Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Want to loose weight? Healthy eating 101

This is the time of year that every magazine cover is plastered with articles about the newest fad diet and loosing 50 lbs over night by eating cookies... But as tempting as they all sound the reality is that they never really work.  Healthy eating works.  It is something you can stick with, it improves the health of you body unlike so many fad diets like Atkins that let you eat as much animal fats and chemicals as you want, and it is a good approach for the whole family so there is no separate meal making.  I am writing this because I love helping people get healthy and loose weight.  I have a Masters in the Science of Natural Health and want to pass on some helpful hints to move you in the right direction. Here are some simple guidelines to help you get and stay on track.

Storing watermelons
Photo from cooking light
1) The less processed the better - diet foods that are highly processed and make claims like "sugar Free", "zero calories", and "fat free" are not usually good choices as oftentimes chemicals  are replacing those things.

2) SKIP no matter what -High fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oils.  You can not trust it just because it says no trans fats you actually have to read the whole label and see if you see it in the list of ingredients.  They can make that claim as long as per serving there is less than 1/2 a gram.  That does not mean it will not effect you.  When your body encounters these and other artificial products it does not know how to process them and so they get turned into fat.

3) Choose the whole food when ever possible - For example eat an orange not just juice.  The whole food provides more vitamins and nutrients, plus fiber and is more filling.  It also insures you are not getting any additives or chemicals as well.

4) Fat is good! - The good kind that is! Choose nuts, avocados and olive oil, and the healthiest of all coconut oil. (read more on coconut oil here) as well as other cold pressed oils.  Your body needs fat. It helps to moisturize the skin, hair and nails, helps to digest bad fat (yep that is right!), and it helps you feel and stay full.

5) Avoid white flour and sugar (and other simple carbs) as much as possible. Instead opt for whole grain flours and healthier natural sweeteners.  See my post on sugar alternatives at Sweet stuff line up.

6) DO NOT EAT CHEMICAL SUGAR SUBSTITUTES!!! I cannot say this strongly enough!! Sugar ssubstitutes like Splenda the name brand for sucralose, aspartame (in a surprisingly large amount of common grocery store items like yo plait yogurt and crystal light), and saccharine are DEADLY and cause of host of other problems.  One other issue is that they can ACTUALLY MAKE YOU GAIN WEIGHT.  I said it... they can actually make you gain weight because the brain is notified that sweet was received but no calories to go with it and so it searches to rectify that by signaling hunger so that you eat the missing calories.  Strange but true. Go with healthy alternatives.  Again see the article Sweet stuff line up i wrote on this blog for more info on this topic.

7) GET MOVING Weight loss and great health REQUIRE some exercise so get out there and get walking, dancing  join a class with a friend or do what ever you love to do that gets you MOVING! If you need ideas there is a great post baby or otherwise tone up on my blog at Get in shape with this quick effective workout.  I will continue to post links to great workouts.

Remember you are worth the sacrifices you have to make now.  your future will thank you for it!  Now is the time to get started! Make sure and print off a copy of the free Diet and exercise journal on my blog to help you on your way!  Comment with you email or contact me with it and I can send you the 2 on one page version.  I am just a blog newbie and don't know how to load an attachment :) That version works great to have copied and bound at a copy store (binding only costs around a $1!).

Leave a comment with any questions you might have!  I try to get healthy recipes on here as well so hope that helps.  Kristy

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