| Diet
Tips
Here is a selection of diet
tips and tricks that I've used to help myself stay on
a diet...some of these things are very simple and very
commonsense, but I've found that some people just don't
realize the little tricks of the dieting trade.
So here is a few tips that you can use in your dieting:
 1.
Eight, 8 oz. glasses of water everyday...this is a common
diet tip and most people know this, yet they still don't
drink enough water during the day. There are some
very important reasons for drinking water, first off,
its zero calorie, zero chemical, zero caffeine, and the
ideal thing to curb your appetite. Drinking water
will flush out the bad toxins in your body, will get your
kidney's working, and even help your metabolism speed
up a little. Drinking water also takes up space
in your stomach, it reduces the cravings just a bit, and
will make you feel a little more full when you do eat
your calories for the day. If you want an added
benefit from water, make sure you drink cold water, this
will speed up your metabolism a bit and make you burn
up a few extra calories. Remember that when you
are losing weight, the fat that you are losing sometimes
has stored toxins in it, drinking water will help flush
out those toxins.
2. Keep track
of your progress. Its very easy to break your diet
if you don't monitor what you eat during the day.
Get yourself a little journal that you write down what
you've eaten, the calories you've eaten, and what type
of workout you've done for the day. By keeping track
of the calories, you'll make sure that you don't go over
a certain caloric amount during the day. Also tracking
your workout will also show you the areas that you've
improved in...trust me, its great inspiration to see how
far you've come. Keeping a journal of your progress
is very important, because it shows you in some tangible
way that you are making progress.
3. Variety
may be the spice of life, but it also can be the downfall
of a good diet. When doing your grocery shopping,
if you don't buy junk food or foods that are bad for you,
it makes it that much harder for you to break your diet
on the spur of the moment. Its much harder to resist
the temptation of a chocolate bar if its sitting right
in front of you. Remove unnecessary temptations...if
you only have healthy foods in the house and low cal foods,
then it would be that much harder to break your diet.
4. Smaller
meals throughout the day rather then larger meals.
If you eat smaller meals throughout the day, your metabolism
will stay at a higher rate and you won't feel as hungry
throughout the day. Just having all your calories
at one sitting will doom you to that hungry feeling and
if you have that hungry feeling you'll be a little more
apt to break your diet. If you have a series of
smaller meals, you'll be able to feel slightly full at
different moments of the day...there will be less time
you have to "do without" and you'll feel better
for it. Your body will also process smaller meals
better and subsequently burn off the calories quicker.
5. Eat negative
calorie foods, you can see the list in the Negative
Food Section of this website. These are foods
that you can eat in any quantity and not feel guilty about
eating them. They work in a negative calorie way
and are allowed to be consumed whenever you want.
6. Fat burning
foods, yes, some foods will speed up your metabolism,
for a list of those foods visit my other website: Fat
Burning Foods
7. Eat to
live, don't live to eat. Yes, I've always hated
when someone said that statement to me, but in truth,
its an important lesson to learn. The reasons we
eat certain foods or indulge in certain junk foods is
often far from being hungry. Some people eat to
comfort themselves, some people eat for the pleasure of
eating, the taste, texture, etc, but you really have to
ask yourself, what should be the function of food in my
life. You want to shift the focus of food as entertainment
to food being what fuels your body...too much is bad and
your body won't function properly. Changing your
attitude towards food is important if you want to succeed
in any diet.
8. Exercise,
as I said in the exercise section, its important to add
muscle to your
body,why? Because muscle burns up calories 18 times
faster then fat does on your body. So, add more
muscle, your metabolism is increased, and you can burn
off more calories per day.
9. Plan ahead
- the fast food industry banks on people's need for food
on the go...if you take the time to prepare your breakfast,
lunch and dinner, you become a little more in control
of your daily caloric intake. While you can eat
at fast food places, most of the menu is off limits to
you...if you are going to a fast food place, know what
foods are okay for you to eat, know how many calories
are in the food, how many grams of fat, etc. Don't
just assume that this sandwich that you get will be a
certain number of calories...its important that you know
the exact amount of calories. Also, if you are going
to a restaurant, think ahead of what you want to eat there...remove
that temptation and stick to exactly what you planned
on eating before going to the restaurant.
10. Soups,
YAY for soups, this is one of my favorite things to eat
while dieting. It takes a long time to eat, its
filling, its low calorie, and its good for you.
There was a study a few years ago that stated soup added
to a diet will speed up your metabolism and reduce the
hunger cravings. There are two things to look out
for, creamy soups (higher in calorie) and the salt level
in soups. Unfortunately, most canned soups are also
high in salt, so take that into consideration when eating
soup.
11. Reducing
the fats that you eat during the day, but also being aware
of the myth of no-fat foods. Lowering the amount
of fats in your diet just makes good sense. Fat
is denser and less likely to fill you for a sustained
period of time, also, fat and cholesterol is not a heart
healthy solution (there are some healthy fats...see the
fat burning food site). Be aware of the "no-fat"
"low-fat" products they have in the store.
The way they usually make these items low-fat yet tasty
is by adding more sugar. Just because something
says low-fat doesn't mean that you can't gain weight from
it. Another thing, if you substitute fatty foods
with vegetables, you'll find that you feel fuller because
of the fiber levels in fruits and vegetables.
12. Eat slowly.
I know that sometimes you have to rush your food down
because you're late for work or late for an appointment,
but if you eat slowly you will enjoy the food more, you
will feel a little more satisfied, and your body can honestly
tell you, "Hey, I'm full, no need to finish that
whole plate of food" if you eat to quickly
your body doesn't have time to send you the message that
you're full and you end up eating more.
13. Most
of all, if you do break your diet one day, get right back
on the diet...Do not go on a weak of breaking or longer.
It just makes it that much harder to get motivated to
start up again. We are only human, people will break
their diets from time to time, but its okay to break it
one day as long as you get back on your diet the next
day.
These are just
a few tips for dieting...I'll be adding more as this website
grows a bit and I get more responses from people on the
topic of dieting and diet tips. Please check back
soon, I'll be adding more to this section regularly.
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