1. Aim for Healthy Eating
Today's standard diets encourage healthy eating over weight-loss diets because eating healthy reduces the risk of heart disease, diabetes and many cancers. From the government to the American Heart Association, health professionals stress consuming food loaded with nutrients, yet limited in salt and saturated fats. And the trans fats found in many processed foods are a definite no-no. Experts even shun the "diet" label, emphasizing a healthy lifestyle, not just a temporary diet.
2. Balance Food Choices
Government health gurus suggest modeling your diet after a food pyramid. However, the look of the pyramid has changed over the years as health professionals learn more about what makes a healthy diet. Today's food pyramid contains six divisions. The largest is grains, followed by vegetables. Milk follows closely behind with fruit tailing it. A noticeably narrower strip features proteins like meat and beans, while healthy fats inherit the skinniest sliver. The key is a balance of lean proteins, high-nutrient carbs and healthy fats.
3. Keep Counting Calories
Calories count, and it takes 3,500 of them to equal one pound. To stay the same weight, you must burn off the same amount of calories that you take in. If you take in even 10 extra calories a day, you'll end up one pound heavier at the end of the year. Likewise, if you burn an extra 10 calories each day through physical activity, you'll be a pound lighter at the end of the year. Portion control is a key to weight loss, health experts concur. Even binging on healthy foods causes weight to mushroom. When you view food pyramids, remember that these base guidelines and nutrition labels on a 2,000-calorie diet. Overweight females should take in fewer calories than that.
4. Life is not Sweet
Sugar will forever be that thing that tastes so good, but is bad for you. Sugar's only contribution is to poor health, from cavity-ridden teeth to diabetes and obesity. The problem with sugar is that it often goes undercover with names like fructose, sucrose and corn syrup. Don't kid yourself; sugar is everywhere. Low-fat foods may contain larger amounts of sugar for a tastier low-fat product. Even everyday condiments like ketchup have a large amount of sugar.
5. Get Physical
Olivia Newton-John had it right when she sang, "let's get physical." Although diets often revolve around food, both non-standard and standard diets encourage increasing physical activity through formal exercise plans and just moving more. The standard for getting physical is 30 minutes daily, which can come from walking, jogging, swimming, biking or any activity that gets the heart rate up, but there's more you can do. Don't wait for a parking spot in the front. Park farther away from the store and walk. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Throw yourself into cleaning the house and doing yard work. It's for your health.
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