or canola oil for frying or salad dressing. Olive oil and canola oil contains double and single bond of unsaturated fatty acids and that can reduce bad cholesterol.

2. Replace red meat with fish, chicken, or beans if you want to get the protein. However, if you really want to eat meat, choose lean red meat.

3. If you like eating a snack, try to choose snacks made from wheat or corn, and not made from wheat flour.

4. If you want to make a sauce for pudding, for example, then try to replace full-fat milk with low fat milk. The result wil be the same and even more delicious. Or you can replace it with yogurt that also low in calories.

5. Avoid buying or eating packaged foods. Usually the food contains hidrogenase oil or commonly called trans fats, which of course is not good for health.

6. If you previously used to attach a high-fat cheese for pizza or a salad, try switching to parmesan cheese, blue cheese, feta, or low fat cheddar cheese.

7. Do not remove the peanut butter in your foods. Peanut butter contain enough healthy fats. However, you must make sure that you buy a natural peanut butter.

8. Add green vegetables when making a salad.

9. It's better to consume wheat or bulgur instead of white rice or potatoes.

10. Eat beans and peanuts. A little bit contrary to popular belief, peanuts are the best protein sources. People who eat peanuts regularly are less died from heart disease than other who eat less.