Posted by admin | Posted in Healthy Eating | Posted on 06-03-2010
Tags: about, eating, healthy, please, someone, tell
to be honest i’m not quite sure about which foods are good for you , i keep hearing watch your carbs but dont understand it quite well. can anyone recommend a book….or helpful guide to begin eating healthy. also, should one stop eating after 6 o’clock.
Watch your ingrediants in foods. Don’t eat anything with MSG, High Fructose Corn Syrup and Aspartame. Once you eliminate these evil 3, most everything you eat will be healthy.
Depending on your weight you should keep your daily calories between 2,000 and 2,500. Eat from the major food groups and get a good variety. Eat plenty of fruits and veggies everyday. Grilled chicken and fish are good to add also. Any meats you eat should be trimmed of any excess fat and buy “lean cuts” whenever you can. You dont need to omit carbs from your diet completely, but you can cut back on them. Carbohydrates provide energy and are found in a lot of foods (potatoes, etc.) You also may chose to stay away from processed foods (white bread, white rice, etc..). You can still eat the foods you want…but keep it in moderation. If you have a healthy salad..but you love ranch dressing…then try to get a low-fat, low-cal dressing…or only use it very sparingly.
It’s not necessary to stop eating after 6pm. Thats a rule of thumb because most people want to burn off a lot of what they eat. If you want a snack after dinner have it, but a small snack. Snack on veggies or fruit for a good treat.
The following healthy living recommendations will help you if you’re trying to lose weight, tone up your muscles, have aspirations of building lean muscle mass, are attempting to get a wash board stomach, or just want to feel better:
*1) Burn more calories then you’re consuming everyday and measure your results using the following formula: Calories Consumed minus Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) minus Physical Activity minus the Thermic Effect of Food (TEF). A website that explains this formula in more detail and will help you determine how many calories you need to reach or maintain a certain weight is at http://www.primusweb.com/fitnesspartner/library/weight/calsburned.htm
Get a diet and fitness calculator that you can put on your computer or cell phone. This will allow you to easily calculate the above formula, set goals, log your daily calorie consumption, and register your physical activities.
Set realistic goals for your ideal body weight. Here are two websites that will calculate a suggested body weight:
Adults: http://www.halls.md/ideal-weight/body.htm
Teens/Children: http://www.kidshealth.org/kid/exercise/weight/bmi.html
It is difficult and unhealthy to lose more than one or two pounds per week. There are 3,500 calories in a pound. If you eat 500 fewer calories per day for a week you will lose one pound. If you burn through exercise 500 more calories per day for a week you will lose one pound.
*2) Eat natural and organic foods found on earth versus something created by a corporation to make money. Eat meals in small portions throughout the day and take a good multi-vitamin supplement.
Avoid “High Glycemic Load Carbs” (sugar, pastries, desserts, refined starches such as breads, pasta, refined grains like white rice; high starch vegetables such as potatoes) and drink lots of water. Read this article for more information on high GL Carbs:
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/carbohydrates.html
Do not try fad diets or diet pills. Here is an excellent food pyramid that anyone can follow: http://www.rayandterry.com/html/images/PyramidLRG.gif?osCsid=26a424be471d1337e7c2f105d5c64d9d
*3) Exercise on most days by doing cardiovascular training and/or resistance training activities.
Read a book or find a certified trainer to make sure your doing all resistance training exercises correctly. A great book to buy that teaches you the resistance training basics is “Weight Training for Dummies”. A superb magazine to buy with resistance training routines that will not get you bored is “Muscle and Fitness”. Signup for the free newsletter. An excellent free online resource is at http://realage.com
Look at all areas where you can enhance your health. For example, make improvements in the quality of the air you breathe. Review outdoor air quality forecasts where you live and get an indoor air purifier. Send me an email or yahoo instant message to “gainbetterhealth” if you want an indoor air purifier recommendation and if you have any questions.
*Click on all the source links below to get the full benefit of the recommendations. The answers presented to your health questions are not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
You have to make sure that you eat right and that means following the food guide pyramid. All those low carb diets or fad diets out there will not help you lose weight safely. You can read more about the risks of low carb diets at the following website
http://www.preventdisease.com/news/articles/032006_low-carb.shtml
Know that 1 lb. of fat is equal to 3,500 calories. So if you eat 500 calories less per day for a week than you normally would (by either cutting back or changing what you eat or even by burning 500 calories from exercise) that is 3,500 calories and you should lose 1 lb. that week. I know that does not sound like a lot, but it is a proven fact that you should not lose more than 1-3 lbs. per week because it is not safe nor does it stay off. If you work to lose 1-3 lbs a week then it is much more likely to be the safe way and will stay off for long-term if you continue to live a healthy lifestyle.
I do not like the word diet because most people think of a diet as a short-term way of losing weight when the most effective way of losing weight is to completely change your lifestyle.
Here are some ways to change the way you eat:
Always follow the food guide pyramid with focus on fruits and vegetables and lean meat such as chicken or fish.
Make sure you get enough fiber and water in your diet. You should get 20-30 grams of fiber every day along with plenty of water. You can go to http://preventdisease.com/home/tips65.shtml to learn more about fiber and tips on how to get more in your diet. You should drink a total of 8 eight-ounce glasses of water a day at least. This is different for everyone, but you should be able to figure out about how much water you need a day. You can go to
http://preventdisease.com/news/articles/how_much_water.shtml to learn more about how much water you should drink.
Get your carbs from complex carbohydrates (pasta, rice, grains, cereals, potatoes, dried beans and peas) that contain whole wheat. When you buy something such as bread make sure the first ingredient is whole wheat and does not contain the word enriched. You can learn more about carbohydrates at the following website.
http://www.preventdisease.com/fitness/weightloss/articles/carbs.html
You can also learn how to choose healthy breakfast cereals at the following website
http://www.drmirkin.com/nutrition/N180.htm
Learn what serving sizes are and how to properly use them. This is very important because the average American consumes way too much and it is because serving sizes are out of control.
Even when you go out to eat or to fast food places you can eat healthy. Choose low fat or low calorie food items such as a salad ( fat-free cheese and dressing), grilled chicken sandwich, etc. When you go out to eat you can also split an entree with someone or ask them to put half in a to-go box in the back before they even bring it to you.
Always eat breakfast and never skip any meals. I have also done research on this and this helps to keep your metabolism up and makes sure you do not overeat, among many other things. Try for 3 meals a day with 2 snacks.
Try as much as you can to stay away from saturated and trans fat because they are both bad for you and should be consumed as little as possible. Mono and polyunsaturated fats or good for you but fat should only make up 25-35% of total calories. If the food label ingredient list contains “partially hydrogenated” that means it contains trans fat and should be avoided when possible. The following website offers a plan to follow to help fight fat
http://msn.prevention.com/article/0,5778,s2-4-60-105-1138-1,00.html
Watch out for your caffeine intake, you can find how much caffeine is in certain things at the following website.
http://health.yahoo.com/topic/nutrition/foods/article/mayoclinic/CE619C35-D037-4016-A9CBEA9A3ECBCEB6
A lot of people also focus on high protein but in reality you only need .8 grams of protein for every kilogram of your body weight.
People who are on a resistance training program may consume up to 1.2 grams of protein for every kilogram of body weight.
So for me I weigh 135 lbs. and I figure my body weight in kg as follows:
135 divided by 2.2= 61.4 kg
61.4 kg x .8= 50 grams of protein a day.
61.4 kg x 1.2=74 grams of protein a day.
My range is 50-74 depending on my exercise level.
You can check out this online calculator to find out about how much protein you need.
http://www.preventdisease.com/healthtools/articles/protein.html
The following website also has a list of the 29 healthiest foods or “power” foods and why they are so
http://www.bellybytes.com/articles/29foods.shtml
There is a formula you can use to calculate an estimate of how many calories you would need to eat every day to either maintain your current weight or to lose weight based on different factors.
You can go to this website to calculate an estimate of your total daily energy requirement from your BMR+AMR.
http://www.preventdisease.com/healthtools/articles/bmr.html
Here is a helpful website to understand how to manage your metabolism
http://preventdisease.com/home/weeklywellness163.shtml
Also here is a helpful website to find out what nutrients a food contains
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/
Here are some other websites to help you understand how to eat healthier
http://www.preventdisease.com/fitness/nutrition/articles/healthyeating.html
http://www.preventdisease.com/fitness/weightloss/articles/management.html
http://preventdisease.com/fitness/fundament/articles/types_exercises.html
I have a powerpoint presentation on several of the fad diets that people are on today if you would like to contact me for it.
I also have a powerpoint presentation on the importance of breakfast if you would like more information on that also.