Creating your own “food rules” can be a powerful way to help make nutritious eating decisions a lot easier. Here are some to try yourself.
It’s estimated that the average person makes more than 200 food-related decisions each day – skim milk or regular? Sugar, sweetener or honey? Small, medium or large? Toast with butter or margarine, jam or Vegemite? Cut or not? Toasted or fresh?
Even at a single meal, the decisions add up, and that is before you consider that there are tens of thousands of items at a supermarket to pick from. So many choices add up, and as decision fatigue sets in, certain foods become increasingly tempting.
For this reason, creating your own food rules can be a powerful way to help make healthy eating decisions a lot more easily. When we have rules, we reduce the opportunity to be enticed by distracting, tempting foods that detract from the food-related goals we have set ourselves.
Rules help to reduce decision fatigue, ultimately making healthy eating a default habit rather than a daily effort. And best of all, you can make your own rules, ensuring they suit your lifestyle and food preferences. Here are some of the general rules I use with my clients to make healthy eating a lot easier.
Always eat carb- and protein-rich foods together
A meal that is heavy in carbohydrates minus a decent serve of protein – such as plain toast, a bowl of pasta or noodles, or a snack of fruit or crackers – will leave you far less satisfied and probably looking for food within an hour or two of eating.
But a well-balanced meal or snack that combines a controlled portion of good quality carbohydrates with a good source of protein will tick several nutritional boxes and keep you full and satisfied for another two to three hours at least. Think yoghurt and fruit, tuna on crackers, eggs on toast or chicken and a little pasta or brown rice, ideally with vegetables for balance.
Allow at least two to three hours between eating
In modern life, the average adult rarely goes longer than an hour or two without eating something – a milk coffee here, some fruit there, before a snack of a biscuit or chocolate and then a meal – it basically adds up to a lot of eating.
The body needs space between meals, at least two to three hours without any food, for our digestive hormones to return to baseline levels, and to allow us to actually deplete the energy we have so that we feel naturally hungry.
Treats a couple of times a week
If you have small children, you will be well aware that what we experienced as a weekly, occasional treat as children is now more likely to be a daily indulgence of higher calorie, party-style foods for both adults and children alike.
We reward ourselves with high-calorie, treat-style foods after a hard day, a long meeting or at every birthday or life challenge. This means we are all eating a lot more chocolate, confectionery and cake – on a daily basis.
To take control, set a limit on how often you include these foods in your diet and so make it easier to say no when the office cake or fundraising chocolate circulates again.
Aim for 12 hours overnight without food
There has been plenty of research into the health-related benefits that come from various intermittent fasting regimes, but the easiest way to reap the benefits associated with regular fasting is to ensure you allow a minimum of 12 hours overnight without food.
This is the period of time associated with a number of metabolic and digestive benefits.
Unfortunately, few of us achieve this, with late-night meals and snacks meaning many of us struggle to get even eight to 10 hours overnight without a food stimulus of any kind.
This simple rule of stopping all food intake after 7 or 8 o’clock at night and then not eating for 12 hours is an easy rule to implement and has numerous health-related benefits.
Slot in at least two alcohol-free days a week
There is no “safe” level of alcohol consumption, and as such the less alcohol we consume, the better it is for our health. For regular alcohol consumers, it can be easy for a nightly drink or two, or even a bottle, to become a habit that builds over time.
To help reduce alcohol intake, and stay mindful of how much we are really consuming, aim for at least two alcohol-free days every week.
No sweet food in the day
Have you ever noticed that once you start eating a sweet treat such as a biscuit that you seem to want more sweet food? Human beings are programmed to seek out sweet-tasting foods, and as such, the more we have, the more likely we are to seek it out.
For this reason, limiting your consumption of sweet foods throughout the day, and limiting them to night-time indulgences, will help to keep your overall intake controlled.
The best recipes from Australia’s leading chefs straight to your inbox.
Susie Burrell is an accredited practising dietitian and nutritionist.
