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Guidelines to Healthy Eating for Life
Everyday, we encounter a huge array of
food options. A small corner store often has hundreds of different drinks to
choose from; grocery stores present us with endless, exhausting aisles of
options; menus, even in small restaurants, can be several pages in length.
On top of all this, we are constantly hit with a barrage of information
about food: advertising convincing us that we should give in to every
craving, diet gurus trying to get us on to the latest trend, health experts
warning us about today’s big food scare.
With so many options, and so many conflicting sources of information, it is
hard to figure out exactly what “eating healthy” is, and it’s even harder to
avoid overeating. However, there are a few basic pieces of information we
can arm ourselves with that will go a long way towards allowing us to cut
through the overdose of choices and advertising claims, and enter into a
lifetime of healthy eating habits.
The Golden Rule of Healthy Eating
If there were a pyramid of keys to eating
healthy, the stone at the very top of that pyramid would be MODERATION.
Eating everything in moderation is absolutely essential to good health, and
ignoring or overlooking this simple fact often leads to obesity and other
health problems.
How to Moderate
One of the main reasons we tend to overeat is that we don’t pay attention to
what we are eating, and we don’t pay attention to our bodies when they tell
us that we’ve had enough. Always eat CONSCIOUSLY, and
SLOWLY. In this way,
we become aware of how much we have consumed, and we know when we’ve had
enough.
Avoid taking second helpings at meals, ordering the largest sized item on
the menu at
restaurants, and snacking directly out of the bag of chips or
box of cookies so that you don’t know how much you’re eating until it’s all
gone.
Portion Sizes
A great way to become aware of what we are eating is to understand portion
sizes. Most of the time, we eat three or four times the amount recommended
on food labels. Below, you will find a rough guide to healthy portion sizes:
- A portion of meat or protein is 3 oz., roughly the size of a deck of
cards. We should be eating no more than 2-3 portions a day. Ideally, these
should come from lean meats like chicken or fish, or from non-animal
proteins, like legumes.
- A portion of dairy is equivalent to 1 cup of milk, or 1.5 oz. of cheese -
roughly the size of a golf ball. We should be eating no more than 2-3
portions a day.
- A portion of fruit or vegetables is about equivalent to the size of one
medium apple or orange, or a ¾ cup of vegetables. We should be eating 5-10
portions a day. However, fruit is high is sugar and should be consumed more
moderately than vegetables. While 3-5 servings of fruit a day is PLENTY, we
can easily enjoy 6-8 servings of veggies without compromising weight loss
goals.
- Food guides tend to recommend 5-12 servings of grain products a day. This
may seem like a lot, however, a serving size is equal to only ½ a cup of
cook rice or pasta, 1 slice of bread, or ½ a bagel or scone.
With portions like that, it’s easy to see how those
carb calories pile up
fast! Just don’t forget that a healthy diet does require some carbohydrates.
The problem with carbs is that they are usually full of sugar, and are
highly addictive. Maintaining a healthy carb intake may be the biggest
dietary challenge for many people, but remember:
moderation is key, listen
to your body, and stay in control!
Timing is Everything
Another key to eating moderately is to control WHEN we eat. We now know that
people are much better off eating 5 or 6
small meals a day. When you eat a
large meal, your body can’t handle all the nutrition that is being taken in,
thus much of it gets converted into fat and goes to waste. However, if you
eat several small meals a day, your body will process the same amount of
food more efficiently, resulting in healthy, natural weight loss.
It is also important not to eat before bed. Although late night snacking is
tempting, it is one of the worst things you can do for your weight and your
health. Try not to eat 3-4 hours before you go to bed, because anything you
do eat will just get stored as fat while your body snoozes. Enjoy the
pleasure of waking up hungry in the morning and eating a good breakfast.
Never skip breakfast! This will just make you feel rotten, and more likely
to pig out later in the day. The final key that locks the door
against overeating forever is to avoid starving yourself. Once you get really
hungry, your next meal will almost inevitably be a large, fatty one. By
eating moderately and consistently throughout the day, you will actually eat
less, your body will process food more efficiently, and you will lose weight
without feeling hungry and miserable.
Foods That Are possibly Fattening For
Dieters
Protein Foods From High Quality Sources
What Are the Basic Food Groups For Diets?
Samples Diet Menus Using Healthy
Foods & Ingredients
Obsession Over Healthy Eating Diets &
Dieting
How to Read Food Labels
A List of Natural & Healthy Foods Broken
Down into Macronutrient Types
Lists of
Common Carbohydrate Foods included in Diets
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