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1. Eat when you’re hungry. This is listed as the first item because it is often forgotten when people are trying to lose weight. If you “starve” yourself you will lose weight, and you will probably lose it rapidly—at first. The problem is that your body will start to go into “starvation mode” and slow its metabolism. The net effect of this is the yo-yo effect. So, listen to your body and eat when your body tells you. 2. Don’t eat when you’re not hungry. Your body will tell you when it needs nutrients. Don’t eat out of habit. You won’t lose weight if you eat at times when your body has no need for calories. This is a good way to tell your body to store food as fat. So, when you want to eat, ask yourself if you are really hungry or if you are eating out of habit or craving. 3. Stop eating when you’re satisfied. Just as you need to listen to your body to tell you when to eat, you also have to listen to know when to stop. Eating beyond when you’re satisfied causes many problems especially if you’re trying to lose weight. If your blood has extra sugars, or fats, it will have no choice but to store it as fat. 4. Eat slowly. Two things happen when you eat slowly; you will be more satisfied with less food and you will digest your food properly. Therefore, you will have a tendency to eat less, but more importantly, you will liberate more of the nutrients from the food and feel more energetic and healthy. 5. Get plenty of protein. Protein, the building block of many tissues and important chemicals like hormones, does not turn into fat in the body; so if you eat too much, your body gets rid of it. Furthermore, some nutrition experts feel that having higher blood levels of protein “by-product” in the blood actually causes the body to burn more fat. Be warned, however, too much protein for too long is hard on your kidneys and can cause problems. 6. Exercise aerobically and anaerobically. Both types of exercise are important for many reasons and both will increase your body metabolism. Aerobic is very important for cardiovascular health and anaerobic exercising helps to keep muscle tone. 7. Eat foods high in nutrients. Start thinking about food as fuel. If you eat a wholesome salad that’s packed with colorful veggies and fruit and maybe some nuts, that’s like putting super unleaded into your tank. If you eat a hamburger, that’s like putting really old, cheap gas that has very low octane. Your body will be much happier with foods that are high in nutrients and you will “wear out” if you give it the low quality stuff. 8. Eat high protein snacks first, then high in nutrients next. Snacking is encouraged in fact, it is necessary if you want to eat healthy and stay fit. Eat snacks that are high in protein to keep your metabolism high. Eat snacks that are high in nutrients because you need to get several servings of vegetables and fruits in every day. 9. Stay away from saturated fats and empty calories. No need to elaborate. 10. Drink lots of water. Your body needs to be about 67% water for peak performance. Most Americans are at about 55% body water. Your body cannot carryout many biochemical reactions properly if the body is even mildly dehydrated. I CAN’T STRESS HOW IMPORTANT WATER IS TO YOUR DIET AND HOW MUCH EASIER IT WILL MAKE LOOSING WEIGHT. 11. Supplements. It is difficult to stay well nourished all the time, and some people have specific needs for supplementation. I feel most people will benefit from a good multiple vitamin and mineral. Beware, however, there is a lot of worthless supplements out there. It is delicate work extracting vitamins and minerals from foods and unless it is done properly the vitamins are destroyed. A general rule is if its really cheap than its either no good or expired. We can assess individual needs for supplements. In some cases, more nutrition supplementation is helpful for weight loss. We will assess each case individually and decide together the best route. For me, knowing how directly related diet is to the health of my body and how I feel on a daily basis is motivation enough to make the effort to take care of myself. The thought of being around to enjoy my family is even more of a motivator for me. You need to think about what your motivators are to getting healthier. Once you are motivated, the rest is easy because the above rules will work for you. You can look and feel as good as you want.
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