Some Diet Tips

Some tips
How to get your metabolism to work for you.
When you wake up in the morning it is helpful to drink a cold glass of water to "jump start" your metabolism. You need to wake your body up. You've always heard that breakfast is the most important meal. I'm not sure that's true, but eating breakfast sure helps when you are trying to lose weight. Many people say, "I am not hungry in the morning," but in order to get your metabolism going, you need to fuel your body with nutritious food. Eating nothing, or just drinking coffee or tea will not do it. You may notice that if you just have coffee or tea in the morning, or if you've had nothing at all, eventually you’re starving. At this point, it is very easy to make wrong food choices. If you had eaten a small breakfast and a small snack, you blood sugar would be balanced and it would be easier to have a sensible lunch; therefore less effort required to make good choices. Also, your metabolism would be working in your favor.
Ways to increase metabolism:
Exercise increases your metabolism. Eating small. low-fat, high fiber meals throughout the day does, too. If you don't eat all morning, and then you eat a big meal, your body is going to store most the fat because it doesn't know when it is going to be fed again. If you eat small meals frequently, it begins to work in your favor. Your body will burn the calories and fat as fuel. Your metabolism speeds up. You can get your metabolism to work for you.
Try to eat 4 small meals a day, and two snacks. For example: protein bar or oatmeal for breakfast, salad with a protein for lunch, Yogurt with berries for mid-day afternoon meal, and any variety of sensible dinner. For snacks, have fruit, fat-free turkey, string cheese, fat-free pudding (any snack that is between 50-100 cal and under 5g fat). Mini-meals double fat loss and boost metabolism.
Try to avoid any processed foods and stick to whole foods. Grain based foods, especially processed ones, trigger fat-storage hormones. Prior to the Industrial revolution people didn't eat processed foods and thus were healthier. Diseases such as diverticulitis and diet- induced diabetes were unheard of. We certainly did not have the number of obese people that we currently have. You may have heard that bread makes you fat-- it's true. In addition, you really have to read labels because breads and pasta that claim to be “whole grain,” often are not. They may simply contain some whole grains, but have processed ones as well.
Also, you may have seen commercials by the corn growers of America dispelling the "myth" that high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is bad for your health. Well, it may not be “bad” for you, but it is if you're trying to diet. Unfortunately, it is in almost every canned soup, salsa, pasta sauce, etc. from the regular grocery store. You need to read labels. HFCS is highly processed and it somehow (notice I have no idea of the science here) turns off something in your brain that tells you that you're full. As a result, you think that you're still hungry when your body actually needs no more food.

Next topic, "being full"

If you haven't dieted in a while, you may not actually know how much food your body needs to function effectively. You have to experiment and find out how much of your eating was for reasons other than hunger. The first few days of a diet, try to be very strict; diet hard; eat the bare minimum for at least one day. You will start to notice what it feels like to be physically hungry and physically full, not stuffed or bloated, but full, meaning you are satisfied and you feel a little pressure on the sides of your stomach were the food has filled it, but you still have energy to move around and do things. Eating shouldn't drain you of your energy, it should fuel your body for more activity.

Food as fuel.

The purpose of food is to fuel your body. It is helpful to shift your thinking to believing this when you're dieting. It doesn't mean that you don't enjoy your food, or that it is not pleasurable, it is just not going to be your only enjoyment. You eat till your full and then your move on and do something else that you enjoy. It's even better if what you move onto is physically active. You need to move your body to lose unwanted pounds.

Exercise.
Recommended: 30-60 minutes every day, if your schedule allows. Most schedules don’t, but shoot for as many days as you can, with a minimum of 3X a week.
Your workouts should include cardio and strength training, not just one or the other.
It’s helpful to pick a workout schedule and stick to it. If you say, “Oh, I’ll fit it in when I can,” you’re less likely to fit it in. You have to view its importance like anything else in your day: work, school, hair appt, doctor appt—don’t miss it unless your sick.
People who combine dieting and exercise have 9X better results than if they just did one or the other.

Diets-

Diets that work set very clear guidelines to follow, because the less choice you have, the less chance you’ll make a wrong choice. Another important component of a good diet is that it should teach you about food and eating. You need to learn about food, because unconscientious eating often leads to becoming overweight. Diets that do not include moderation and portion control only set you up for failure and lead to yo-yo dieting. Yo-yo dieting is when you diet, you lose a significant amount of weight, then you return to your previous way of eating and you gain all your weight back, and sometimes more. If you choose a plan that teaches you how to eat sensible portions, you get out of the habit of overeating. If you're on a plan the says you can have as much as you want of certain foods, like Atkins for example, you are not learning anything about healthy eating patterns, portion control, and moderation. (*except the weight watchers core plan)Some good diet plans (I'm sure there are more):weight watchersdr. ozthe zonedr ian smith -the fat smash diet or the extreme fat smash dietPoor choices (unless you're diabetic):Atkins

General Tips for food choices

Fresh fruits and vegetables are very, extremely low in calories. These are always your best bets when dieting. They are light, low in calorie, almost always fat-free, and very nutritious.

For proteins-
Lean meats or fishes are the way to go.
Fat-free turkey, boneless/ skinless chicken breasts, very lean red meats on the rare occasion, and fresh fish are all good options.
Dairy
Skim milk
Fat-free yogurt
2% cheeses
Also, mozzarella is a leaner cheese—one string cheese only has 5g of fat.

Beans!!!! All beans dried beans are protein and fiber rich.

Grains-
Stick to whole grain only. Brown rice, whole wheat pasta in small amounts (Hodgson Mills -good, Ronzoni—not good, mixed with processed flour), quinoa, oatmeal.Limit alcohol consumption. Figure it into your daily calories. One or two beers or glasses of wine should replace a snack’s worth of calories (and if you skipped a snack to have the drinks, you won’t need any more because you’ll feel the effects quickerJ) Also, drinking alcohol impairs your judgement, so you’re more likely to make wrong food choices if under the influence.


Good Diet Foods on the Market

Kashi Go Lean Crunchy! Protein and Fiber Bars –Chocolate Caramel Flavor 3g fat, 150 cal., 8g protein, and 6g fiber

Ball Park White Turkey Hot Dogs -1 link 45 cal, 0 fat (may have HFCS, not sure)

Taco Bell soft chicken Taco only 4g fat

Oasis Brand Zero fat hummus and black bean dip

Jello brand fat free or sugar free puddings (processed, but when you need a treat and berries won’t cut it…)