8 ways to eat better without compromising your love of food

Neeta Lind, Flickr

It’s the new year and the health craze has certainly begun; gym membership specials, new diets and everything in between. But how is a food loving guy supposed to cope without sacrificing his one true love? Check out some tips on how to eat better without making any disruptive changes to your life or diet.

Photo credit: Neeta Lind, Flickr

8 Salt Fast Food French Fries Yourself

notfrancois, Flickr

If you’re a fast food lover, ask for your fries without salt. They’ll pretty much have to cook your fries fresh since all of the pre-cooked fries have salt on them already. Then you can add your own, which will almost certainly be less than there would have been.

Photo credit: notfrancois, Flickr

7 Make Your Own Gatorade

Fillmore Photography, Flickr

Add water to your juice to lessen the sugar content (2 parts juice to 1 part water is a good ratio). It tastes great and it’s more hydrating, like Gatorade or Powerade. Try it with apple, orange, cranberry, pomegranate and other flavors.

Photo credit: Fillmore Photography, Flickr

6 Cut the Grease

Kanko*, Flickr

Believe it or not, blotting pizza with a napkin or paper towel really does work to your advantage. Excess grease can add up to 100 calories and doesn’t even provide any additional flavor to the pizza (hint: there’s already plenty of flavorful fat in rather than on the melted cheese).

Photo credit: Kanko*, Flickr

5 Use Fresh Herbs

Qfamily, Flickr

Substitute salt for fresh herbs or hot sauce to add flavor. A great example is salsa; almost all supermarket brands use salt in lieu of lime juice and cilantro, but the salsa served in authentic Mexican restaurants always tastes better and it’s because they use all three to help season it. Just a pinch of salt will do the trick.

Photo credit: Qfamily, Flickr

4 Do Dessert for Breakfast

pedroreyna, Flickr

Start your day off some with dessert. No, seriously, according to a recent study you can get rid of sugar pangs and curb your hunger for sweets later in the day by having a sugary treat at breakfast.

Photo credit: pedroreyna, Flickr

3 Stay Hydrated

Muffet, Flickr

Staying fully hydrated will enable you to feel fuller, have more energy and get rid of more sugar cravings before they creep up on you. Aim to drink half your body weight’s number of ounces in water. In other words, if you weight 150 lbs., drink 75 oz. of water per day.

Photo credit: Muffet, Flickr

2 Drink Fast, Drink Less

Kirti Poddar, Flickr

If you plan on drinking heavily, instead of downing many drinks, just start off with a couple of shots. You’ll need 1-2 less drinks since drinking stronger alcohol faster will help you feel the effects of the alcohol more. Doing this can save you hundreds of calories, just make sure you don’t do it on an empty stomach.

Photo credit: Kirti Poddar, Flickr

1 Eat More Protein and Fiber

Candace Nast, Flickr

Eating more protein and fiber in the form of chicken, salmon, oatmeal, nuts and more will keep you satisfied longer as opposed to carbohydrates and sugars. Simple as that.

Photo credit: Candace Nast, Flickr