Following healthy eating habits not only ensures that you enjoy good health, but it also gives you an edge over certain life-threatening diseases like cancer, Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. Maintaining an ideal body weight is essential to be active and healthy. Very often, people trying to lose weight or even those trying to maintain the ideal weight follow some kind of diet program that promises to lose those unwanted pounds. Following a particular diet to lose weight implies that this diet plan will end one day and more often than not all those pounds lost will be back once again. Instead, eating healthy and losing weight is a better option. We give below some tips that you can follow to achieve your goal of eating healthy and losing weight:
Eating healthy and losing weight: Whole grains are beautiful
Whole grain cereals, whole-grain pasta and breads provide the carbohydrates along with the essential minerals and vitamins that the body needs along with the adequate calories. Beans and grains are also a good source of protein. These foods are more filling and therefore limit the extra calories you intake.
Eating healthy and losing weight: Eat fish twice or thrice a week
Oily fish like tuna, salmon, herring, mackerel and trout give you the goodness of Omega-3 Fats that your body needs. These are unsaturated fats that protect you from cancer and heart diseases.
Eating healthy and losing weight: Eat lots of vegetables and fruit
Vegetables and fruit are two food items that you should eat in adequate quantities (4 servings a day) because they are good for your body. Brightly colored vegetables have antioxidant properties while green leafy vegetables are a great source of iron. Vegetables will also give the body other healthy nutrients and minerals, besides adding a small amounts of soluble and insoluble fiber to your diet. Fruits are not only a good source of fiber but also add to your water intake as well as some other vitamins and minerals.
Eating healthy and losing weight: Reduce the meat content in your diet
Saturated fats are inherently present in meats. Make every effort to reduce the consumption of saturated fat by trimming the skin and excess fat visible on your cut of meats. Saturated fat is also present in milk and other dairy products so ensure that you have skim or low-fat milk, and low-fat cheese and butter.
Eating healthy and losing weight: Portion Control
If you love your food and tend to spoon large dollops of everything on to your plate then you should use portion control plates and low volume scoopers. Quality portion control dishes have food group areas drawn on them that not only ensure you have a serving from each of the food groups it also ensures you do not over eat. Portion control, follow the lines.
Eating healthy and losing weight: Don’t forget to exercise every day
It is important to combine a good diet with exercise. This is possibly the most difficult path to follow. Many of us find it hard to take out the time for exercise due to our busy lifestyles. But if you want to be fit and healthy, exercising every day is a must. Start small; for instance, use the stairs to go up to the first floor or start walking for ten minutes initially and gradually increase the time for walking. Exercise helps to burn off calories and when you are eating right, it is much easier to keep off those unwanted pounds even with moderate exercise.
