People ask me all the time to help guide them in the weight loss process. Usually, I get asked "What kind of diet can I go on to lose X amount of pounds?" My response always is, what you need to do is make a lifestyle change not go on a diet. The definition of diet is the foods eaten, as by a particular person or group. What you eat everyday is your diet. The idea and notion of the word diet needs to change first before taking that first step.
What you want to do is make a lifestyle change, and it doesn't have to be drastic. Its easier to make a permanent change when you start out small. For example, stop eating fried foods, replace a soft drink for water or tea, slowly pick a food in your diet that is unhealthy and replace it with a healthy alternative and continue to do so until you have a nice well rounded healthy diet. As you ease into it, the easier the adjustment will be and the easier it will be to stick with it. If you want to be healthy its a lifelong commitment, but that doesn't mean that you are perfect at it always every time. You will have your good days or weeks and your bad ones. The idea is to be flexible and not to limit or make yourself feel deprived to where you set yourself up for failure. The secret is moderation, its ok to have a piece of chocolate now and then or a glass of wine or some kind of empty caloric treat.
Snacking at work seems to be one of the biggest issues I hear about it in my friends struggles to eat healthy. The trick is to look at what a snack is and what a treat is. A snack is usually food that has nutritional value and is about 200 calories or less. A treat is candy, cookies, sugary treats that have no nutritional value and can range from 200 calories to 1000 calories depending on the portions you eat. Here is a list of healthy snacks one can eat throughout the day but of course in moderation:
- Whole Wheat crackers and peanut butter, or celery/veggies and peanut butter, Jif just came out with little snack size travel packs that are already packaged in the correct portion size.
- Fruit - apples, pears, bananas, oranges, grapes etc....
- Nuts/Seed - almonds (but be careful to grab just a handful), dried fruit (without added sugars), sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds etc....
- Pita Bread/Chips and hummus
- Veggies with a low-fat ranch dressing dip or hummus
- Turkey Jerky
All these are good snacks to eat in between meals. Its important to eat the correct portions as well when switching to healthier living. All of these good snacks can turn on you just as much as the evil sugary treats if one eats more than the allotted portion or serving size. Its important to pay attention to the serving sizes in the new foods you will be eating. That should go for all foods that you are buying and eating, its important to look at the serving size and how many servings are in the container as well.
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