Are you fed up of diet tips given out from someone with obviously infinite money and time? For a few of us, it might not be possible to spend half of our weekend creating carefully portioned meals for the rest of the workweek, or financially feasible to buy all our meals prepackaged in just the right portions. And there are those of us who cringe at the thought of weighing food to achieve ‘optimal portion sizes’. Here are ten real life diet tips for the rest of us.
1. Eating out? Restaurant portions tend to be enormous, and if it’s on the plate, we tend to eat it. If it’s possible, order from the kid’s menu, where portions are more reasonably sized.
2. Keep healthy snacks around. A bowlful of fruit at the kitchen table, some of carrot sticks or celery in the fridge, or a couple of cans of fruit salad in your desk at work will help you grab for something healthy when those first hunger pains begin. Its much better to avoid temptation and you’ll be more likely to grab something low-calorie and good for you as oppose to a chocolate bar or [packet of crisps.
3. Instead of canned vegetables try frozen. Canned veggies are high in sodium and low in any real nutrition. Frozen vegetables are much better for you. If buy economy size resalable bags it will make it much easy to pour and get the correct size for each serving.
4. Purchase a vegetable steamer. Steaming is one of the healthiest ways to cook vegetables. The food will keep almost all of its natural nutrients instead of leaching it out into the water. Better yet, it makes them taste great – which means there is a better chance you’ll eat them instead of filling up on fatty foods.
5. Never eat standing up. One of the easiest ways to sabotage your diet is to ‘eat without thinking’. Treat eating with the respect that it deserves. Fix yourself a plate. Sit down and eat properly. You’ll be less likely to just pop food into your mouth without paying attention.
6. Spread your meals out. When you eat three meals a day, your body tends to store whatever it doesn’t need right that moment. By adopting a ‘grazing’ habit, you’ll keep your metabolism working throughout the day. Have a small breakfast, a piece of fruit with crackers or toast at mid-morning, a light lunch and an ‘after school snack’ mid-afternoon. Just remember that you’re breaking up the same amount of food into smaller meals, not ADDING more food into your daily diet.
7. Instead of soda why not have fruit juice or flavored water. Soda is nothing but empty calories, lots of sugar and no nutrients what so ever. Instead, grab some water flavored with fruit or a bottle of 100% fruit juice.
8. Make sure you drink water. Even the FDA recommends at least 8 full 8 ounce glasses of water a day to keep your body working right. When you’re dieting, you should drink even more.Water can help you to feel full, helps your body to digest food and also flushed out toxins from your system.
9. Exercise, join you local gym or train with friends. Try playing volleyball, taking a walk or spend half an hour doing something active at very least three times a week.
10. Cut out potato chips. All they do is contribute fat and calories and not much else. Instead why not grab a cup of yogurt or a handful of dried fruit they have the same amount of calories but are much more nutritious.
