The New Year is here. As you turn another leaf on your calendar, you might as well turn a new leaf on your eating habits too. If you haven’t been watching the food that you eat, it’s high time that you give it some thought. Healthy eating is not just a fad. It’s a way of life. You have to start making the right choices in food and eating if you want to have a better chance at living a long and productive life. A lot of the top killer diseases are actually attributed to an unhealthy diet and lifestyle. You do not want to be part of the statistics. Follow these three tips and start developing Healthy Eating Habits in 2013:

Always break the fast.  This does not have anything to do with diets that make you fast for certain number of days to lose weight.  This refers to breakfast.  When you sleep, you go with food for a number of hours – minimum of 8 hours by healthy standards.  To get re-fuel your body, you have to eat a healthy breakfast consisting of the right balance of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Nutritionists and health experts recommend whole grains and high-fiber foods for breakfast.  A bowl of muesli cereal with low-fat milk topped with fresh fruits is packed with nutrients to jump start your day.

Ditch the bag of chips.  Everyone knows that these are junk food.  While some would argue that the potato used in making the chips is a vegetable too, the process that potato chips go through before they get into their foil packs strip the vegetable of all its nutrients. What you are actually getting are chips with high levels of saturated fats and sodium.  Instead of reaching for a bag of chips, go for dried fruit or nuts.   You can even make your own trail mix   at home and put it in a zip lock bag that you can take with you to eat on-the-go.

Put your meals on the clock.  There’s a right time and place for everything.  And that goes with food too.  Make sure that you eat your meals on time.  Missing your lunch hour can cause unnecessary binging when you finally eat at 2 or 3 in the afternoon – At this time your hunger pangs are likely to overrule your brain.  When you do eat your meals, try your best to do it in the right place.  It is always recommended to take the time to sit down at a table to eat your meal.  If you must take your food to-go, make sure that you opt for healthy food options like a veggie wrap or a   chicken pita sandwich   instead of a greasy burger or a fatty sausage.