You can combine a healthy diet with limiting calorie intake by eating the right blend of nutritious foods and reading food labels. Purchase fresh produce, lean meat and low-fat milk products and whole grain foods in the right amounts and you will have the healthy diet foods. This allows you to get the nutrition you need while keeping your calories low.
Healthy Foods Blend
Make sure you purchase the right blend of carbs, protein and fat for a healthy menu plan. You should eat food with a ratio of about 2:1:1 of carbs:protein:fat in total calorie intake for a healthy diet. Check food nutrition labels to make sure you can meet those ratios. If you are a little high in carbs, you can cut back a bit on fat to stay within the total calories you need to maintain or lose weight, depending on your individual goals.
Adult Calorie Counting
Men and women have different needs when it comes to how many calories they should eat to either maintain or lose weight. The University of Maryland Medical Center states that women can eat 10 to 12 calories per 1 lb. of their own body weight without gaining weight, depending on whether they get at least 30 minutes of exercise daily. If you are a man, you can eat 13 to 15 calories per 1 lb. without weight gain. A 200-lb. man who exercises could eat 3,000 calories daily without gaining weight.
Kid's Calories
Children have different calorie needs for healthy growth. At 2 to 3 years of age, your child needs about 1,000 to 1,400 calories per day, depending on his growth and activity levels. By age 4 to 8, boys need 1,400 to 2,000 calories and girls need 1,200 to 1,800 calories. By the time they reach their teens, a boy will need 2,200 to 3,200 calories and a girl will need 1,800 to 2,400 calories per day. An 1,800-calorie diet should be made up of about 45g to 135g of protein, 203g to 293g of carbs and 50g to 70g of fat.
Healthy Food Choices
Healthy food choices include whole grain foods for carbs, lean meats and low-fat milk products for protein and a good mix of fruits and vegetables for plenty of vitamins and minerals. Fish can be a better choice than red meat, because fish, such as salmon, provides nearly as much protein as steak, with only a quarter of the fat. Keep fresh produce as unprocessed as possible to gain needed dietary fiber and avoid unneeded sodium, preservatives and sugars that are added to processed foods.
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