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Always eat
breakfast. Include whole grains and fruit.
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Don’t skip meals. Keep energy bars at hand if you find this difficult. One of my favorites is the
Clif Bar.
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Eat 5 times/day. This means, eat smaller meals and have healthy snacks between meals. After eating a small meal, the metabolism is increased by 15%. Grazing on healthy foods will actually help you lose weight.
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Avoid
eating carbohydrates alone. Adding protein will satisfy your hunger and stabilize your blood sugar for up to 3-4 hours. Try adding 2 T. of wheat germ
or 1T. ground flax seeds to yogurt.
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Eat consciously. Be aware of your choices, portions and how you combine your foods. If a piece of fruit doesn’t satisfy, try having a piece of fruit cut on top of low fat cottage cheese. This will be more satisfying and longer lasting than fruit alone.
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Avoid snacks containing only simple sugars, such as donuts , cookies, cakes, candy, refined bleached white flour products,
soft drinks, etc. Soon after consumption, blood sugar levels rise, causing too much insulin to be released, ultimately causing a drop in blood sugar levels, leaving you tired and hungry again. Also, the more often and longer blood sugar levels remain high, the more likely the body is to store fat.
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Don’t “diet”. Depriving yourself of foods when you are hungry only leads to bingeing on unhealthy food later. No food should be considered “off limits”.
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If you crave sugary foods, eat them in small portions, only after you have eaten your meal.
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Avoid fried foods. Eat them only rarely if you crave them. Try broiling and baking as alternatives.
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Be careful when dinning out. Avoid anything that says “heavy cream sauce”. You know this will be deadly! Request that food be prepared with less oil or cream. Have dressing “on the side” so that you control the portion.
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Use butter, oils and other fats sparingly. Cut away all visible fats from meats before cooking. Olive and canola oils are more heart healthy (lower in saturated fat) than most other oils. Try to eat no more than 20-30% calories from fat/day.
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Choose low fat mayonnaise, salad dressings, part-skim cheeses, and 1% milk. Many of these reduced fat products taste great and you will begin to dislike full fat after a while. Substitute other liquids for fats in recipes when
able (i.e.. applesauce or broths, depending on the dish). Many cookbooks now list these variations so you don’t have to pass on your favorite “high fat” dishes. But do eat them in moderation.
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Each day, try to eat 25 grams of fiber, 6 fruits and vegetables, 4-10 natural complex carbohydrates (whole grains and potatoes), 3 low fat dairy products and 3 (2-4oz.)servings of lean protein (fish, chicken, beans, soy). No more than 30 grams of protein can be utilized /meal.
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Drink plenty of water. Sometimes we’re really just thirsty, not hungry.
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Do nothing else while eating. Turn off your TV. You’re likely to eat more when distracted.
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Eat slowly. It takes 20 minutes to realize your stomach is full, only after you have already overeaten. Chew slowly. Taste your food. Enjoy the texture and flavor.
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Don’t grocery shop when hungry. You’ll be tempted to make unhealthy choices. Make a grocery list of new foods you want to add into your diet.
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Be a label reader. Notice the fat and nutrient content. Choose the lower fat, high nutrient products. Avoid high fat meats (pepperoni, salami, and sausage) and limit full fat cheeses. Have the deli slice it thin. You’ll use ½ as much and still have the flavor.
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Don’t keep foods in the house that you know you can’t resist. Keep plenty of healthy, easy to prepare snacks on hand. Buy most foods from the perimeter of the grocery store, less from the center isles where the processed foods are.
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Unsure of your daily calorie and fat consumption? Make a food diary for a week. Keep track of food type, portion, calories and fat grams. It can be an eye opener. Seeing it on paper sometimes makes it easier to see where to cut back. Don’t forget to list all butter, ½ and ½ and condiments.
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Make gradual changes in your eating habits. This isn’t about short term dieting , it’s a lifestyle change. Go slowly and it will become second nature. It takes several weeks to reset you body chemistry. So add fiber and decrease sugar, fat and calories gradually to avoid discomfort. The slower you lose fat, the better you keep it off. No more yo-yo diets!
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When weight loss is desired, don’t decrease calories by more than 500 cal/day. This should result in 1 lb. weight loss/week. Don’t consume less than 1,800 calories/day. Spread these calories evenly throughout the day to stabilize blood sugar and energy, reducing cravings and bingeing tendencies.
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Crash diets put the body into starvation mode, slowing the metabolism, conserving stored fat and using muscle as fuel. The end result, you’re worse off than before the diet! You’re left with more fat and less lean (fat burning) muscle. Remember, preserving and gaining muscle is your best defense against a slow metabolism and weight gain. Each pound of muscle burns 45 calories/day at rest.
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Exercise!
Do something you can enjoy. If you burn 1,750 calories/wk. or about 450 calories/session 4x/wk. You’ll lose an extra ½ pound/wk.
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Park your car farther away from the building. Take the stairs. Take a brisk walk at lunchtime. Stand and stretch if you sit at a desk all day. Get creative. Keep active whenever possible. Enjoy being healthy!
