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Friday, May 2, 2008
Ten rules of eating healthily
Eating low-cal is definitely a healthy habit. But there’s more to good living than just counting calories. The nutrients in the foods you eat can make or break your efforts to live healthfully, so choose your calories by the company they keep.
Eating Vegetables and Fruit daily
At a minimum, you want to eat three servings of vegetables and three servings of fruit every day. Most people don’t eat enough vegetables - especially the leafy-green and deep-oranges ones. On average, Americans eat the equivalent of only about one quater of a serving a day. About half eat no fruit at all on some days. Vitamin pills can’t replace the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients in produce. But not to worry, because servings are actually quite small: half a cup of most cooks vegetables, one cup of salad, or a, piece of fruit qualifies as one serving.
Don’t dink all your fruits in form of juice. You’ll miss out on fiber if you do, and you’ll easily consume too many calories. A mere four ounces of juice equals one serving of fruit, and most people drink much ore than that at a time.
Getting Enough Whole Grains Daily
Most people eat less than one serving of whole grains a day. That’s too bad, because you get more vitamin E, vitamin B6, magnesium, zinc, copper, manganese, and potassium in whole grains. These nutrients help protest against heart disease, diverticulosis, cancer, and diabetes. Whole grains are the best source of fiber, too. For example, the fiber difference between a singe slice of whole-wheat bread and one of white is 2 grams.
Twenty to 35 grams of fiber are recommended for daily consumption. So you want to make sure that you eat at least three servings of whole grains each day.
Serving Up Beans, Lentils, or Peas
Eat at least four servings of beans, lentils, or peas each week. Like most vegetables, beans, lentils and peas are good source of fiber and phytochemicals (plant nutrients) that help cut the risk of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. But unlike other vegetables, they have enough protein to substitute for a serving of meat, poultry, or fish.
Eating Regularly
Eating three meals daily, along with two or three snacks, is best. You generally need to eat every three to four hours. Research has shown that people who snack are often less likely to overeat than those who restrict their eating. The body is also better to absorb and use the nutrients in a meal than it can when presented with the feast-or-famine scenario of the typical three meals-a-day, no snacks pattern. So go ahead and snack, just make sure your snacks are as balanced as your meals, meaning they have some carbohydrate, such as three or four whole wheat crackers; some protein, like a spoonful of peanut butter, and some fat. (There’s plenty of that in the peanut butter too) Almonds and a fruit, lowfat yogurt with whole grain cereal, or even a hard-cooked egg with salsa and half a cup of corn chips all make good balanced snacks as well.
Eating Breakfast
Missing the meal is a big mistake. After an overnight fast, your body needs fuel to move. Otherwise, metabolism slows, which reduces hoe many calories you burn. Many studies have shown that children who skip breakfast have difficulty concentrating during the day. It’s true for adults, too. And here’s another good reason not to miss breakfast: The National Weight Control Registry of more than 3,000 successful weight losers eat breakfast on most days of the week. These are people who lost an average of 60 pounds and kept it off for an average of 6 years, I don’t know about you, but I think that’s a pretty convincing endorsement for a bowl of flakes and lowfat milk!
Limiting Soft Drink
Sure, you may prefer swigging soft drinks to water, juice, or milk. But cola- type soft drinks (as well as many citrus-flavored sodas) pack a dose of caffeine with lots of sugar and calories without contributing nutrients, except perhaps water. Sugar-free versions don’t ass empty calories, at least, but when soft drinks replace fat-free milk in your diet, you’re missing out on one of the best sources of calcium you can get. That’s a shame, because most adults don’t get enough of that bone-building mineral
Drinking Water
Studies show that when you think you’re hungry, often you’re actually thirsty because dehydration is a major contributing factor to fatigue, which leads some people to seek food for energy. The rule is 1 liter (about 4 cups) per 1,000 calories. That translates to about eight 8-ounce glasses a day for people who eat about 2,000 calories
It’s hard to drink too much water. But if it’s difficult for you to drink water, know that fruits (which are mostly water) can count toward your day’s total. So does your coffee and tea. And, yes, even soda. The color of your urine can be an indication of how much water you’re drinking. If it’s very dark and you’re not taking a medication that colors your urine, you’re not drinking enough liquids. Your urine is a very pale yellow when you’re properly hydrated.
The average adult loses about 2 ½ quarts of water a day: 4 to 6 cups in the urine, 2 to 4 cups as perspiration, 1 ½ cups through breathing, and about 2/3 cup in the feces. Roughly 3 to 4 ½ cups of your daily water comes from solid food.
Limiting Caffeine
Limit caffeine to two servings a day. That’s two cups of coffee or tea or other caffeine-containing beverage. Coffee is the main source of caffeine in the American diet, although chocolate, tea, cola and some citrus-flavored soft drinks (such as Mountain Dew), and some over the counter pain relievers contribute to a day’s total. Caffeine speeds up your heart rate and can make you feel jittery and anxious. It also can contribute to dehydration due to its diuretic effect, which causes your body to lose water.
Limiting Your Salt
Processed and prepared foods – not the saltshaker – are the greatest source of salt and sodium in people’s diets. High-sodium diets in women are associated with increased risk of osteoporosis, a potentially harmful situation for dieters whose calcium levels tend to be below recommended levels. Eating an abundance of salt doesn’t make you gain your body fat or keep you from losing it, but it does cause water retention, which shows up on the sale, albeit temporarily.
To keep your body running smoothly, you need only about 500 milligrams of sodium a day. That’s about the amount in ¼ of salt. Eating a diet with so little sodium probably wouldn’t taste so good, but try keeping your sodium intake to the advised level of 2,400 milligrams or less per day.
Your tongue’s preference for salt can be overcome. It takes only about two weeks to prefer the taste of unsalted foods.
Limiting the Amount of Saturated Fat
Saturated fat isn’t simply a calorie counter’s concern. It contains the same number of calories as other kind of fat, but it raises your blood cholesterol level and increases your risk of heart disease. Animal products and tropical oils (palm kernel, palm, and coconut, for example) contain mainly saturated fat. As a general guideline, saturated fat is solid at room temperature. Examples include butter, stick margarine, and the fat in meat and cheese.
Click here and learn the most Advanced Dieting Methods and Fat Burning Techniques in the world
Eating Vegetables and Fruit daily
At a minimum, you want to eat three servings of vegetables and three servings of fruit every day. Most people don’t eat enough vegetables - especially the leafy-green and deep-oranges ones. On average, Americans eat the equivalent of only about one quater of a serving a day. About half eat no fruit at all on some days. Vitamin pills can’t replace the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients in produce. But not to worry, because servings are actually quite small: half a cup of most cooks vegetables, one cup of salad, or a, piece of fruit qualifies as one serving.
Don’t dink all your fruits in form of juice. You’ll miss out on fiber if you do, and you’ll easily consume too many calories. A mere four ounces of juice equals one serving of fruit, and most people drink much ore than that at a time.
Getting Enough Whole Grains Daily
Most people eat less than one serving of whole grains a day. That’s too bad, because you get more vitamin E, vitamin B6, magnesium, zinc, copper, manganese, and potassium in whole grains. These nutrients help protest against heart disease, diverticulosis, cancer, and diabetes. Whole grains are the best source of fiber, too. For example, the fiber difference between a singe slice of whole-wheat bread and one of white is 2 grams.
Twenty to 35 grams of fiber are recommended for daily consumption. So you want to make sure that you eat at least three servings of whole grains each day.
Serving Up Beans, Lentils, or Peas
Eat at least four servings of beans, lentils, or peas each week. Like most vegetables, beans, lentils and peas are good source of fiber and phytochemicals (plant nutrients) that help cut the risk of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. But unlike other vegetables, they have enough protein to substitute for a serving of meat, poultry, or fish.
Eating Regularly
Eating three meals daily, along with two or three snacks, is best. You generally need to eat every three to four hours. Research has shown that people who snack are often less likely to overeat than those who restrict their eating. The body is also better to absorb and use the nutrients in a meal than it can when presented with the feast-or-famine scenario of the typical three meals-a-day, no snacks pattern. So go ahead and snack, just make sure your snacks are as balanced as your meals, meaning they have some carbohydrate, such as three or four whole wheat crackers; some protein, like a spoonful of peanut butter, and some fat. (There’s plenty of that in the peanut butter too) Almonds and a fruit, lowfat yogurt with whole grain cereal, or even a hard-cooked egg with salsa and half a cup of corn chips all make good balanced snacks as well.
Eating Breakfast
Missing the meal is a big mistake. After an overnight fast, your body needs fuel to move. Otherwise, metabolism slows, which reduces hoe many calories you burn. Many studies have shown that children who skip breakfast have difficulty concentrating during the day. It’s true for adults, too. And here’s another good reason not to miss breakfast: The National Weight Control Registry of more than 3,000 successful weight losers eat breakfast on most days of the week. These are people who lost an average of 60 pounds and kept it off for an average of 6 years, I don’t know about you, but I think that’s a pretty convincing endorsement for a bowl of flakes and lowfat milk!
Limiting Soft Drink
Sure, you may prefer swigging soft drinks to water, juice, or milk. But cola- type soft drinks (as well as many citrus-flavored sodas) pack a dose of caffeine with lots of sugar and calories without contributing nutrients, except perhaps water. Sugar-free versions don’t ass empty calories, at least, but when soft drinks replace fat-free milk in your diet, you’re missing out on one of the best sources of calcium you can get. That’s a shame, because most adults don’t get enough of that bone-building mineral
Drinking Water
Studies show that when you think you’re hungry, often you’re actually thirsty because dehydration is a major contributing factor to fatigue, which leads some people to seek food for energy. The rule is 1 liter (about 4 cups) per 1,000 calories. That translates to about eight 8-ounce glasses a day for people who eat about 2,000 calories
It’s hard to drink too much water. But if it’s difficult for you to drink water, know that fruits (which are mostly water) can count toward your day’s total. So does your coffee and tea. And, yes, even soda. The color of your urine can be an indication of how much water you’re drinking. If it’s very dark and you’re not taking a medication that colors your urine, you’re not drinking enough liquids. Your urine is a very pale yellow when you’re properly hydrated.
The average adult loses about 2 ½ quarts of water a day: 4 to 6 cups in the urine, 2 to 4 cups as perspiration, 1 ½ cups through breathing, and about 2/3 cup in the feces. Roughly 3 to 4 ½ cups of your daily water comes from solid food.
Limiting Caffeine
Limit caffeine to two servings a day. That’s two cups of coffee or tea or other caffeine-containing beverage. Coffee is the main source of caffeine in the American diet, although chocolate, tea, cola and some citrus-flavored soft drinks (such as Mountain Dew), and some over the counter pain relievers contribute to a day’s total. Caffeine speeds up your heart rate and can make you feel jittery and anxious. It also can contribute to dehydration due to its diuretic effect, which causes your body to lose water.
Limiting Your Salt
Processed and prepared foods – not the saltshaker – are the greatest source of salt and sodium in people’s diets. High-sodium diets in women are associated with increased risk of osteoporosis, a potentially harmful situation for dieters whose calcium levels tend to be below recommended levels. Eating an abundance of salt doesn’t make you gain your body fat or keep you from losing it, but it does cause water retention, which shows up on the sale, albeit temporarily.
To keep your body running smoothly, you need only about 500 milligrams of sodium a day. That’s about the amount in ¼ of salt. Eating a diet with so little sodium probably wouldn’t taste so good, but try keeping your sodium intake to the advised level of 2,400 milligrams or less per day.
Your tongue’s preference for salt can be overcome. It takes only about two weeks to prefer the taste of unsalted foods.
Limiting the Amount of Saturated Fat
Saturated fat isn’t simply a calorie counter’s concern. It contains the same number of calories as other kind of fat, but it raises your blood cholesterol level and increases your risk of heart disease. Animal products and tropical oils (palm kernel, palm, and coconut, for example) contain mainly saturated fat. As a general guideline, saturated fat is solid at room temperature. Examples include butter, stick margarine, and the fat in meat and cheese.
Click here and learn the most Advanced Dieting Methods and Fat Burning Techniques in the world
Labels: exercise, fat loss articles, weight loss articles
