Eat Healthy Foods at Home and While Out in Town

January 29, 2010

Diets & Nutrition

Even the strongest reasons to lose weight may fail when you don’t eat the food required to follow the adopted diet. This week you will learn how to shop for the necessary healthy foods for a complete weight loss diet and how to transform the recipes that are rich in nutrients and calories into low calories ones.

Buying healthy food

To maintain body health you must carefully select the most nutritious foods from the multitude of shops. Here are some suggestions that may constitute a starting point for your choices.

Products

You can’t fail about them because it is clear that fruits and vegetables will be first in the ranking of the best suppliers of vitamins and minerals. Also, high-fiber products will help you maintain a feeling of fullness longer.

A useful tip – fruits and vegetables that are canned or frozen contain as many vitamins and minerals as fresh ones. But be careful of how much salt and sugar these cans contain. Choose fruits canned in their own juice, to the detriment of the syrup and vegetables with little or no sodium content.

The following list can help you in any weight-loss diet:
• Fruits – oranges, grapefruits, melons, strawberry, raspberry, mangos, papaya, kiwi, mandarins, apricots;
• Vegetables – Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflowers, tomatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes, spinach, turning, and red pepper.

Another tip – the more the color is more intense, especially green, yellow and orange, these products are more nutritious.

Grain and bread foods
• Be very careful when you chose the bread! First of all make sure the first ingredient listed is a whole, that being whole wheat flour, oats or millet. White flour is considered the poorest in vitamins and fiber;
• Although it is dark bread, it is not made from whole wheat flour and, therefore, the fiber content is similar to that of white bread;
• Some useful tips in choosing grain: at least 3 grams of fiber per serving, less than 6 grams of sugar per serving, 3 or fewer grams of fat per serving, cereals that contain whole wheat, bran and oats are more nutritious than those based on corn or rice;
• Brown rice contains 3 times more fiber than white and it is more nutritious and fulfilling;
• Pasta made out of whole wheat flour is high in fibers and is more nutritious than normal pasta made from white flour or meal;
• Reduce the consumption of biscuits, cookies and snacks. If they do not contain fat it does not necessarily means they are nutritious and will prevent you gaining weight. Of course they are good, but consumed with moderation. When you buy a product that says "fat free", check twice to see if it has even more calories.

Dairy products

These products are the exception to the rule of “low in fat, but not necessarily low in calories”. The defatted and those with a low-fat such as milk, cheese, yogurt, and ice cream indeed contain less fat and calories than skimmed milk. If you are used to whole milk and products that are not low fat try to abandon them, step by step and try to include the degreased ones in your diet. Since the fats in these products are saturated it is very important not only for your silhouette, but also for your health to reduce their consumption.

Foods rich in protein – meat, seafood, fish, eggs, nuts, vegetables
• Beef: fat content of cuts of beef can vary widely. For example, the ribs and muscles have a poor content of fat;
• Pork: Canadian ham is indicated, pieces of muscle and steak;
• Chicken and turkey: the skin of both animals is high in saturated fats. Thighs also contain very much fat, breast meat being recommended as the lightest. Watch out for products based on chicken or turkey (ham, sausages, bacon) because the fattest parts of the animals are often used;
• Fish meat: is indicated in combination with vegetables and fruits. It is low in saturated fat and high in proteins and minerals. Try to eat fish at least 3 times a week;
• Seafood: they had a bad reputation in the past because of high cholesterol content. Currently, it is known that saturated fats are the main culprit for high cholesterol. Seafood have low-fat contents, so it is an efficient source of protein necessary for the body;
• Eggs: are an excellent sources of protein, but must be consumed in moderation (3 eggs per week);
• Seeds and nuts: they are very nutritious, but should be avoided during weight-loss cures. They have high protein contents, mono-unsaturated fat and vitamin E. But, unfortunately they are very high in calories. For example, a cup of peanuts has 800-900 calories, one of popcorn or pretzels is 50-80 calories and one of raw vegetables has only 25 calories!
• Dried beans and peas: they are rich in fiber, vitamins, minerals, proteins and complex carbohydrates.

Fats and oils
• Butter and margarine: pay attention to the words oil "hydrogenated" or "partially hydrogenated" in the list of ingredients. These are called "trans-fat" and are extremely harmful to the heart. Choose tasty but low-fat products;
• Oils: All oils contain the same number of calories per serving. So if it comes to your weight, all must be consumed with moderation. But not all of them will have the same health benefits for your body. The indicated oil, low in saturated fats and rich in mono-unsaturated fats, is olive.

Modify recipes rich in calories to eat healthier foods

Analyze the following list to substitute healthy food recipes that were previously high in fat.
Instead of: 1 cup cream
Replace with: 1 cup of skim milk
Instead of 1 cup of butter, margarine or oil
Replace with: 1 / 2 cup mashed plum mixed with 1-2 tablespoons of butter, margarine or oil
Instead of: 1 egg
Replace with: 2 egg whites
Instead of: butter, margarine or vegetable oil
Replace with: chicken broth or olive oil
Instead of: ham
Replace with: ham, turkey
Instead of: 1 cup sugar
Replace with: 3 / 4 cups of sugar
Instead of 1 cup of mayonnaise
Replace with: 1 cup of light mayonnaise
Instead of: 1 cup whole milk
Replace with: 1 cup skimmed milk
Instead of: 1 cup cream cheese
Replace with: 1 / 2 cup fat-free cream cheese
Instead of: 3 parts oil and 1 part vinegar salad
Replace with: 1 part olive oil and 1 part balsamic vinegar and 1 part orange juice.

Carefully read the ingredient list to make sure the food is healthy

The ingredient list can be highly misleading and ambiguous.
• Portions – be careful to what producers call "a portion";
• Total calories – depending on the number of calories per serving, meaning total carbohydrates, proteins and fats in the product. Calculate: (grams of fat x 9) + (grams of carbohydrate x 4) + (grams of protein x 4) = total calories;
• Calories from fat – about 30 of total 90 calories per serving come from fat. You can calculate the percentage of calories from fat, calories by dividing the total calories from fat. (E.g. 90: 30);
• Total fat – is listed in grams. Calculate: (grams of saturated fat + grams of poly-unsaturated fat + grams of mono-unsaturated fats). Fats contain 9 calories/per gram. To determine the calories from fat, multiply the grams of fat with 9. If you follow a diet with 1,800 calories a day and you accepted 30% or fewer calories from fat, please limit to 540 daily calories from fat (1,800 x 30%). To determine the grams, divide the calories from fat to 9. In this case, the result is 60 grams of fat per day (540: 9);
• Saturated fats – are listed in grams per serving. Consumption of saturated fats should be less than 1/3 of the total consumption of fat;
• Cholesterol – is listed in milligrams and should be limited to 300 milligrams per day;
• Sodium – is listed in milligrams. Still not established with certainty whether a diet high in sodium is harmful to health (for those with normal blood pressure), but sodium is indicated with moderation. Strive to keep daily intake to 2400 milligrams sodium;
• The total carbohydrates – you can find out by adding the grams of sugar + the grams of fiber + the grams of complex carbohydrates;
• Dietary Fiber – strive to consume at least 25 grams of fiber a day;
• Sugars – are listed in grams, include natural sugars (lactose in milk and fructose in fruits) and those added to foods such as sugar, honey and dextrose;
• Protein – listed in grams. Recommended daily consumption is 8 grams protein per kilogram. Normally, each woman has a need 50-60 grams of protein a day and men 60-70 grams per day;
• Vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium and iron – are the most important vitamins and minerals.

How to eat healthy food while out in town?

The situation of dining out in town is a real problem for people who follow a weight loss program. Temptations are everywhere and are not very easy to avoid. Here are some tips to follow the natural course of your diet, although you eat in town:
• If you want to get spoiled with a special dinner, watch what you eat the next day and double the number of exercises. Creating a balance is very important, and the ability to adapt to specific situations should be a constant concern;
• Make your plan – try to decide out what you will order before you go; • Make compromises – decide in advance what you will eat and what you will not eat. If however you get a craving for red wine, then give up dessert or eat only 3 / 4 of the appetizer;
• Start dinner with a low calories soup, but that will give you a feeling of fullness. Also, spicy foods can trick your hunger, giving you the sensation of fullness;
• Do not go out hungry! It will be easier to resist the temptation. Eat a light salad before going out;
• Limit your portions! Order what you want, but do not overfeed. Learn to stop when you feel full;
• Enjoy the meal you served in town!
• There are words that draw the attention to the fact they are high in fat/calories: fried, baked, sauce, nuts, cheese, cream, butter and more. If however you can not help it and take a menu that contains these foods trying to eat half the portion.

For the rest of the 8 weeks weight loss plan visit How to Lose Weight in 8 weeks: a simple 8 weeks weight loss plan

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