Healthy eating can be challenging.

I think simply being a human being is proof enough of this. Most people in North America are not eating well and the abundance of over processed and artificial foods are not helping us at all. It’s important to focus on real foods and choose foods for what they do contain.

Choose nutrient rich foods like fruits, vegetables, grains, lean meats and proteins and avoid choosing packaged foods which are fat- or sugar-free because nutrients have been removed. Because so much of the time, these things are replaced with chemicals or non-food ingredients which can be even worse than what was taken out.

And know that not all fats are created equal. Avoid saturated fats and trans fats as much as possible. Those are the unhealthy fats that do more harm to your body than good. Look out for “partially hydrogenated” oils in the ingredients on packaged food labels.

The good-for-you fats are monounsaturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, and omega-3 fatty acids. These fats protect your heart, ward off diabetes, reduce inflammation, lower your risk of cancer, keep your brain healthy and help to trim down belly fat. These healthy fats are found in things like salmon, avocado, nuts, seeds, olives and olive oil, flaxseed and flaxseed oil.

The National Institutes of Health defines diet as “what a person eats and drinks; a type of eating plan.”

Fad diets don’t work simply because people generally return to their former eating habits once a goal is met (and then return to their former weight as well.)

Healthy eating shouldn’t be difficult though. I’ve put together just a handful of hacks to help with forming healthy eating habits.