3 Tips To Help You Eat Better Without Counting Calories - L.A. Weekly

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Counting calories doesn’t work for everyone, and can often lead to restriction. Here are some tips that can help you eat better and lose weight without all the negative baggage.

Terms like dieting and calories are triggers for many, often associated with calorie restriction and obsessive eating patterns. But a healthy lifestyle can be fun and delicious, especially when you work hard to create a separation between your weight and the health of your body.

Counting calories is never helpful, but it’s a tool many use to lose weight. While it might work for some, for the vast majority of people it’s a stressful measure and unnecessary when following other ways of measuring how much and how healthy you eat. Here are 3 tips to help you eat better without resorting to counting calories:

Start with your mindset

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The sooner you start viewing healthy eating as something healthy and nourishing over something annoying and painful, the better. In order to reap long-term benefits, it’s important to enjoy eating healthy and to develop a healthy relationship with food. Tricks like stocking up on healthy foods you love and trying out new recipes can help make this transition more easy and sustainable.

Try very hard to love vegetables

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You don’t have to know about nutrition in order to know that vegetables are good for you. They provide nutrients, fiber and vitamins that make your body function properly while also helping you feel full. So, when in doubt and faced with breakfast, lunch or dinner, go with a side of veggies… or make plants the base of all of your meals, if you’re feeling really inspired!

Use smaller plates

While it sounds a little silly, a smaller plate tricks your brain into thinking you’re eating more and prevents you from eating larger portions, which can sometimes be difficult to grasp when not actively measuring your portions. When putting food on a large plate, your brain thinks it’s less food than it actually is; the reverse is also true, something you can use to your advantage.

This trick won’t do all of the work for you, but it can help you eat smaller portions in a way that’s less aggressive than simply cutting down on carbs and other caloric foods.