Developing A Healthy Eating Program
To develop a healthy eating program to maintain a healthy weight, it’s a good idea to do some research on health and nutrition. If you’re not trying to lose weight but just want to eat well for good health, then it’s important to understand how your body uses food. This makes it easier for you to choose healthy food and not be tricked when less-than healthy foods call themselves natural and healthy.
A healthy eating program should offer you much more than just a good balance of protein, fat and carbohydrates. But if that balance isn’t in place to start with, the plan probably isn’t all that healthy. Any plan that keeps fat at about 30% or less of the diet and stresses good fats over saturated fats probably has a healthy fat balance. There should be plenty of sources of protein other than meat, like lots of fish, healthy dairy sources like yogurt, and beans.
And carbohydrates should be mostly whole grain sources like whole grain bread and oatmeal. Whole grain pastas are better than regular pastas, and basmati rice is better than regular white rice. A healthy eating program that stresses these smart choices over things like instant white rice and instant pre-packaged sweetened and flavored oatmeal is better than one that includes too many convenience items.
A healthy eating program should follow the government food pyramid pretty closely. Whole grain carbohydrates, fruits, vegetables, beans, fish, lean meat and dairy products can all be part of a very healthy diet. But there are other things to look at, no matter what kind of diet you choose to follow.
You want to make sure your healthy eating program has enough diversity so that you don’t get bored, and you get all the vitamins and minerals your body needs. Baked chicken breasts, broccoli and a whole grain roll might be a healthy lunch, but no one wants to eat that several times a week. Your plan needs to include a variety of vegetables, not just one or two. There are more lean meats than chicken breasts, and many different ways to prepare these and other dishes.
You’ll also want to make sure that unhealthy things aren’t creeping into your meals. Some diets stress that you use margarine instead of butter, for instance, because it’s lower fat and not full of saturated fat like butter. But margarine is mostly trans fat, a fat that even the government now agrees is worse for you than saturated fat. It’s a fat that should be eliminated, or at the very least severely restricted, from our diets. A healthy eating program that allows certain commercially packaged low-fat cookies and treats might not take into account the amount of trans fats and sugar in those foods, either.
You have to be the detective and examine all the parts of the diet you want to follow. Yes, the balance of foods and nutrition is important, but don’t forget to look at all the other parts of your healthy eating program.
Comments (0) 29.10.2009. 18:40
Make a Real Commitment Before Taking Weight Loss Medicine
There are many different types of weight loss medicine available today. Some pills are hyped as medicine that’s “prescription strength” and as “effective as a prescription” but you can order them off the television, online or through the mail. Don’t. Unlike prescription medication, these pills aren’t regulated by the FDA.
Over-the-counter or mail order diet pills don’t have claims that can be proven or backed up, because there’s no evidence that has to be presented anywhere for them to make that claim. They can claim to make your hair grow, make you lose weight, make you taller or anything else, and get away with it.
At worse, this kind of weight loss medicine is dangerous and even deadly. Pills that expand and fill you up so you’ll eat less as well as pills designed to rev up your metabolism or keep you from being hungry have all made people ill. Deaths have been reported that were linked to each of those kinds of easily purchased pills. Don’t risk your health on a bottle of snake oil that can potentially make you sick.
Any weight loss medicine you do decide to take should come directly from your doctor. And even then, you should ask lots of questions about the medication. Ask how you’ll feel on it, because sometimes there are side effects, especially in the beginning. Some medicines can make you feel slightly nauseous. You won’t want to eat because of that, but that’s no way to have to lose weight! Usually such side effects go away fairly quickly, but you should ask to make sure. You don’t want any surprises after you’re on the weight loss medicine.
An important factor in deciding to take medicine is to decide how committed you really are to losing weight. Since you’re even thinking about pills, you’ve probably already tried many times with little progress. But you should think back and try to figure out why you didn’t lose weight, or why you lost weight only to gain it back later. Be honest with yourself before you start taking the pills. It’s best to be completely honest with yourself even before your doctor writes the prescription.
If you still feel weight loss medicine is the best thing for you, then you need to make a commitment right now to the other aspects of your weight loss plan. You’ll want to commit to making cheating on your diet a very rare thing. Commit to not skipping that workout because you’ve had a long day. Commit to watching your friends eat all that yummy party food while you eat wisely. Keep your goal in mind all the time.
Don’t make the mistake so many other people make in thinking that prescription diet pills will work some kind of magic on them. The pills won’t do all the work of losing weight for you. And they certainly can’t undo anything you do wrong. Some diabetics eat all the sweets they want, figuring that since they’re on insulin, it’ll be ok. Dieters do the same thing. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can eat what you want while on weight loss medicine.
Comments (0) 29.10.2009. 18:37
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