A Healthy Weight Loss Diet For Life
Having established that your body needs
a well balanced weight loss diet, with a good supply of
carbohydrates, especially high - fiber foods, water vitamins
and minerals, and a certain amount of protein, fat and bacteria,
you need to know how to put it into practice. Much media
attention is focused on foods that one should not have,
yet there has been very little to tell women how they can
use food to enhance their life rather than make it more
difficult. Forget the labels; every figure is relative and
food manufacturers are frequently very selective about what
they tell you, making your task of deciding what is right
for you an impossible one. Instead build your choices on
the following guidelines.
RESPECT YOUR MOUTH AND BODY: GET INTO THE
HABIT OF ONLY EATING THINGS YOU LIKE AND NEED
Before you put anything in your mouth, ask
yourself three questions: Do I want it/ Do I like it/ Do
I need it?
If you want it and like it then go ahead
and enjoy it, if you don’t why bother wasting the
eating experience? Throw all the boring, unnecessary eating
out of your life.
The worst thing you can do with food is
to feel guilty about eating it. If you have eaten something
that you know is not the healthier but you really fancied
it or were in a situation where you didn’t have any
choice, enjoy it an forget about it. Don’t beat yourself
up with guilt. Guilt is a negative emotion, which is likely
to lead you to bingeing on comfort foods. This can then
get you into a negative sugar or salt cycle in which you
eat more of these foods, which in turn makes you feel even
more guilty. You might then decide it’s not worth
continuing with you healthy eating lifestyle. It is always
worth persevering. Remember that life is for living and
food is there to help us, not hinder us.
AIM TO EAT FIVE PORTIONS OF FRESH FRUITS
AND VEGETABLES EVERY DAY
This provides your body with a good source
of vitamins, minerals and fiber, to maintain your body in
peak condition to fight diseases. Fiber helps your food
to move effectively through the body, keeps you feeling
pleasantly full and satisfied and in control of your eating
habits, and your energy levels steady.
EAT THREE MEALS A DAY
This is usually made up of one main meal,
a smaller snack or lunch-type meal and breakfast. You may,
however, feel that you need two smaller snacks, such as
a piece of fruit, a small sandwich or a piece of cake, in
between two smaller meals. It all depends on your body rhythms.
Meals should be based on carbohydrates, such as pasta, whole-meal
bread, wholegrain cereals, rice or potatoes, along with
fruits and/or vegetables. The main meal should include a
source of lean protein, along with carbohydrate and plenty
of vegetables and fruits.
CHOOSE LEAN SOURCES OF PROTEIN
Fish, shellfish, lean red meat, game, poultry,
eggs or pulses meet your body’s protein requirements
without overloading on fats.
TRY TO GET INTO THE HABIT OF USING JUST
A SMALL AMOUNT OF FAT
You can use butter, olive oil, sesame oil
or walnut oil to enhance the flavor of your food or for
cooking, but do try to keep the quantity low.
KEEP YOUR INTAKE OF REFINED SUGAR FOODS
LOW
Too much sugar disrupts your natural energy
balance, and can cause headaches; mood swings and –
if eaten in large quantities – sugar sensitivity problems
such as hypoglycemia and diabetes mellitus. It is much better
to get into the habit of using the natural sugars in fruits
to provide sweetness.
INCLUDE SOME DAIRY PRODUCTS OR ANOTHER SIGNIFICANT
SOURCE OF CALCIUM IN YOUR DAILY DIET
This has far reaching benefits for all women
of all age group .
DRINK TWO THREE LITERS (FOUR TO FIVE PINTS)
OF WATER EVERY DAY
Water helps the fiber in your food to swell
and perform its duties. It also helps to metabolize other
nutrients from your food, keep your skin and hair healthy
and prevent your body from becoming dehydrated.
TRY NOT TO DRINK MORE THAN THREE CUPS OF
COFFEE, TEA OR COLA .
All such drinks contain caffeine, which
inhibit the absorption of vitamins and minerals from the
gut, causes your body to excrete vital nutrients and interferes
with the fluid and energy balance mechanisms in your body.
Caffeine also causes your body to be stimulated in an artificial
way, which in the long run has the opposite effect of supressing
your performance and general feeling of well
INCLUDES SOME ‘GOOD’ BACTERIA
IN YOUR DAILY WEIGHT LOSS DIET, IN THE FORM OF ‘LIVE’
YOGURT CONTAINING BIFIDUS AND ACIDOPHILUS
A small pot of ‘bio’ yogurt
a day should help to keep a healthy balance of good and
bad bacteria in your gut. If you don’t like or are
unable to eat live yogurt, seek the advice of your dietician
TRY TO EAT REGULARLY AND IDEALLY NOT LEAVE
YOUR STOMACH EMPTY FOR MORE THAN FOUR TO FIVE HOUR
This helps to keep your gut functioning
effectively. Regular eating helps your gut maintain a steady
supply of digestive enzymes, protects it from excess acid
secretion and enables it to metabolize food in the most
efficient way, to keep your energy level and moods on an
even keel
KEEP YOUR ALCOHOL INTAKE MODERATE
Some drinks, especially young red wines
such as Beaujolais, contain anti-oxidant vitamins and minerals,
which can help to reduce the risk of heart disease and some
cancers. Beers and Champagnes can also provide beneficial
nutrients. Drinking can be a very pleasurable part of a
healthy lifestyle, but drinking to excess can cause liver
damage, mood and energy-balance problems. Try not to drink
on an empty stomach as this can cause your blood sugar levels
to crash.
FOOD COMBINING/SEPARATING
The issue of whether you should eat proteins
and carbohydrates at the same meal is one that regularly
crops up in the media. Some weight loss diet consultants
feel strongly that proteins and carbohydrates should be
separated, and advocate that proteins should be eaten only
with vegetables and fruit, not mixed with carbohydrates.
Many people feel that their body functions better if they
out this into practice; it is commonly known as food combining.
From the physiological and nutritional viewpoint, proteins
(meat, chicken, fish, eggs, cheese, nuts, pulses) provide
the body with amino acids, used as building blocks within
muscles and other tissues. Carbohydrates provide energy
and fiber. If you eat proteins on their own, without carbohydrate
present, the protein can be broken down into energy, rather
than used for building body tissue. Proteins also have other
important functions to perform in maintaining body health
and carbohydrates protect proteins, enabling them to fulfill
these functions.
The choice is yours, but there is no physiological
reasoning behind food combining. I believe that food is
there to be enjoyed. Women should not have to agonize over
whether they are ‘allowed’ to eat certain things
at certain times.
