Getting Your Diet Right 101
8 January 2016
Dieting is tough in the 21st century. Good food is everywhere, and a horrendous amount of it seems designed to derail your healthy eating program. For your diet to be a success, you need to know how much food you need, and how to make changes.
Dieting is tough in the 21st century. Good food is everywhere, and a horrendous amount of it seems designed to derail your healthy eating program. For your diet to be a success, you need to know how much food you need, and how to make changes.
Work Out Your Calories
One of the first things you’ll do when you see a nutritionist, attend a boot camp, or see a personal trainer is work out your recommended caloric intake. Calories are units of energy; if you take in more during the day than you need you will have a caloric surplus, and will gain wait, while if you take in less you will have a caloric deficit, and will lose weight.
Use an online calculator to roughly estimate your needs, then use a calorie counting app to keep track of what you’re eating throughout the day.
Watch Out for Hidden Sugars and Fats
You should now be watching your daily caloric intake, but don’t let certain items fool you. The most common offenders are drinks, which people often fail to consider.
That’s a big problem, because the milk in your tea, the sugar in your fruit juice, and the cream in your coffee quickly adds up the calories, especially when you’re enjoying certain take-out drinks. Remember to leave nothing unchecked.
Make Smart Substitutions
It’s easy to be overly optimistic when you’re planning your diet, but this often leads people into being unrealistic. Remember, not everything which passes your lips needs to be as healthy as possible. Instead, take your normal meals and ask yourself how they could be healthier.
Like to have chips with your dinner? Replace with a baked potato for better nutrition and fewer calories. Usually have a bag of crisps as a snack? Try having a banana or a handful of raisins instead.
Add Fruit and Veg
The NHS currently advises that adults consume five or more portions of fruit and veg each day. That might seem like quite a lot, but you can get yourself to that number by simply adding fruit or veg to each meal, then having two snacks throughout the day.
This means that you aren’t thinking of it as such a big number, and it’s much easier to eat one portion of peas with dinner rather than trying to cram in a portion of broccoli and sweetcorn while you’re at it.
If you’d like to find out more about eating and living healthier, just contact a professional today.
