Healthy Diet According to a Doctor:
The end of the Year is near;! If you are planning on making a New Year’s Resolution this year and your resolution have something to do with diet, exercise or both, then this article is for you. To help us get off on the right foot with our health-related resolutions, we decided to ask some of our family Care doctors to share their tips for maintaining a healthy diet.
Know What’s in Your Food:
Most people’s diet problems are directly related to excessive salt, sugar, fat and bad carbohydrates. Refined carbohydrates, such as white rice, white flour and sugar, are peculiarly harmful – they convert to LDL cholesterol, also known as the ‘bad’ cholesterol.” For that reason it’s important to acquaint yourself with the contents of the foods you eat over and over. If they are high in sodium, fat, sugar and carbohydrates, you have to avoid them or cut way back.
Stay Hydrated:
It is important to stay hydrated gradually, throughout the day. “We have to be intentional” about drinking water, at least eight eight-ounce cups of water every day. Not only do our bodies need plenty of water, drinking enough of it can help to overcome feelings of hunger.
Break Your Fast:
The time gap between dinner and when we wake up in the next day morning is the longer period of time we go without eating. That’s one reason it’s really crucial to eat a good breakfast every day – you literally are breaking a fast from the day before.
Having breakfast after waking up is good for your metabolism and a good breakfast helps stabilize your blood sugar levels, gives you energy to start your day and decreases the odds you will overeat at lunch. Eating a good breakfast is the most important thing you can do to maintain a healthy weight.
Snacks are Your Friend:
Now that you know you should drink plenty of water and start your day with breakfast. But did you also know you should snack frequently throughout the day, as well?
Spreading your food intake out through the day helps avoid getting too hungry, which helps prevent overeating later. It also helps maintain a more constant blood glucose level. Eating smaller, frequent meals throughout the day, every two to three hours, helps you avoid over-consuming during lunch and dinner.
So, what should you snack on? Fruit – lots of fruit. Fruit can definitely be considered a great and healthy snack, provides fiber and has a lower glycemic index (meaning it has less of an effect on blood sugar levels) than eating chips, cookies or donuts. Another good option is to have a few heart healthy nuts, such as raw (unsalted) walnuts and almonds. Popcorn is another decent option, provided it’s not soak in butter and salt.
What’s for Dinner :
You started your day with a good, healthy breakfast. You had a few healthy snacks in between meals, keeping your blood sugar levels fairly constant and avoiding feeling as though you are starving. Now it’s time for dinner! how do you complete your day of healthy eating?
Docotrs recommends your dinner should include plenty of vegetables, to go with the fruit you’ve hopefully previously had. Choose a heart-healthy protein for your entrée, such as wild salmon. Most importantly, be aware of portion size. Usually, a four-ounce serving of meat or fish provides the calories you need.
You don’t have to cut out all your favorite foods to maintain a healthy diet. Having a burger or pizza is fine as an occasional thing, but don’t eat them every day! You can eat red meat, but in moderation. Eat more chicken, pork, fish and non-meat meals. Most Doctors recommends eating your dinner early enough in the evening that you’re not going to bed with a full stomach. If you go to bed with stomach full, the food you have taken can more easily turn into fat.
Tips and Tools :
Now that you know how to eat better, it’s a good time to start exercising too. Lets Work out!. Perform some good aerobic exercise at least three days a week, as well as some resistance training and weight work too. And as you are restructuring your diet and exercising to lose weight, you’ll want to know whether it’s working or not. You have to step on the scale, but don’t overdo it. Weigh yourself once a week at the same day and same time. This helps keep you on track, but without sweating the daily fluctuations.
While building healthy habits, keep track of how much you eat and work out; use any best (like Weight Watchers) online app to track all your activities, or any method of tracking will work. The main thing is to recognize how much is your calorie intake versus how much you are burning off.
Remember, losing weight boils down to one simple equation: we have to burn more calories than we consume. Attacking both sides of that equation at the same time (Eat Less + Exercise More) is the best way to start seeing results – and the best way to improve your health.
Good luck with your resolutions!
