Some Important Eating Improvements You Can Make to Lose Weight and Improve Your Health and Fitness
Remember to make changes gradually and steadily rather than radically. Why? Because otherwise you are likely to consciously or subconsciously rebel and feel deprived and resentful of the changes. If you make changes gradually and with moderation, it affords you the time to really see and experience the positive results of these changes. As a result you are likely to feel appreciative and remain enthused by these changes, thus making them lasting and permanent improvements to your lifestyle.
Regarding beverages:
- Allow food, not beverages, to be your primary source of nourishment and energy.
- Stop drinking soda (regular or diet, it makes no difference).
- Stop drinking sweet tea (which has more harmful sugar than soda).
- Limit fruit juice to one or two glasses a day.
- Make filtered water your beverage of choice (remember water is the Juice of the Earth!)
- Reduce your caffeine intake.
- Choose organic coffees and teas (excessive chemicals are used by third-world coffee and tea growers).
- For decaf coffee or tea, choose naturally water-processed de-caffeination process.
- Reduce the amount of sugar or milk you add to tea or coffee, or skip them altogether. Avoid cream, artificial creamers, and all artificial sweeteners.
- Eliminate dairy milk as a beverage, and limit the consumption of soy or rice milk.
- Natural and organic herbal teas are generally mild and can be used as often as you like.
- Moderate your alcohol consumption. Choose pure wine, beer or liquor over mixed cocktails if you do drink.
- Avoid iced drinks, including iced water at restaurants. Coldness slows your digestive processes and invites illness, particularly in winter. Add a little warm water to refrigerated drinks such as orange juice.
- Drink enough water throughout the day. It helps flush the toxins from your body and good hydration helps ensure optimal metabolic functioning.
Regarding foods:
- Avoid any foods labeled “diet foods”.
- Eat food in its most natural and least-processed state. A fresh-picked apple is a thousand times superior in a thousand different ways to an Apple Pop-Tart.
- Choose organic foods when possible; next best is natural foods; last resort is standard foods that contain abundant pesticides, herbicides, chemical preservatives, artificial (chemical) ingredients and other non-food additives.
- Avoid processed white flour (white breads, pastas, buns, biscuits, pretzels, cakes) and replace with whole grain or whole wheat flour.
- Choose brown rice over processed white rice.
- Avoid processed white sugars (in boxed cereals, cakes, cookies, jams, juice drinks, pre-packaged meals, etc.)
- Avoid high-fructose corn syrup (yes, you should get in the habit of reading labels).
- Reduce the amount of sweeteners you eat or cook with, and choose natural honey and pure maple syrup whenever possible.
- Reducing your intake of foods that are loaded with sugars and sweeteners is the number one thing you can do to lose extra weight and feel better physically and mentally.
- Avoid trans-fats, lard and most animal or vegetable oils. Cook primarily with olive oil and canola oil.
- Politely say no to fried foods.
- Reduce excessive sodium intake so you learn to taste the subtle natural saltiness of foods. Most canned goods and frozen or boxed prepared foods are loaded with sodium, often more than a whole days worth in one serving. Remove your salt shaker from the table, and cook with a limited amount of sea salt.
- Make fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes (beans) the core of your diet. Fresh, organic or locally grown is ideal, but frozen organic fruits and vegetables can supplement the fresh.
- A small amount of natural dried fruits is fine, but they’re naturally high in sugars so don’t overdo it. Make sure extra sugar has not been added!
- Natural and organic nuts and seeds should be included in your diet (ideally raw or minimally processed; watch out for the unhealthy oils and salt that many nuts and seeds are processed with).
- Salads can be high in calories if you add creamy dressings. Dress with oil and vinegar, lemon juice, or very small amounts of other dressings.
- If you do choose to eat meat, poultry or seafood choose organic and free-range whenever possible. Standard farm-raised meat, poultry and fish are loaded with chemicals, hormones and antibiotics that wreak havoc on your body’s health systems.
- Reduce or eliminate dairy consumption. If you do eat dairy products, select plain natural or organic yogurt, limited natural and organic cheeses, and goat milk yogurt and cheese. Replace milk on your cereal with soy or better yet rice drinks.
- Limit egg consumption, and select free-range and organic eggs.
- To preserve the nutritional benefits of vegetables and fruits, cook by steaming or lightly stir-frying them, or eat them raw (be careful eating too much raw food in the winter).
- For most people, smaller portions eaten more frequently are superior to large portions.
- For most people, larger meals should be eaten in the morning and afternoon, avoiding very large meals late at night.
- Snacking when you are truly hungry is normal and fine. Knowing this, keep healthy snacks available (fruits, nuts, seeds, etc.) so you aren’t inclined towards the junk snack foods that are pervasive in our work places and stores.
- If you stock your home with junk foods, someone is going to eat them. Why willingly sabotage your health and well-being or that of your family members? Stock up on nutritious yet delicious foods instead of junk.
- Eliminate or dramatically reduce the frequency at which you eat at fast food restaurants.
- Allow yourself to re-program your taste buds to appreciate the subtle natural flavors of foods. The chemical flavor enhancers used by fast food restaurants and packaged food distributors have dulled your taste buds—but not killed them!
- Remember that food is meant to nourish the body, not the mind. Find other meaningful ways to nourish your mind—studying, volunteering, socializing with positive people, working on meaningful projects—and you will be less inclined to overeat due to depression, boredom, and the like.