The main factor that determines whether you lose weight or gain it is not how much you workout but what you eat.
As it’s much easier to consume calories than to burn them off, your diet is the most important thing when it comes to maintaining proper weight. In addition, the food you eat is the fuel of your body. The more high quality and nutritious food you eat, the healthier you tend to be. In this article, I want to share some healthy eating tips to help you lose weight and maintain proper health for years to come.
So, if you want to drop pounds fast, have higher energy, and feel much better, make sure to read these tips and apply them.
Not all Fat is Bad
Your primary goal may be to burn excess fat off your body. One logical step would be to start eating less fat. However, fat is not your enemy and shouldn’t be totally avoided. The fact is that your body requires fat to function properly. Just like carbs and protein, it is an essential nutrient that you must include in your diet.
That being said, not all fats are made equal. Trans-fats, which are often found in industrialized foods, should be totally avoided. Other fats are much healthier and should be a regular part of your diet routine. These fat sources include:
- Olive oil
- Avocado
- Coconut oil
- Nuts and almonds
- Seeds
- Various fish
As close to nature as possible
One great rule of thumb that you should follow when buying groceries is to get food which is as close to its natural form as possible. Fruit and vegetables are great, but the organic variety is better since it has not been bombarded with pesticides and herbicides. Meat is alright, but buy meat of grass fed animals and not those raised on corn or filled with anti-biotics. Eggs are highly nutritious, but it’s best to get those of free range chickens, and not those raised in tight cages.
Similarly, processed food is usually made to last longer on the shelf or provide a short term pleasure due to its being rich in sugar and/or salt. Often, the natural form is better. Why buy white rice when it has been stripped from most of its nutritional value? Brown rice is much better. Why buy white flour breads when they too are devoid of most of the nutritional elements? Get products which have been tampered with as little as possible.
Control Your Food
You need to know where your food is coming from and what it contains. This means making smarter shopping decisions, reading product labels carefully, planning your shopping in advance, and preparing much or all of your own food.
This last piece of advice is important and I know that you may be the sort of person who loves to eat outdoors. Well, too bad. While I like eating out as well, I know that no one takes care of my interests as much as I do. Restaurant owners are in business to make money, not to take care of your health. Don’t be surprised if the food you order isn’t the healthiest in the world. By preparing your own food, you choose the ingredients, the condiments, the cooking method. You control what you eat.
Don’t Drink Your Calories
The biggest calorie trap I know of is in drinks, not solid foods. People aren’t even aware of the many hundres of calories they consume through soft drinks, alcohol, juices, coffee, and so on. I like to keep my drinks simple: water and tea sweetened with raw honey. That’s it. Otherwise, I know I’ll be drinking a lot of calories without even feeling fuller.
Schedule Your Indulging Sins
No one should give up their favorite foods always and forever. Food is part of the enjoyment of life and even someone who wants to lose weight should indulge themselves once in a while. But how do you make sure this is once in a while? And how do you say no or resist all the temptations that will likely befall upon you?
You do so by scheduling your indulgences, your sins if you’d rather think of them that way. By knowing, in advance, when you will eat “undietary” foods, you’ll be able to resist temptation on all other dates and have the motivation to stick to your eating plan, knowing that your coming closer to being free to indulge.
Is This All?
Hardly. There are countless healthy eating tips to share with you and I may write another post with some more. However, I’ve given you some action steps to act on. Start with those and you will be on the way to losing weight more easily and developing a healthier lifestyle.
