Diet Discovery

I’m trying to start a little diet. I know that is is part physical and part diet, I have the physical part under control, but the dieting part will be the challenge because I find myself eating often and unhealthy. Im looking for tips to tame this bad habit, Ideas of exercise that tones the body, and foods I should avoid and why. Thanks!

Okay, well congratulations on wanting to take better care of your body. You’ve taken the first step.

Eating better is really pretty simple. Here are foods you want to try to eat more of:

Lean meats (baked or grilled turkey and chicken or fish, if you are not vegetarian) — fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains. There are a lot of healthier frozen dinners now that taste really good (I prefer the Healthy Choice Steamers). When eating carbs try to avoid anything made with white flour. For snacks, nuts or peanut butter is good as it contains healthy fat, but both are high in calories so keep that in mind.

The idea is that you want to never get too hungry, so eat healthy snacks in between meals to control hunger. When you get hungry you crave fatty foods that are not good for you and are full of calories.

Avoid things like pizza, donuts, highly processed carbs, and things with lots of sugar but no nutritional value. For example, stop drinking soft drinks if you currently do. They are full of sugar but nothing else. Drink water instead.

Here’s the most important thing to remember: it’s not a "diet". It’s a lifestyle change. You have to eat in a way that you can maintain. If you limit yourself too much, you will never stick to it, and gain all the weight back. Just use common sense and try to limit your portion size and eat generally healthy. Also, allow yourself to eat your favorite foods on occasion. If you love pizza, you can still have it, once a month or so is not going to hurt in the big picture. this will give yourself things to look forward to.