31 Days of Healthy Eating - General Rules

I sat down on Sunday and wrote a list of topics for each of the 31 days with a heading for day 2 of "General Rules". After that I jotted down:

• cut out / cut down on bad stuff
• lots of fruit and veg
• good drinks

Thinking about it a a bit more I would add a fourth

• replace the bad stuff with good stuff

That pretty much distils the basic diet rules I picked up from The Forever Young Diet and Lifestyle. I treated the 14 rules given in the book as guidance rather than absolutes and I haven't followed all of them - one recommends whey protein powder, for example, which I haven't used - and some I have followed flexibly. Looking back a year on, the rules that have had most impact on the way I eat are:

• eat breakfast every morning, no exceptions
• consume a variety of natural fresh foods each day
• eat lean protein at least 3 times daily, including breakfast (not so good at including protein in my breakfast, apart from milk or yoghurt)
• eat at least 9 servings or handfuls of produce daily
• do not eat white flour, white rice, potatoes and sweets (I don't stick to this absolutely - I still eat potatoes, but rarely any of the others)
• avoid processed foods containing high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated fats or saturated fats (I mostly did this before anyway, except that I do eat butter and higher fat cheese in modest quantities)
• drink at least 2 cups of tea daily, preferably green tea
• drink a moderate amount of alcohol, ideally a glass a day of red wine
• avoid sugary drinks, fruit juices and diet drinks
• drink plenty of water

And there you have it ... healthy eating in a nutshell.