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A healthy diet is the most important part of any health care regimen and should be a primary focus for you and your family. It affects every aspect of your life, but for most people, it’s hard to stick to a healthy diet. The staff at PrimaryPlus in Ashland, KY, advise that without a healthy diet, you’re opening the door for a number of future medical issues, and they want to share a few tips to help. These will help you understand how to eat well, what your body needs, and how to make a plan and stick to it.

3 Tips to Keep a Healthy Diet

1. Create a Meal Plan

Healthy eating takes thought, especially if you’re giving your whole diet an overhaul. Many people come home having no idea what to cook and, eventually, turn to unhealthy alternatives. When starting out, plan out your meals at the beginning of each week. This will help you visualize what a healthy diet looks like.  We recommend getting a food from each food group to help with satiety—grains, fruits, dairy and protein.  By having an established meal to turn to throughout the day you’ll find it easier to stay on track and begin exploring new healthy foods.  Remember that small changes will add up.  Make small changes you feel comfortable with and those will become habits that will last a lifetime.

2. Track Your Intake & Weight Loss

health care-primaryplusTracking results makes long-term challenges easier. We recommend keeping that meal plan from above handy and making notes on whether or not you followed through with your meal plan. Right now, what is more important thatn anything is “why” or “why not” the plan is working.  Share your goals with a healthcare professional so they can ensure you work toward them safely.  Meeting with a Registered Dietitian will help you come up with small goals to work towards.  PrimaryPlus has two Registered Dietitians on staff that offer appointments at almost all their seven locations.

3. Don’t Have a Cheat Day

This thinking is wrapped in diet mentality.  Remember that cravings will come and go, and the temptation for one of your favorite unhealthy meals can become overwhelming. This can make it easy to give up altogether. To maintain a balance, allow yourself to consume foods you are craving.  PrimaryPlus’ dietitian team helps their clients follow more of an 80/20 Rule versus the cheat day mentality.  Eat well balanced, healthy meals 80% of the time and the other 20% you can include a little more play food.  If you think about this over the course of a week you eat 21 meals per week. (Breakfast, lunch and dinner for 7 days= 21 meals)  20% of those 21 meals would be about 4 meals per week.  What is important to remember is that these four meals aren’t necessarily “cheat meals” either- but they may be meals eaten outside of the home or times when you eat foods that don’t seem as healthy. What is most important is that you continue to honor your body’s internal cues of hunger and fullness.  “Cheat meals” are often thought of as one time per week and the person is more likely to eat past comfortable fullness because they only get to “cheat” one time. We have to change this thinking in order to normalize our weights.  Schedule an appointment with the PrimaryPlus dietitians to discuss this in more detail and come up with a plan customized for you!

For all of your health care needs, turn to the staff at PrimaryPlus. PrimaryPlus offers seven office locations with dietitian serves available at most locations.  PrimaryPlus is always welcoming new patients.  Contact your local PrimaryPlus office to schedule an appointment.  You can also visit their website and Facebook to learn more about their health care services.

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