Continuing in the thread of ?bad eating,? so far we have learned that there are MUCH better food choices out there that we could be making when it comes to feeding our bodies. Another prime example is ice cream. Ah, ice cream. What would summer days be without a nice pint of Haagen Dazs ice cream to finish off your dinner? For the sake of preserving my own sanity, I am not even going to bother listing how much FAT is in a pint of Haagen Dazs ice cream. I will only suggest that a healthier alternative to ice cream is non-fat frozen yogurt. Depending on where you go to get it, you can't even tell the difference between good frozen yogurt and a pint of ice cream. If the idea of frozen yogurt doesn't sound appealing, then consider having a sorbet instead of ice cream. It's just as delicious without all of the fat!

Americans looooove their coffee, but at what cost? If you thought the price on a venti mocha was high, consider the price you'll end up paying in the long run when it comes to your health. For instance, did you know that in one 20oz cup of Starbucks Venti Caff? Mocha made with whole milk and topped with whipped cream that there are approximately 450 calories and 13 grams of bad fat?! A healthier alternative would be to have a cup of tea, but for the die-hard coffee drinkers out there who absolutely HAVE to have that coffee, consider getting your next beverage made with skim milk and light whipped cream or no whipped cream at all. Or you can even downsize the cup.

Pasta is supposed to be good for you, right? It gives you a healthy dose of carbohydrates that you need to sustain you throughout the day, especially if you're an athlete or semi-athletic and are just burning carbs left and right. However, it can be bad for you if you overdo or overdress it. For instance, most people eat white, enriched pasta with some sort of elaborate cheese sauce on top. Now, this might taste great, but it is most certainly not healthy. A healthier choice would be whole wheat pasta with some sort of sauce that is homemade rather than store bought (remember our conversation about how a lot of store-bought items have extremely high quantities of sodium and other things that you can't even pronounce). An example of a simple type of sauce that I make simply consists of canned tomatoes with a little bit of fresh basil and onion added to it. If you prefer a cheese sauce, look for low fat cheese in the supermarket and use that to make a cheese sauce- there are plenty of low-fat, all natural cheese sauce recipes online that take no longer than a few minutes to make and are cost effective.

Remember, eating doesn't have to be bad for you; on the contrary, it should be a good thing. Just remember that when it comes to eating habits, you are in control of that ship; so whether you sink or sail is totally in your hands'or mouth, I should say!