Healthy Food Choices and Dieting
Eating healthily seems hard for many people, but in actual reality, having excellent food choice and dieting can be very simple. If you really want to make wise food choices then you must be determined and use self discipline to carry out the plans that you set.
First, eat at least five vegetables or fruits each day. Although it may appear to be hard to do, eating a banana for breakfast and adding an apple at lunch is not too difficult. Fruit salad is naturally sweet so it usually makes a good mid day snack. Making a small vegetable salad a routine part of dinner is a great way to get the vitamins and minerals that you need. By eating vegetables – most which are fibrous foods – you really enhance the feeling of fullness and it often increases the amount of calories burned during digestion.
Carbohydrates are often looked at when the subject “diet” is mentioned. Not all carbohydrates are bad, so you need to make sure you replace the bad carbohydrates in your diet with healthy choices.
Some good healthy carbohydrates include whole grains, potatoes, and anything with increased fiber. Reduce the amount of white pastas and white bread that you eat and replace with potato bread, wheat bread, and try buck wheat noodles.
Drinking a good amount of water during the day is another healthy choice that should be included in all dieting. Seventy percent of the body is made up of water so drinking water will replenish the fluids lost during daily activities. Often water provides a temporary feeling of fullness, but the water quickly passes through the body so it doesn’t add pounds. Drinking lots of water will also help flush out the many toxins in your body. A vast majority of the people in the world do not drink nearly as much water as they should. It is recommended that you drink six to eight cups of water per day.
Monitoring your lifestyle is a humungous step in eating healthy and dieting. Make sure you are not distracted when eating fatty foods. Eating chips in front of the T.V. often leaves one wondering where all the chips went when the bag ends up empty. Make sure you use appropriate serving sizes while eating, so a large portion of food is avoided. Controlling the amount of calories you intake and reading labels for information will really help in losing weight and monitoring eating patterns. Taking a good multi vitamin will also help in eating healthy in order to ensure that you get a good dosage of needed vitamins and minerals.
Finally, plan your meals ahead of time. It is much harder to grab an unhealthy snack if you plan your meals for each day. As a result, you will be less tempted to grab a bag of chips when you are in a hurry. Be sure to have a good stash of fresh fruits and vegetables for quick snacks and never be afraid to munch on something green. The greener the better. If you continue to plan out your meals and keep yourself satisfied with healthy choices, then you will save yourself from making unhealthy last minute decisions.