Eating for Health – 80/20 rule

We all want to be healthy and it makes sense to have a healthy diet to achieve good health, right?

Achieving a healthy diet is not about changing everything you do, it’s about small change that last, using an 80/20 ratio with your food choices will make a difference to your overall mental and physical health.
Having a healthy diet for 80% of your meals is great. For 20% of your meals, have a little more of what you fancy.
Think in terms of crowding out unhealthy foods.

By introducing new foods into your diet, one at a time, enjoy it and move onto another, you will reduce the craving for high carbs high sugar foods, you will keep blood glucose more even, which in turn will reduce your stress. All this will contribute to less cortisol and less body fat being stored.

Try something new

Add one new food or dish into your diet weekly. The slower the changes the more likely they’re to stick long term.
Enjoy your new foods.

Eliminating menopause symptoms with food

For peri-menopause and women at menopause increased body fat is a symptom, due to lowering metabolic rate and food consumption remaining the same. Hot flushes are also common place during menopause, which may be caused by refined sugar, alcohol, coffee, chocolate and spicy foods. A double whammy, the same foods are causing two major symptoms.

Avoiding these food completely, I believe, is unrealistic.

By using the 80:20 meal ratio, eg. there are 21 meals in a week. 20% = approx. 4 meals a week. These could make up your weekend meals. By eating healthily and well 80% of the time and 20% of your meals are more indulgent, this is a highly recommended way to have a balance diet.

By reducing the foods which will irritate the causes of hot flushes during the week then a little indulgence on the weekend may not affect you as much as a daily dose of theses foods. It’s also known that Omega-3 oils, such as that found in salmon & linseeds have been shown to reduce hot flushes on menopausal women. http://www.eatingwell.com/nutrition_health/nutrition_news_information/flaxseed_for_hot_flashes

When you eat for your health, weight loss is a side effect and no longer becomes the goal.

Join me next time

What do you replace these foods with? How to eat to balance your hormones and reduce stress?

Join me next week as I go more in-depth into the foods you can replace for healthier options during the week.