Diet Tips & More for a Healthy and Trim Body
Last week The Secret to a Healthy Body talked about the physical things you should do to have a healthy body. This week, this article discusses the diet tips and more for keeping healthy and trim.
1. Timing. Try to eat every 3-4 hours so that you never get so hungry that you’re tempted to overeat at mealtime. Have breakfast, lunch, and dinner as well as a mid-morning, mid-afternoon, and post-dinner snack. Don’t skip breakfast or any meal for that matter. You’ll make yourself too hungry and you’ll overeat at the next meal. If you try to starve yourself you’re body will go into starvation mode where your metabolism will slow down drastically, keeping you from losing weight and actually making you more likely to hold onto calories the next time you do eat.
2. Portions. Use a salad plate instead of a dinner plate. An easy guideline for each meal is to have the plate be roughly be 1/4 carbs, 1/4 lean protein, and 1/2 fruits or vegetables at each meal. No second helpings, but if you are really hungry then take more vegetables.
3. Eat slowly. This one is one of the hardest and easiest things to do. It’s hard because the pace of our eating reflects the pace of everything around us, which is fast, fast, fast! So you must make a conscious effort at each meal to do this. Once you do this for a while you will establish a habit and from then on it will be easy. Perhaps before each meal you might want to close your eyes for 15 seconds, take a deep breathe to slow down, and then say to yourself something like “Take it slow. Taste this food. Enjoy it slowly. Release thoughts of work and other worries for now.” Then, when you do eat, take small bites and really taste and enjoy the food. This will give your body time to send your brain the “All Full” signal. If you only do one of these tips, do this one.
4. Snacks. For snacks have fruit, low calorie popcorn, or nuts (1 handful). Prepare these ahead of time so they are easy to grab. Keep junk food out of the house and you’ll be less likely to eat it.
5. Long Life Cocktail. This idea comes from the book “Fat Flush” by Louise Gittleman, a well respected dietitian. The recipe is 7 ounces water, 1 ounce pure cranberry juice, and 1 Tablespoon of ground flax seed. Have this once or twice a day for increasing your fiber, digestive regularity, and all the benefits which come from flax seeds. Those benefits are: lower cholesterol, antioxidant power, fiber, inhibiting the onset of estrogen-stimulated breast cancer, healing of inflamed intestines from Colitis and Crohn’s Disease. The pure cranberry juice will help to cleanse your liver and kidneys.
6. Dairy and Wheat products. If you find that these foods make you bloated, you might want to cut back on them. How to tell? Cut them from your diet for a week and see if you notice a difference. Just as good substitute: sprouted grain breads such as “Alvarado Street” or “Ezekial 4:9″. And there are many non-dairy substitutes such as rice milk which taste much better than you might imagine.
7. Sugar. For the most part, refined sugar is not good for you. Try to cut back or eliminate altogether. Blackstrap molasses or honey are better choices. Stevia root is a natural calorie free sweetener you might want to try. You can find it in healthstores. A good one is “Stevia Plus.” When having a sugar craving, have fruit instead.
8. Fiber. Try to get 25-30 grams of fiber per day. Fiber fills you up. It blocks the absorption of sugar and fat helping with weight loss and weight management. Having enough fiber in your diet will keep constipation away and will help lower your chances of cancer, such as colon cancer.
9. “100% Whole Grains.” Look for this exact phrase on cereals, crackers, bread, etc., but also check the nutrition labels. Anything else is not going to have as much fiber. Check the fiber count to be sure. Use whole grain pastas and breads. They will fill you up and they are healthier for you.
10. Vegetables. Learn to love them! Find a great book on how to cook vegetables that taste delicious. (Suggestion: “Vegetable Love” by Barbara Kafka) Have salad often. Be sure to measure out your salad dressing to keep from adding too many calories.
11. Chicken or Vegetable Broth and Soup. Use a cup of soup or broth as a snack. Have a cup before meals to feel full. And you can use broth to sautee vegetables instead of oil.
12. Oil. Only use olive oil or canola oil if you need it for cooking. Better yet, use flax oil on foods sauteed in broth to add flavor and health benefits. Don’t use flax oil for cooking and you must keep it refrigerated. Heat makes flax oil and flax seeds loose their healthful properties.
13. Cheese. Keep this to a minimum in your diet. The harder the cheese the better and keep in mind that a little can go a long way to add some flavor.
14. Hunger. If you are trying to lose weight, it’s ok to feel a little hungry, such as if you stay up late at night. If you’re feeling very hungry have some fruit and/or nuts. Or you could try a Long Life Cocktail or a Green Drink such as Green Vibrance. These drinks will fill you up and take the edge off your hunger so you can either go to sleep or make it until the next meal. The beneficial thing about Green Vibrance is that it contains the same kind of active cultures found in yogurt. These live cultures rid your body of yeast and help foster the healthy bacteria in your intestines for better digestive health.
15. Eliminate Toxins. Stay clear of all forms of tobacco. If you’ve tried to quit before and failed, don’t stop trying. If you keep trying you will eventually succeed! Keep alcohol to a minimum. Wash all fruits and vegetables with soap, water and a sponge. Try to buy organic if you can especially for produce where it really matters:
Fruit
1. Peaches
2. Apples
3. Strawberries
4. Nectarines
5. Pears
6. Cherries
7. Red Raspberries
8. Imported GrapesVegetables
1. Spinach
2. Bell Peppers
3. Celery
4. Potatoes
5. Hot Peppers
16. Chewing Gum. This is a good distraction between meals.
17. Calories. This totally free diet website has everything you need to know about how many calories you should eat, metabolic calculators, diet calculators,weight loss guides and more!
18. Eating Out. Think about what you will have before you go into the restaurant. Ask for extra vegetables instead of fries. Have salad or clear broth soup to fill up. Stay away from bread and butter.
19. Cheats. Allow yourself one cheat meal per week and do so in moderation.
20. Read labels. Stay away from anything with hydrogenated oils (trans fats). Beware that products are allowed to say “0 Trans Fats per serving” if they are below a certain percentage. But if the ingredients say “hydgrogenated” then know that you are getting trans fats. Stay away from too much saturated fats. And look for items that are high in fiber.
21. Green Tea. Scientific studies have shown many benefits from green tea consumption such as lower cancer rates and lowered cholesterol. Some studies show it can help with weight management. It certainly can’t hurt. If caffeine bothers you then try naturally decaffeinated or you can decaffeinate it yourself by brewing the tea bag twice. Drink the second cup and it will have very little caffeine, but most of the taste. A key point: don’t drink with cow’s milk “as proteins called caseins in milk decrease the amount of compounds in tea known as catechins” which aid in protecting against heart disease. Try rice milk instead if you want to add milk.
22. Get Enough Sleep. If you are very tired during the day, your body is going to crave more food to get energy. So, rest up!
What are your best dietary health tips? Please share in the comments.
K. Stone is author of Life Learning Today, a blog about daily life improvements. A few of her most popular articles are Building a Smarter, Stronger Brain - Part 1, How to Write a Book in 60 Days or Less, Should You Start Your Own Work at Home Business?, and Set Yourself Up for Diet Success.
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Comments
Gustavo says on August 24th, 2007 at 10:19 am
Great post! Congratulations!!!
Just a tip! Ok, Stevia is fine but not for those who aren’t used to sweeteners. There is a sweetener called “sucralose” (this is the name here in Brazil) that taste just like refined sugar but without the calories and chemistry. Just remember one thing: do NOT take ASPARTAME.
Anyway, I’ve been trying to eliminate refined sugar or sweeteners from my meals, coffees and juices and it’s good to enjoy stuff with their real taste.
KStone says on August 24th, 2007 at 11:24 am
Thanks Gustavo! Glad you liked it!
Good point about Aspartame! There are studies that show it is a toxin. It’s scary how prevalent it is! For more info check out “Everything You Need to Feel Good” by Candace Pert.
Mike OD says on August 24th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
Good list as people need to be reminded daily of simple steps to take, as consistency is what really drives health. (and weight loss too)
Personally I would of put as the top #1 thing for a healthy body as fasting. Short periods (24hours or less in my case) of fasting allow the body to do it’s own detox (as I don’t buy into all those detox diets, the body can detox on it’s own), clean cells, repair tissue, improve the digestive system, boost immune system, etc. Toxins are a part of life and you can not escape them, what we can do is just limit our exposure and intake, and maximize our internal cleaning and removal. I’ve been doing intermittent fasting (fasting 15 hours/day) for over a year and I can not tell you the difference it has made. (including gaining muscle and losing fat, but it is NOT a calorie restrictive plan…still have to eat)
#2 would be supplementing Apple Cider Vinegar also. So many benefits and cheap at like $3 a bottle. (make sure you get the mother with it)
As a professional health and fitness trainer I have seen the results first hand with not only myself, but also in the general health of my clients. (as I do train people with arthritis, fatigue, and other disorders) That alone is driving me to spread the word about it (blog coming soon!)
Zack says on August 25th, 2007 at 2:52 am
Good article, mostly sound advice… except popcorn and potatoes are terrible if you’re trying to lose fat. Their glycemic index is extremely high, even more so than refined sugars. You may as well have eaten the sugar, as your insulin is going to spike either way.
I’ve also heard of the concept of having an entire cheat day once per weak, eating literally Anything you want for all meals. Some believe this prevents down-regulation of the metabolism due to decreased caloric intake during the weak , keeping the metabolism higher overall and providing more benefit than was lost by overeating for a single day.
Derrick says on August 25th, 2007 at 10:42 am
Well eating out isn’t that really a good tip right? The typical cook might put way too much MSG, salt, etc just too make the food taste better. Well having said that, the tip of asking for more vegetables does help.
ChrisR says on August 25th, 2007 at 11:21 am
That’s all fine and good, but what if you don’t like/can’t eat vegetables?
I can’t really eat vegetables because I’m a picky eater.
Also, once again, seems like the secret to a healty diet is to cut out the things you like (milk in tea, fat, cheese) and switch over to a highly vegetarian diet :S
Also, what’s a good and easy meal for breakfast? I’ve heard eggs are one of the best things to start the day off with.
joe says on August 25th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
cut out the majority of animal food, milk yogert eggs out of your diet.. cut the sugar back.. it will fall off you .. eat as much rice and veggies nuts you need to make you feel full.. do not sacrifice your health.. exercise does not hurt and drink plenty of clean water..
avoid eating alot of the dirty dozen foods, go to google video and read about vegsource stuff or dr t cambel ..
heck type in big pharma some great stuff.. or hit up my home page and get updated
joe says on August 25th, 2007 at 1:09 pm
note the billion dollar industry who lobby, advertise, all the animal protein foods like milk,eggs will fight any threat to there industry(power full group mafia like!).. not only that but the phama industry owns all thous companies that make pesticides and ready packaged foods with all thous hidden ingredients referred to as only ” spices” or “natural flavors” go ahead call the toll free number and challenge them.. they will sum it to its company secret recipe. There is a war on for your money.. if it means making the food addictive .. hey they are doing it..
Sugar messes up how food is digested.. if you eat alot of pre packaged foods I imagine you have all sorts of ailments and are falling apart as it is.. http://www.truthinlabeling.org/
ingredients to avoid. It’s shocking when you really start reading food labels.
These additives always contain MSG:
Monosodium glutamate (duh!!)
Hydrolyzed vegetable protein
Hydrolyzed protein
Hydrolyzed plant protein
Sodium casienate
Calcium casienate
Yeast extract
Textured protein
Autolyzed yeast
Hydrolyzed oat flour
These additives frequently contain MSG:
Malt extract
Malt flavoring
Bouillon
Broth
Stock
Flavoring
Natural flavoring
Natural beef or chicken flavoring
Seasoning
Spices
These additives may contain MSG or other excitotoxins:
Carrageenan
Enzymes
Soy protein concentrate
Soy protein isolate
Whey protein concentrate
Rick says on August 25th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
Another key thing I have seen is that it is hard for people to know if they are eating about the right amount of calories to stay fit. If you are starting out trying to improve your fitness or lose weight, it’s a good idea to keep a diary of your calories for a few days to get a sense of how many calories you eat versus how many you burn. There are a few web sites that offer this service, including CalorieLookup.com.
Cheers, Rick
k.s.reddy says on August 26th, 2007 at 6:44 am
Excellent Diet Tips. I like the slogan “Eat Slowly and Enjoy it slowly”.
Thank you very much.
Dean says on August 27th, 2007 at 12:38 am
The MSG stuff is possibly a regional thing. In australia we’re required to put MSG warning labels on any food containing it (our labels also show in order of prevalence of each ingredient from most to least).
Strictly speaking things like Sodium Casienate and calcium casienate are a compound predominately used as preservative or salt. If it contained MSG it would need to specifically say MSG or derivitive. Not saying this might not be the case elsewhere in the world however.
An old trick for hiding by declaring MSG was the term “Celery Salt”
Groovymarlin says on August 27th, 2007 at 9:40 am
OK I tried the “Long Life Cocktail.” It tastes fine but the ground flax seed does not dissolve, it just kind of floats around in there and then sinks to the bottom. Is the idea to stir this up and drink it all at once, or to keep shaking it as you drink? Aren’t there some easier ways to get ground flax seed, like sprinkling it on cereal, in yogurt, or in a smoothie? (It does not taste bad at all, near as I can tell.)
Rahyl says on August 27th, 2007 at 10:56 am
One of the things I always recommend to people that want to refine their diet is to pay close attention to mineral intake. Most western diets seriously lack adequate mineral intake, especially magnesium, manganese, zinc, and copper. Many nuts and seeds contain these nutrients as well as fiber, protien, and substances known to lower LDL levels.
Eating a combination of nuts and seeds is a great way to meet the mid-meal snack recommendation without overdoing it. Just a handful or two at a time with a cup of freshly brewed green tea always does the trick for me.
The website I use most for food-specific nutritional information is http://www.whfoods.com. Lots of useful recipes there to. Enjoy :)
Dr Vina Revi says on August 28th, 2007 at 2:47 am
Weight control has been a major issue our society. What is more important, however, is to stay healthy. There exists guidelines on how to reach our target weight or stay slim without sacrificing our fitness.
KStone says on August 28th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
Thanks everyone for all the comments!
@GroovyMarlin - you are right. The ground flax seed does not really dissolve. It’s funny. If you drink it every day you’ll find that you get used to it very quickly. I love having it at night at that time when I get a little hunger. It takes the hunger away and then I sleep great.
You do need to keep stirring it a bit and I kind of chew the seeds a bit. I know it’s weird, but the drink really is healthy and like you said it doesn’t taste bad at all.
You can put the ground flax seed into cereal, yogurt, or smoothies like you mentioned. You can put it on salad too.
Thanks for asking!
Damian says on August 29th, 2007 at 3:27 am
Great article Kstone!
And Mark OD I am really looking forward to that site of yours!
Groovymarlin says on August 29th, 2007 at 9:42 am
KStone - thanks for answering my question! I’ve been reading a lot lately about how good Flax Seed is. I just read a blog post the other day (and I apologize for not being able to find it again, and link to it here) where the author documented how much his mental acuity was enhanced after taking some flax seed - he actually tracked his response times to some test and saw marked improvement for several hours after the flax seed. Amazing!
KStone says on August 29th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
Thanks Damian!
GroovyMarlin - anytime! Glad to have you as a part of the discussion! That’s very interesting about the mental acuity! Just more reasons to partake!
Jesmi says on September 19th, 2007 at 1:59 am
Thanks for the tips! Its a good points are given by this blog. Thanks for such a informative articles.
K Stone says on September 20th, 2007 at 11:30 pm
Jesmi - Thanks! Glad you’ve found value here! And thanks for letting me know!
Steve says on October 9th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
It’s hard to keep a close watch on calorie intake, much less try to eat a little bit slower than the regular. But I definitely agree that we should put more whole grains into the diet as this would surely help sustain a healthy weight. Though not classified as whole grain, the omega 3 and fiber nutrients inherent in flax seed are known effective in any weight loss agenda. Integrating flax seed and flax seed oil into the diet will surely work to give you that fit and healthy body.
maxdriver says on January 1st, 2008 at 11:48 am
I think it’s an informative list of healthy tips, but I was surprised that there was little comment of the benefits of simply drinking water. H2O keeps you hydrated and helps to quell appetite among other positives…
baburao says on February 15th, 2008 at 12:57 am
ok
ELIZA MAGUIRE says on June 26th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
ITS REALLY NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Carolo Gardner says on June 30th, 2008 at 1:47 am
Great tips. Its preferable to have raw fruits or vegetables occupy half of our diet. Sprouted grains carry all the nutrients that a human body require. Detoxification is important of all the above…
K Stone says on July 1st, 2008 at 7:01 pm
@Carolo - You are so right!
I just published an ebook on this very topic:
The Secrets to Healthy Living.
doez says on July 4th, 2008 at 8:35 am
thank’s
k lol says on August 30th, 2008 at 12:25 am
this is stupid………….i want a diet to lose my weight tell me wen to skip dinner lunch or breakfast n wt to eat n wat to not eat……..
Georgie Mcgrew says on February 18th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Amazing tips for healthy eating. This is very essential in our everyday lives to choose what is good for us.
weight Loss Dad says on May 10th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Great list…