Healthy Eating Diets For Weight Loss
April 21, 2009 – 1:11 pmHealthy eating diets are one of the best ways to approach a successful weight loss attempt. Sure, exercise is important as a way to boost your metabolism and burn calories, but the calories you take in on a daily basis can really be the difference between shedding extra pounds, staying even or even gaining weight.
Unfortunately, there are hidden (or forgotten) calories in almost everyone’s diet. A perfect example is calories that are consumed by the way of beverages like sodas which are packed with sugar. This sugar laden beverage is easily stored as fat if the calories it contains aren’t burned off through the course of a day. Although these calories might not seem like much individually, collectively they can be disastrous to someone that really wants to lose weight. If you’re trying to implement a healthier lifestyle, you’d be well served to seriously restrict (or eliminate) soda from your diet altogether. Try to replace these sugary beverages with clean drinking water, instead.
Remember, one pound of excess weight is equal to 3,500 calories!
Other healthy eating diet tips:
1. Try to avoid or limit processed foods. Processed foods are great in a pinch, but their ease of preparation also means that they contain chemicals and other agents to preserve it and flavorings to make it taste better. The golden rule of thumb – if it comes in a bag or a box, check the ingredients. If the food is made of words that you can’t pronounce, don’t eat it.
2. Increase how many fruits and vegetables you eat. The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) recommends that Americans eat 3-5 servings of vegetables and 2-4 servings of fruit daily. For maximum health benefits your vegetables shouldn’t be deep fried (think french fry) and are best if eaten raw or slightly heated, since cooking removes a lot of the vital nutrients the plant is supposed to supply. Garden salads and cut up celery, carrots, cucumbers are great ways to eat smart and are low in calories.
3. Limit your consumption of red meat and other fatty meats. Steaks, burgers and bacon might taste terrific but they pack a lot of calories. Processed meats like bacon might also contain nitrates, a known carcinogen. Instead, choose
boneless, skinless chicken breast, turkey or fish – or just avoid meat altogether and eat more vegetables instead. The consumption of red meat has been tied to cases of colon and other cancers, so this change in the way you eat could end up having additional health benefits.
Making changes is never easy, so if it’s too difficult for you to radically uproot your habits, just try and focus on one thing at a time. For example – drink more water for two or three weeks and once you’ve made that a habit, tackle the next thing on your list.. chances are you’ll be more successful if you cross each bridge as you come to it.
I hope that these healthy eating diet tips help you get started on the road to a better way of life!
