Healthy eating does not mean starving yourself to look thin. It also doesn’t mean striving for the super-thin look of some celebrities. Your ideal body weight depends on many factors including your lifestyle habits, energy levels, height, age, sex, and genes. And though, excess body fat increases chances of disease such as blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, being too thin also causes health problems such as osteoporosis and menstrual irregularities. To be healthy you need to eat right and exercise regularly and then find the ideal weight suited to you.

It is essential to eat regular meals. Skipping meals is a sure way to develop irregular eating habits and thereby slip into unhealthy dietary patterns. This too can lower the body’s metabolism and bring about a feeling of “out-of-control” hunger, often resulting in overeating. When you are very hungry, it is also easy to forget about nutrition. On the other hand, planned food intake and eating at regular intervals helps you to stick to your diet and get desired results.

Reduce, don’t eliminate pleasure foods. Eating is for pleasure as well as for nutrition. If your favourite foods are high in fat or sugar, eat these foods in small or moderate quantities and also consume them less frequently. Eliminating them only increases your cravings leaving you feeling deprived and unsatisfied.

For example, if you like fried chicken or dessert, share it with a friend or eat half the portion. Eat this food slowly and relish each bite. Once you have satisfied your taste buds, discipline your mind to know that you’ve eaten enough.

Make changes gradually. There are no “super foods” or “easy answers” to a healthy diet. Don’t expect to totally revamp your eating habits overnight. Changing too much, too fast, too soon, can get in the way of success. Begin remedying excesses or deficiencies with modest changes. Over time, develop positive, life-long eating habits.

For example, if the taste of cottage cheese is what you like, make it from low-fat milk. Or if you find eating sufficient fruits difficult, make yourself a fruit smoothie. Always look for ways to include foods that are necessary for you so that they become easy to incorporate into your eating plan.

No foods are “good” or “bad”. Foods should be selected keeping in mind your dietary habits, activity level and lifestyle. Don’t feel guilty if your favorite foods are high caloric, such as, apple pie, potato chips or candy bars. You may eat them occasionally, and then select other foods to provide the balance and variety required for good health. If you indulge in one meal, cut back on the next. Your food choices should fit together into an overall healthy pattern.

Also analyze your diet pitfalls. To formulate a healthy diet, first assess your weaknesses and present eating habits. Write down everything you eat for a few days, to know your current eating pattern. Then ask yourself necessary questions.

Once you’ve established changes you need to make, figure out how you can effectively incorporate them. Changes should be those you can handle, so that you are able to stick to them.

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