Top 10 Rules for Eating Right

1. Use smaller plates.
Whether you're already trim or trying to lose weight, one of the best things you can do for your waistline and your health is to downsize your dishware. Switching from a 12-inch to a ten-inch plate leads people to eat 22 percent fewer calories. If you downsized only your dinner plate, you'd be eliminating more than 5,000 calories a month from your diet.

2. Make half of every meal fruits or vegetables.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends five to nine servings of produce a day, At breakfast, fill your bowl halfway with cereal, then top it off with berries or sliced banana. At lunch, eat a smaller—or half—sandwich, and add two pieces of fruit. At dinner, make sure your plate is at least 50 percent salad, broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower, or whatever veggie you choose.

3. Don't eat on the run.
The first problem with grabbing and gulping is that it usually means fast food. And even a smallish fast food lunch (small burger, medium fries, diet soda) delivers around 800 calories—more than the average woman would want to get at dinner. When we eat on the go, our brains tend to register the food as a snack—regardless of how many calories we consume—leading us to overeat at our next meal.

4. The shorter the ingredient list, the better.
Most of the healthiest foods have only one ingredient: Think broccoli, spinach, blueberries, etc. Longer lists generally mean more sugar, more salt, more artificial flavors. More unhealthy stuff.

5. Nutritious food doesn't have to be expensive.
Smart choices cost no more. In fact, there was a potential small savings associated with the healthy selections. And that's without considering such economical options as occasionally substituting beans or lentils for meat, or making a sandwich at home rather than spending money at a restaurant.

6. Take an extra ten minutes a day to prepare healthy meals.
By devoting a few minutes to planning for more nutritious eating, you invest in your own health and that of your family. A wholesome, home-cooked dinner takes only about ten minutes longer to prepare, on average, than serving processed or ready-made foodAnd don't forget: Obesity, diabetes, and heart disease all lead to doctor and hospital visits.

7. Retrain your palate.
Taste buds are malleable and can be taught to appreciate new and subtler flavors. When you swap processed, high-fat, sodium-packed, and over-sweetened food for healthier fare, it can take one to two weeks before your taste buds acclimate. Don't expect to love new flavors right away (and certainly don't expect your kids to). Just keep serving the new dishes, and soon neither you nor your palate will recall what all the fuss was about.

8. Stop eating before you feel full.
Slow the pace of your meals. Pay attention to what you're eating. And call it quits when you're about 80 percent full. After a pause, you'll likely find that "mostly full" is full enough. Studies indicate that simply by eating at a leisurely pace, you could drop up to 20 pounds a year.

9. Sit down to dinner with the entire family.
Kids who eat with their familiy are less likely to consume junk, less likely to overeat, and less likely to be overweight. Parents who eat with their children report greater satisfaction with family life.

And families who eat together are far less likely to be plagued by eating disorders, drug use, smoking, and alcohol abuse.

10. You really are what you eat.
You want radiant skin? Consider that your skin depends on the flow of blood for nutrients and oxygen—which, in turn, requires healthy blood vessels and a steady supply of red blood cells generated by your bone marrow.

The longer I live the less confidence I have in drugs and the greater is my confidence in the regulation and administration of diet and regimen. ~John Redman Coxe, 1800