Actually, it does not get any easier as you hike or bike along your daily eating routine. You might as well have a piece of chocolate anywhere, drink a cup of coffee with the kids at lunch time, and snack on donuts at three PM. Portion sizes are starting to increase, and some experts even recommend expanding them, with an eye towards eventually eliminating them completely for better weight management.
You will certainly need all the energy you can get, and in the process you will be consuming the beneficial nutrients you need, to complete the tasks you have planned.
Myth: If I eat more, it will help me lose weight.
Truth: However, your daily caloric intake must be adjusted, to take in the amount of activity you are up to. If you take in more, you are building a guarantee that you will take in less the following day.
Myth: Only lean meats are good for me.
Truth: Chicken, fish and turkey, especially the breast, are free of cholesterol and saturated fats, and provide the benefit of healthy protein, essential fatty acids and vitamins and minerals.
Myth: Avoid sweets at all cost.
Truth: For a healthy diet, everything counts, from fresh to processed, from artificial to natural. Once you get used to learning about those whole foods, you will realize that a daily diet of artificial sweeteners, preservatives, and chemicals will do your body more harm than good. Natural sugars, whole grains, beans, and green vegetables provide just as much or more benefit.
Myth: I opt for foods without labels, since I want what’s best for me.
Truth: You should watch out for the partially hydrogenated oils, the high fructose corn syrup, the refined white bread, the enriched high grain pastas. These are the really bad ingredients in many foods, but keep in mind, the manufacturers add these things to enhance the taste.
Myth: Eating in is more satisfying.
Truth: Eating for pleasure, whatever that may be, does not require a daily allowance of foods that give you little pleasure.
Myth: Since I’m trying to lose weight, only certain food can be consumed.
Truth: You are not supposed to restrict yourself to certain kinds of food. Select what you want to eat based on your own nutritional needs, both for weight maintenance and for weight loss.
Eliminating some items and adding others can often help in achieving the best results. Here’s a partial list of what we can eat:
– Fruits, most of them.
– Vegetables, prefer the leafy green variety.
– Low fat dairy products, especially cheese.
– Lean meat and poultry.
– Whole grains.
– Fish and extra virgin olive oil.
– Olive Oil, coconut oil, canola oil.
– Fresh garlic.
– Herbs and spices.
– Potatoes (peeled and baked), chicken, red meat (no skin on), and dairy.
– Fresh and frozen vegetables.
– Almonds and other nuts.
– Low fat cheese or low fat yogurt.
– Whole grain rice or couscous.
– Whole pasta.
– Legumes (beans).
– Beans and other pulses.
– Wholemeal flour.
– Rice cakes or pita bread.
– Snacks – plain or with nut butter.
– Ice cream.
– Whole milk or skim (buttermilk does not count).
– Eggs.
Nut butter is a great alternative to using butter or margarine on salads, toast, baked potatoes and in baking. Almond butter or a similar spread can often be used in both Aspartame (a sweetener) and sugar-free recipes that do not contain Aspartame.
Assuming that you understand the difference in fats, the following is a general list of fats that should be included in your diet,erve sparingly:
– Saturated fats – You will find these mostly in animal products e.g. red meat, pork and goose.
– Unsaturated fats – You will find these in fish and seafood e.g. salmon, tuna, mackerel and sardines.
– Polyunsaturated fats – We mostly get these from vegetable source e.g. corn, sunflower, soya, fish oils and walnut oil.
– Monounsaturated fats – We get these fats from olive, canola and peanut oils and their replacers in whole grains, dairy products and imitationizz foods.
Here is a list of low fat doesn’t and don’t’s:
– Don’t buy margarine or other shortenings that are commercially manufactured.
– A very useful table to have on a menu is the glycemic index.
