As we all sit home and wait for our world to go back to normal, a lot of us are probably eating more than we normally would. When we are idle, or bored as a child would say, we tend to think we are hungry more often than we really are. When you are working or your child is at school, food is not readily available. Having access to food anytime we want and having that sense of boredom only leads to us visiting the kitchen more often.
The Kitchen
Then there is the kitchen itself. What is in that kitchen? All kinds of food. Chances are not all the options are good ones. Plus, when we are eating when we aren’t really hungry our choices tend to not be the best. When shopping for groceries, remember to try and purchase healthier items as well as items that are not premade. The easier a food is to consume the more likely we are to go for it. Think about it. If you have to prep something every time you go in the kitchen you are less likely to go as often.
Today
Now stop and think about your food consumption just today with these simple questions:
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- What have I eaten today?
- Have I eaten because I was truly hungry or just because food was available?
Most of you were probably surprised at your answers. It could have been the amount you have eaten, the number of times you have eaten, or what you have been eating. All of these things make a difference to our health but that is okay. Realization is one of the first steps to helping us improve. A great way to make that improvement other than locking up the kitchen (LOL) is to figure out what our daily intake should be. A great source for finding out what our daily intake of food should look like is Choose My Plate.
Your MyPlate Plan
On Choose My Plate, there is the option to “Get Your MyPlate Plan.” In order to get the correct plan for you, you will be asked several questions including your age, sex, height, weight, and physical activity level to give you a personalized guide on what foods and how much of each you should be eating daily. A thing to remember is not everyone has the same daily intake, which means not everyone in our home will eat the same amount or sometimes the same amount of times. Having a plan like this can you give ideas of how much you should actually be eating and what foods you should be eating. This kind of plan will help us to realize what is going in our mouth’s and will help us to stay healthy till we find the new normal.