7 Rules of Healthy Dieting
There are a lot of misconceptions about dieting. If you want to lose weight successfully and not waste your time and effort following erroneous ideas, learn the following seven rules of healthy dieting.
1. Exercise – Aside from the fact that aerobic activity burns calories, developing lean muscles through resistance training leads to increased metabolism because muscles use energy for maintenance. Exercise jacks up the body’s metabolism to a significant degree which is why a fit person effectively burns calories. Before getting into any exercise regimen however, make sure to first consult your physician.
2. Hydrate – Humans are made to drink a lot of water. The body should always be hydrated thus one of the most basic rules of keeping healthy is drinking a lot of water daily. In his book, “Your Bodies Many Cries For Water”, Dr. Bhatmanjelig presents hundreds of case studies showing the vital role being well-hydrated plays in achieving optimal health. According to him, one should drink one ounce of water for every pound of body weight. Thus a 120-pound person should drink 120 ounces of water each day. We also get water from foods and other fluids but nevertheless experts recommend that we should still drink a lot of water everyday.
3. Stop eating junk food – Most people enjoy junk food and those who gain a lot of weight are often addicted to them. If you are dieting and have a weakness for junk food, it is best to rid your cupboards of the stuff. But it doesn’t end there, the snacking habit will continue so you should find a healthy substitute to munch on. In place of chips, try baby carrots or chopped fresh vegetables with salsa instead. Always remember that dieting for weight loss not only means cutting down on calories but also eating foods that provide you with the nutrition your body needs.
4. Keep a food journal – Writing things down keeps one focused on whatever one is trying to accomplish. If you are a dieter, doing the same reinforces your committment to eating write. A food journal is a great tool in helping you stay away from temptation. Recording everything you eat keeps you accountable to yourself and your decision to eat healthy. You will have a lesser tendency to overeat because writing things down reinforces your committment to eating right.
5. Be conscious about portion sizes – Restaurants serve humongous portions and this has lead many people to overeat thinking they are eating the right amount of food. This is called portion distortion. The truth is that you can eat 50% less of food served in your plate in restaurants and be completely satisfied. Dieters often should develop the habit of portion control. In trying to lose weight, less is more when it comes to serving portions. Also remember that even healthy foods has calories and if you eat too much of them, the calories would still add up. One good habit to develop is to request for a doggie bag when eating out.
6. Create your own support network – According to recent weight loss research, dieters are able to accomplish their weight loss goals if they have a group of people that provide the support they need. There are many successful diet programs that incorporate the idea of group accountability. With a highly challenging task such as losing weight, support is critical.
7. Don’t eat a full meal after 3:00 pm – This idea makes a lot of sense if you consider how digestion works. Your metabolism works 24/7, subtract from this eight hours of sleep every night and you are left with 16 hours to eat. If you start to not eat after 3:00 pm, your metabolism will be able to use up a lot of the calories you took in during the day and by the time you go to bed, there’s hardly any excess that can be transformed into stored fat.
These guidelines tell us that it is important to realign our thinking when it comes to weight loss. Do not restrict yourself to mere calorie-counting or starvation. These simple common sense rules will help you achieve your weight loss goals the practical and healthy way.
About the author
Charles Volcolatte is a health and weight loss researcher for http://www.skinnyasap.com/. He writes and researches actively on Healthy Weight Loss and shares his knowledge at http://www.skinnyasap.com/ where he works as a staff writer.Tags: diet, diet plan, exercise, Fitness, Weight Loss, weight loss product reviews, weight loss programs