|
|
|
Dietary Traditions -- What's Right for Us?
Dietary Traditions – What’s Right for Us? By Karen Robinson How can we know what to believe about diet and nutrition these days? Let’s first take a look at some of the information that’s simply confirming age-old principles that we'd overlooked or...
Eggs are healthful!
After years of bad press, new studies show that eggs have been give a bum rap. If eggs are served without fatty sausage or bacon, no buttery toast, and cooked without fat, eggs are actually quite nutritious and safe. It's easy to boil an egg, or...
Fat Cells, Your Diet, And Losing Weight
This may come as a surprise... More than half of all adults that reside in the United States are overweight. That is 100 million people! I personally have struggled with weight management. My weight has fluctuated almost 30 lbs. Can you believe...
Understanding Amino Acids and their Importance in Diet
The importance of protein in a healthy diet is well known to nutritional scientists, and widely understood by the general population. Indeed, every bodily system is directly or indirectly supported by protein. For example, protein supports the...
Weight Loss and Dieting Secret #1 - IN and OUT
Any dietary plan on the market has some portion of it that works, but the basic principle of any good eating program, no matter how sugarcoated, centers around calories IN-- calories OUT. The eating "only one type of food diets" will not be...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The No Diet Way To Lose Weight And Keep It Off
Yes, you read it right… no diets.
The first step in this weight management program is to gather all of your old fad diets, quick weight loss remedies, and “magic cures”. Once you have them all together in a nice, neat pile- throw them into the trash!
One thing we have learned in the last 30 years is diets don’t work and actually can make things worse. Fad diets may provide short term weight loss but they are generally too difficult to stick with for a lifetime. The majority of people who lose weight on fad diets regain that weight within 3 to 5 years. Over time this yo-yo dieting effect can slow your metabolism, the way our bodies burn the calories from the food that we eat. Most fad diets require you to significantly restrict your caloric intake by limiting or even eliminating specific foods from your diet. They lead you to believe that it is these specific foods that are causing you to gain weight. The fact is; a cookie or a slice of French bread is not responsible for weight gain. It is the total number of calories that you consume in a day compared to the amount of calories you use as energy. The calories you don’t use as energy turn into stored fat and over time this translates into more body weight.
Yes, its true consuming excess carbohydrates can result in insulin spikes which can lead you to store fat more readily and stimulate your appetite. However, does this mean that everyone in America is eating too many carbohydrates? Not necessarily. Does this mean we need to completely eliminate all carbohydrates from our diet? No. It means we need to learn how to eat the right kind of carbohydrates and the right amount.
It’s also true that eating excess fat can make us gain weight because fat carries more calories than protein and carbohydrates, but does this mean that everyone’s issue is too much fat? Once again, no. Therefore, we must approach weight management on an individual basis because not everyone is eating too many calories from bread. Just the same, not everyone is consuming too many calories from cookies. We are all individuals and our eating habits are all unique which is why the one size fits all diet plans don’t work. The ultimate key to success is balance.
Balance is providing the appropriate amount of calories, nutrients, and (don’t forget) enjoyment from our meals. In a balanced diet, there are no perfect days, no foods are omitted, and you don’t have to starve yourself. It may simply be that
you’ve been eating too many refined carbohydrates and too little fat. This may have stimulated your appetite and caused you to consume more than your body needs. Or vice versa, it may be that you are consuming too many fats and too little fruits and vegetables which can cause you to have a high calorie level with a fairly small intake of food.
Perhaps you’ve been eating the right balance but with too large of portion sizes. These are the kinds of things that throw us off balance and cause us to consume more calories than we utilize for energy.
Let’s take an example:
Unbalanced Day
Breakfast: skip (too busy)
Large latte
Snack: chips from vending machine
Lunch: (restaurant) hamburger and large French fries
Dinner: 8 oz steak and 2 cups mashed potatoes
Dessert: large bowl of ice-cream (1-2 cups)
Meal Makeover
Breakfast: bowl of oatmeal with blueberries, 1 cup low fat milk
Snack: apple, 1 oz peanuts
Lunch: (restaurant) turkey sandwich on whole grain bread with a bowl vegetable soup
Dinner: 3 oz steak (size of a deck of cards), 1 cup mashed potatoes, and a large salad w/1 TB vinaigrette dressing
Dessert: small bowl of frozen yogurt or sorbet (1/2- 1 cup)
The original meals were heavy in high fat foods, large in portion sizes, (beef, French fries, chips, and ice-cream) and low in fiber. The balance was off. By making these changes we saved approximately 800 calories while still enjoying steak, mashed potatoes, and dessert! Not to mention you get to eat more when you incorporate more plant based foods since they are much lower in calories. We also improved the nutrient content by adding more fiber/vitamins/minerals/and antioxidants with increased fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
Take simple steps to make positive changes that will last a lifetime.
© Meri Raffetto, 2004
About the Author: Owner of Real Living Nutrition Services, Meri Raffetto is a recognized professional in the area of nutrition and wellness. She specializes in weight management and cardiovascular nutrition and offers online programs to help people reach their health goals. For more information visit http://www.reallivingnutrition.com.
Source: www.isnare.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
