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Nutrition Tips
It is here that we try to provide you with some of the information needed to make healthy nutritional decisions on your own.
Don't be fooled into thinking dieting has to be awful. Did you know most often a good nutrition plan (A.K.A. diet) will include many of the foods you already love and will allow you to eat more than you do now?
- Drink a minimum of 12-16 8 oz. glasses of water daily. Did you know that when you don't drink enough water, your kidneys needs the help of your liver to do its job? If your liver is helping your kidney, how can it do its own job of metabolizing fat? Furthermore, water will increase your energy level and keep you feeling full.
- Plan your meals at least a day in advance. We all get into trouble when we don't plan our meals and find ourselves settling for fast food options. Take the guesswork out of it and plan.
- Prepare your food in bulk if you can to cut down on meal prep time. This is a great way to save time and ensure that you have good quality food on hand when you need it, especially while at work or on the road.
- Avoid all liquid calories. Limit your intake of juices, alcohol, and NO soda!
- Try to meet your carbohydrate needs by way of slow digesting types, such as sweet potato, brown rice, and whole grain products. Remember, whole wheat does not mean whole grain. Marketing teams aim to trick the consumer into thinking they are buying healthy products, when in fact they are not. Read the ingredients! Look for "whole grain."
- Remember to look at labels, and keep in mind that sugars and saturated fats are EVIL! Again, avoid being fooled by marketing tactics. If you see "low fat," check the sugar content and if a lable reads "sugar free," check the fat content. The flavor has to come from somewhere. A good example of this is fat free yogurt. Take a look at the sugar content, you will be shocked!
- Taking a multivitamin is very important, especially when restricting calories. When dieting, you are not consuming as much food as you should so you will most likely not take in all of the vitamins and minerals necessary.
- Fats should be of the best type, coming from fish, nuts, seeds, and EVOO. Fats are essential to your diet. Please try to forget what you have been taught to think about fat. All fat is not bad! In fact, many fats are very healthy and reduce bad cholesterol and help metabolize stored fat.
- All meats should be baked, broiled or grilled. Meats may be marinated in low sugar/low fat/low sodium dressings, sauces and/or lemon juice.
- Avoid processed and fried foods. Try shopping only in the outer aisles of your grocery store where only fresh foods can be found. Try only to purchase foods that originated from the ground or its mother.
- When choosing bread, look for 100% whole grain, rye flour, rye meal or stone ground as the first ingredient. We recommend that you do not use a bread that has enriched flour as its first ingredient.
- Use non-sodium spices freely. Sauces should be low fat or non fat, low sodium, and low sugar. Avoid high sodium products like soy and teriyaki sauces.
- Meals should be about 3 hours apart. DO NOT SKIP MEALS!
- Remember that taking in good fats and fiber slows the digestion of all types of food helping to control blood sugar levels.
- Snack ideas- High fiber veggies such as: asparagus, broccoli, spinach, green beans, cucumbers, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, peppers, and mushrooms can be consumed at any time to help with hunger and can be added to any meal. Go nuts with these, just limit salt and dressings.
Follow these tips to a healthy and beautiful body!
