|
Ah yes! An excellent starting point! Nutrition is the foundation for feeling healthy physically and mentally, and it is actually quite easy if you just follow a few simple, bendable rules. Warning! If you are well read or educated on nutrition and the more complicated aspects of it, stop right here before boredom sets in, and the dull monotony of these rules lulls you to an eternal sleep. However, if you pull your hair out trying to eat right by listening to the plethora of advice out there from almost every Dr. Joe Knowitall, just sit back, take note, and be joyous because nutrition should be easy not only to understand but also to live with. Basically, I have gone through the confusing information that surrounds us and packed it into a set of easy, nondrastic, simple to understand rules. Now, looking at labels doesn't mean worrying about them. Also, when I say look, I mean glance at for a millisecond before tossing it in the shopping cart. So often, people just stuff food in their mouth without even knowing what is in it! Unacceptable. Now that almost every food product must have the necessary nutritional information on it, take advantage! A Good example os this is yogurt. In nonfat or light yogurt, we get about 90 to 100 calories per serving. Not bad. However, if you look closely at regular yogurt, it can clearly be discovered that there are over twice as many calories for the same portion size! So, 2 light yogurts=1 regular yogurt The artificial sweeteners in the light yogurt make it possible to reduce the amount of carbohydrates, and thus calories, without sacrificing taste very much at all. For more information on artificial sweeteners, go to www.aspartame.org. Try looking at the information on the back of all food products and take a huge step toward better eating habits. Balancing? Balancing what, you say? When I say balancing, I mean grams of protein and grams of carbohydrates. Most people eat carbohydrates all day long and into the wee hours of the night without paying any attention to protein. Now, I'm not going to suggest a big diet plan or go on about the reason that people need less carbohydrates and more protein because there are numerous books out on that particular subject. All I want to get across is simple: Get more protein! Think of protein as the toolbox for the body and carbohydrates as the immediate fuel. Americans get too much of this fuel which, by the way, can cause severe problems over the years such as diabetes. So what I'm saying is substitute some of your daily carbohydrate intake with foods that contain a higher protein content. Again, back to rule #1 - Look at the labels! Here are some examples of protein rich foods as well as carbohydrate rich foods so a distinction can be made. protein - turkey, chicken, beef, cottage cheese, fish, beans, protein powders. carbohydrates - breads, rice, potatoes, cereal, ships, candy(food?Hah!), regular soft drinks, donuts. I bet you are thinking, "Well, what about fat?" Guess what? Fat is good! Wait a second. That doesn't mean rush to the local grocery store and commence guzzling mass amounts of sausage gravy while cramming 12 inch thick pans of oil-soaked lasagna down your throat until the natural volume capacity of your stomach screeches to a halt. When I say fat is good, I mean that a sensible diet is fine as far as fat intake goes, and nobody should have a fit if a food product contains a little fat. Again, look at the labels! Portion control, portion control, portion control! That's all you have to remember. Gigantic meals are a major no,no. Here's why, in simplistic terms. Basically, when you eat, food is utilized as energy for bodily functions, right? So, when a huge amount of food in ingested, the body uses the extent it needs to function and stores the rest. Make sense? However, how does the body store this energy? FAT. So, when you gorge down five hamburgers and a regular soda, the body is going to take what it needs and pack the rest right down there in that "problem area." A good way to prevent this is to keep yourself from getting ravenously hungry. Pick good snack(protein) throughout the day for in between meals. For a good snack, check rule #5, The Fabulous Five. Ooooo! This one hurts. It's the downfall, the folly, the weakpoint, and killer for everybody (I don't care who you are) who has actually made a conscious effort to eat right (whatever "eating right" means to them). And it's understandable. Most people eat dinner and have four to five hours until bedtime - plenty of time for a massive attack of the munchies to set in. However, munchies are not a bad thing. Think of them as a helper to remind your body to keep your metabolism going and, in effect, burn more fat! Unfortunatly, the term munchies has become associated with chips, popcorn, or any high-carbohydrate snack. Not an intelligent late night snack. Think of it like this: Carbs are the body's immediate source of energy. So, when you eat a lot of them, the body uses them right away to fuel all activities. Now, what happens to carbs if the body does't need them right away, like at nighttime when you sleep? It stores them! And what does it store them as? Fat! Get the picture! The main point that I would like to get across here is that a low carb, high protein snack at night is ideal. Again, look at labels, especially until you get a sense of what foods have what in them. I have listed several great late night snacks in the fabulous five. 1. Cottage Cheese -
High in Protein, low in carbs. Eat lowfat or nonfat to cut 2. Beef Jerky - Yep. The same beef jerky that has been at the checkout counters all the time! Just check the labels to make sure it isn't fat-filled. A little fat is okay, but some are really bad. Makes a great snack in between meals! 3. Eggs whites - Oh such perfect protein. Having a 5 egg white + 1 full egg omelett for a snack once in a while is definately a good thing. 4. Tuna - Again, high in protein and low in carbs - A great formula. Make sure you get it in water, not oil. 5. Turkey - It's what the turkey people have been telling you all along. Turkey is an excellent, lean meat. Stick to the white meat in order to stay away from excess amount of fat. That's it. The five wonderful miracle foods that make wonder high protein, low carb. snacks and meals. Happy eating! Follow these five easy rules and make good eating easy!
|
Let's
Eat! 
