Nutrition
Get Educated
The first step to a healthy lifestyle is to become
educated on nutrition and health. Read books and articles by authors
with solid academic credentials and experience in the field. Books
widely used in university and college nutrition programs are usually
based on the most solid scientific evidence.
New findings are published
almost daily, but if a study contradicts all previous research,
it is wise to wait for other studies to confirm the conclusions.
It can also be important to know who funded the research. Food producers
or food industry groups have funded studies to refute evidence that
consuming a particular food or food additive has negative consequences
for human health.
Industry groups seeking
to protect or increase their sales use these studies as public relations
tools. A researcher that produces results contrary to the wishes
of the group that provided the funds may find the study quashed
and getting paid or getting further funding difficult.
Becoming educated about
nutrition includes understanding the nutritional value of the food
you are eating. For example, did you know that processed foods ?
foods that are canned, boxed, or frozen ? contain additives that
could affect your health?
The more processing food
undergoes, the more salt, sugar, fat, hydrogenated oil and other
additives are likely to be present. Therefore, to eat healthy, reduce
the amount of processed foods that you eat.
Know that fresh foods
keep more of their nutritional value than canned or processed foods
do. The only exceptions are frozen vegetables. Since, they are frozen
immediately upon harvesting, they retain more nutrients than vegetables
sitting out in the supermarket.
Fresh fruit, vegetables,
whole grains, nuts, and fresh fish and poultry should make up the
majority of your diet. If you can eat dairy products, stick with
low-fat or nonfat milk and cheese, and unsweetened low-fat or non-fat
milk yogurt to which you can add sliced fruit.
Many frozen yogurts or
fruit-on-the-bottom yogurts have a high sugar content. You can also
use egg substitute or egg whites in recipes that call for whole
eggs. People who experience gas, bloating, or other symptoms should
probably avoid dairy products or can use "Lactaid" or
similar products to assist digestion.
Find out what you
are actually eating and why
The second step to a
healthy lifestyle is to find out what you actually eating. Many
people eat without realizing how much they are eating or what most
of their diet consists of. The only way to be sure what you are
eating is to write down whatever goes into your mouth (a food diary).
Then, have the food diary evaluated by a Registered Dietician.
However, a good food
analysis software program can show how many and what kind of calories
you are eating and when. It should also show if you are getting
all the vitamins, minerals and fiber you need. These programs can
also be used to analyze diet programs found in books, magazines,
or diet centers. If the program is lacking in one or more nutrients,
it is unsuitable for long-term use.
Are you eating automatically
or because you are hungry? People develop automatic behaviors such
as eating while watching TV or when stressed, sad or bored. If you
realize you are eating for emotional reasons, you may wish to seek
professional counseling to deal with these issues.
Plan your meals
The third step is meal
planning. Often people grab whatever is available and appealing
because they are busy and failed to plan. If possible, it's important
to eat a minimum of three times daily, keeping to moderate or small
portions.
At work or at school,
you can either bring your meals or look at what is available in
the cafeteria or nearby restaurants and find what is both tasty
and healthy. At home, try to stock up on healthy meals and snacks
when grocery shopping.
Don't shop when hungry
because impulse buying of "junk" food is likely. If junk
food is less available at home and quick and healthy food is, you
are more likely to eat healthy. Using various spices can also help
to make "healthy" foods more appealing.
Eating healthy when traveling
is more difficult. However, modern technology can be helpful. Whether
it is a business trip or a vacation, you can call to ask the hotel
where you are staying about the hotel restaurants and other local
eateries. You can also use the Internet to look up local restaurants
and grocery stores. If they have local "Health Food" stores
and restaurants or restaurants specializing in fish or vegetarian
cuisine, you can probably find healthy meals there.
Don't starve yourself
- it is as counterproductive as overeating. Missing meals puts the
body in a crisis mode. The thyroid gland produces less of the hormone
that determines how many calories to burn. When the blood sugar
drops rapidly, the body burns muscle rather than fat as fuel. Muscle
is what burns more calories than any other type of body tissue.
Each pound of muscle
requires 30-50 calories per day to maintain itself at rest, while
each pound of fat only requires 2-3 calories per day to maintain
itself. Muscle is metabolically active and fat is not. This is one
reason men burn more calories than women of the same weight.
Men usually have a lower
fat percentage and more muscle mass than women at any given weight.
A fit person at the same weight as an unfit person will burn more
calories from both the increased activity and the higher muscle
mass.
Fad dieting doesn't work
because the body adjusts the number of calories burned to the food
available as a survival mechanism. If one does manage to lose the
weight this way, the metabolism is lower and more weight is gained
when a "normal" diet is resumed. The weight goes up and
down, the muscle mass decreases and the fat level rises.
To avoid the metabolism
adapting to the lower calorie intake, it helps to vary caloric intake
every few days. For example, for 3-4 days, eat 250 to 500 calories
per day less than is required for weight maintenance, then for 1-2
days, eat a maintenance number of calories.
It's also important to
drink enough water each day. An inactive person should drink at
least 8-10 glasses of water daily. However, water requirements increase
in hot weather, during exercise, and when dieting, therefore you
will need to drink more during these times.
Water helps to regulate
body temperature, keep blood volume up (which helps deliver oxygen
to the tissues), assists the kidneys in removing wastes, and is
the medium for every chemical reaction taking place in the body.
Those reactions include fat burning during exercise.
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