Eat Healthier and Get Slimmer - 5 Simple Steps
With so many fad diets out there claiming that their "new" way of eating will help you to lose weight quickly.
But when I read about how they ask people to eat, I cringe.
Low carbs, no carbs, counting points - they vary from taking all of the joy out of eating to unhealthy.
Stay away from the fad diets and start to eat healthier, and not only will you start to lose weight, you will feel better and have more energy too.
Most people that I know that have lost weight with a fad diet felt awful while they were following the diet.
They were losing weight, but the lack of energy and constant hunger makes it nearly certain that people will not stick to these diets for any length of time, leading to the yo-yo.
Here are 5 simple to follow tips that will help you to eat healthier and get slimmer in a way that you can stick with for life.
Eat Healthier Tip #1 - Eat Your Veggies First This is something that my grandma used to tell me to do so that I could get the "yucky" veggies out of the way and finish dinner with a good taste in my mouth.
I recommend this today for two reasons.
First, a very practical reason.
If you are going to fill up before you finish your meal, better to have already eaten the healthier fruits and veggies than anything else.
And second, the sugars that are in fruits and vegetables are broken down by the body much faster than everything else.
If you eat fruits and vegetables first, they quickly and painlessly make it through the digestive process.
If you eat the fruits and vegetables later in a meal, they can get caught behind slower digesting foods and cause more gas and stomach discomfort.
Eat Healthier Tip #2.
It's All About the Process Stay away from processed foods! Your body is unable to make sense of processed food.
It typically leeches the fiber, vitamins and enzymes naturally occurring in the ingredients and to make it appear healthy they "enrich" the item with synthetic or animal derived vitamins that aren't nearly as good for your body as the originals.
This one can be difficult to stick to as almost everything in the grocery store contains processed something or other.
But remember, nothing good can come from eating processed foods.
Take a look at the ingredients and if there is anything that you cannot pronounce, it is probably better to stay away from it! Eat Healthier Tip #3 - Match, Don't Clash I can still hear my mom telling me, "You are not going to leave the house wearing that!" As a boy I did not know that clothes were supposed to match.
I picked a shirt I liked, some shorts I liked, and some shoes I liked and I wore them proudly.
It is the same with food.
But there are certain foods that "match" better with others.
If you are going to eat a food that has sugar, make sure it's balanced with fiber to help from spiking your blood sugar and to aide in digestion.
Your body needs Vitamin D and "good" fats to make sense of, or unlock the true goodness of several types of vegetables.
Often, if you're going to eat carbs, balance them with protein to make feeling full last longer.
Eat Healthier Tip #4 - Don't Be Late for Dinner Or any meal really.
Your body needs time to digest food and burn calories before you go to sleep for the night.
Pick a time several hours before you go to bed and simply do not eat after that time.
I will not eat anything after 8:00 and this gives my body a good 3 hours to digest and burn calories before I settle in for the night.
It can take some forethought to make sure that you have your day scheduled to allow you time to eat dinner early enough, but it will quickly become a routine.
Eat Healthier Tip #5 - Eat Like a Kid Again Now, I fully admit that I have absolutely no scientific proof that this is true.
This is my wife's theory, and the more people that I talk to, and the further I research, the more I think she may be on to something.
Her theory goes that your body gets used to the way you ate growing up, and learns to process those kinds of foods better than others.
If you ate rice everyday (like she did) growing up, your body is not going to know what to do with a low/no carb diet.
People who were raised in other cultures often become sick or have a "heavy" feeling when eating western food, even if it seems well balanced.
If your childhood foods were very high in trans-fats, know that I am not advocating a poor diet, but be mindful of the healthier foods you ate in abundance and don't elimintate them from your diet.
These are 5 simple to follow rules to help you to begin a habit of eating healthier.
If you stick to these rules, and maybe add a few more of your own, you will see in increase in your energy level and a decrease in your weight.
And, while the weight loss will not be as rapid as some of the fad diets, it will come and you will be able to keep it off for good.
If you would like some more tips to help you to eat healthier and get a leaner body, visit my site and sign up to get a free eBook that will help you to begin your journey.
But when I read about how they ask people to eat, I cringe.
Low carbs, no carbs, counting points - they vary from taking all of the joy out of eating to unhealthy.
Stay away from the fad diets and start to eat healthier, and not only will you start to lose weight, you will feel better and have more energy too.
Most people that I know that have lost weight with a fad diet felt awful while they were following the diet.
They were losing weight, but the lack of energy and constant hunger makes it nearly certain that people will not stick to these diets for any length of time, leading to the yo-yo.
Here are 5 simple to follow tips that will help you to eat healthier and get slimmer in a way that you can stick with for life.
Eat Healthier Tip #1 - Eat Your Veggies First This is something that my grandma used to tell me to do so that I could get the "yucky" veggies out of the way and finish dinner with a good taste in my mouth.
I recommend this today for two reasons.
First, a very practical reason.
If you are going to fill up before you finish your meal, better to have already eaten the healthier fruits and veggies than anything else.
And second, the sugars that are in fruits and vegetables are broken down by the body much faster than everything else.
If you eat fruits and vegetables first, they quickly and painlessly make it through the digestive process.
If you eat the fruits and vegetables later in a meal, they can get caught behind slower digesting foods and cause more gas and stomach discomfort.
Eat Healthier Tip #2.
It's All About the Process Stay away from processed foods! Your body is unable to make sense of processed food.
It typically leeches the fiber, vitamins and enzymes naturally occurring in the ingredients and to make it appear healthy they "enrich" the item with synthetic or animal derived vitamins that aren't nearly as good for your body as the originals.
This one can be difficult to stick to as almost everything in the grocery store contains processed something or other.
But remember, nothing good can come from eating processed foods.
Take a look at the ingredients and if there is anything that you cannot pronounce, it is probably better to stay away from it! Eat Healthier Tip #3 - Match, Don't Clash I can still hear my mom telling me, "You are not going to leave the house wearing that!" As a boy I did not know that clothes were supposed to match.
I picked a shirt I liked, some shorts I liked, and some shoes I liked and I wore them proudly.
It is the same with food.
But there are certain foods that "match" better with others.
If you are going to eat a food that has sugar, make sure it's balanced with fiber to help from spiking your blood sugar and to aide in digestion.
Your body needs Vitamin D and "good" fats to make sense of, or unlock the true goodness of several types of vegetables.
Often, if you're going to eat carbs, balance them with protein to make feeling full last longer.
Eat Healthier Tip #4 - Don't Be Late for Dinner Or any meal really.
Your body needs time to digest food and burn calories before you go to sleep for the night.
Pick a time several hours before you go to bed and simply do not eat after that time.
I will not eat anything after 8:00 and this gives my body a good 3 hours to digest and burn calories before I settle in for the night.
It can take some forethought to make sure that you have your day scheduled to allow you time to eat dinner early enough, but it will quickly become a routine.
Eat Healthier Tip #5 - Eat Like a Kid Again Now, I fully admit that I have absolutely no scientific proof that this is true.
This is my wife's theory, and the more people that I talk to, and the further I research, the more I think she may be on to something.
Her theory goes that your body gets used to the way you ate growing up, and learns to process those kinds of foods better than others.
If you ate rice everyday (like she did) growing up, your body is not going to know what to do with a low/no carb diet.
People who were raised in other cultures often become sick or have a "heavy" feeling when eating western food, even if it seems well balanced.
If your childhood foods were very high in trans-fats, know that I am not advocating a poor diet, but be mindful of the healthier foods you ate in abundance and don't elimintate them from your diet.
These are 5 simple to follow rules to help you to begin a habit of eating healthier.
If you stick to these rules, and maybe add a few more of your own, you will see in increase in your energy level and a decrease in your weight.
And, while the weight loss will not be as rapid as some of the fad diets, it will come and you will be able to keep it off for good.
If you would like some more tips to help you to eat healthier and get a leaner body, visit my site and sign up to get a free eBook that will help you to begin your journey.