Healthy Lifestyle

Whether plant milks are in your diet or not, keeping a health diary is the perfect kick-start to a healthy lifestyle. Even if it seems like a big jump into the unknown, it’s really worth the effort. By keeping track of exactly what and when you eat, you can see what you can do today to help improve your diet. What’s more, seeing what you eat and going through the process of filling in your health diary can help you manage any impulse eating, as you gain an understanding of what you usually have during the day. It can lead to an instant change when you realise what you’ve eaten. “Did I really drink that much soft drink?” Also taking note of what you’ve eaten can lead to little rewards and surprises. “Hold on, I just had muesli instead of the cooked Sunday breakfast. Well, it looks like I can enjoy Mum’s birthday cupcake guilt free!” Keeping a health diary is easy. Just write down anything you have eaten in that day. It’s that easy. Make sure you cross off the glasses of water as water is an essential part of a good diet.

If you’re interested in finding out the amount of fat, protein, carbs, fibre, and kilojoules/calories you’ve eaten, Google will point you to hundreds of online calorie counters, such as calorieking.com.au. Or you could check the nutritional information on your food labels. Now, this is the hard part. Be honest in your diary. Write everything down. It will be hard at first but the rewards are well and truly worthwhile! Take your diary with you, everywhere. And don’t be too hard on yourself. Like anything worth achieving, good eating can be hard at first. Don’t force yourself into instant and unrealistic results. Take it one day at a time. And when you’ve done well, be proud of yourself!