Lately, I’ve been more conscious about my health and have been obsessing over nutrition. I will never say goodbye to my delicious poutine (nomnomnom) but I limit when I have it and try to consume more foods with higher nutritional value. I don’t care about weight loss so I’m not strict with my diet but it’s good to know what’s good and bad for you.
- 5-6 small meals a day! Meals should be small enough so you’ll feel hungry 2-3 hours later, this way you won’t feel hungry as often and end up eating junk.
- NEVER EVER skip meals (especially breakfast). It’ll just take you back a step (or two), mess up your metabolism and you’ll probably make up for that skipped meal by eating more later on. You’ll also have a harder time controlling cravings if you’re low in calories. Set your cellphone alarm to remind yourself to eat if you need to.Sometimes breakfast is the most exciting part of my day when I’m deciding what to put in my oatmeal in the morning. Sad, isn’t it? But it’s so fun and so nom.
- Breakfast and/or your post-workout meals should be the biggest meals of your day.
- Never cut carbohydrates completely from your diet. Your body needs it for energy especially if you work out. Instead, limit carbs to breakfast or pre/post work out meals.Complex carbs (whole grains, oatmeal, potatoes, spinach…) are good for you because they’re rich in nutrients and vitamins, help stabilize blood sugar and take longer to breakdown therefore satisfying your hunger.Simple carbs breaks down faster, are less satisfying and more fattening. They come in 2 groups: bad/processed (white flour, candy, pop) and good/natural (apples, berries, peaches). A good time to eat a simple carb is right before/after a work out (the good kind of course).
- Eat your vegetables! They are high in fibre and make you feel full. A fab dieting trick is to eat a salad before dinner so you’ll be less likely to pig out on other things.
- Eat protein in every meal to increase metabolism, preserve muscles and to feel full. Examples of food high in protein are eggs, yogurt, nuts, fish, chicken, milk, rice, tofu and beans.
- The percentage of protein/carbs/fats you should eat daily depends on your body and your fitness goals so consult a qualified nutrition. If you ask me, I might tell you to eat poutine every day.
- Replace whites with browns/whole-grains (eg. bread, pasta, rice, etc). …BUT the only “white” thing I eat and will NEVER give up is white rice. Seriously… you should never tell an Asian to give up white rice.
- Eat fruits to satisfy your sweet craving. Fruits are the shit.
- Eating after [insert time] will make you gain weight is a myth! It doesn’t matter when you eat but how many calories you’ve consumed that day. The key is to choose healthier foods; leaner meats and veggies and avoid carbs/fats when eating at night.
- Lots and LOTS of water. How many times have we all heard this?
- Start with baby steps. For example, drink diet coke instead of coke, then try cutting out diet coke and replace with water, etc.
- Exercise!! Diet and exercise go hand-in-hand. You won’t reach your goals doing only one.
You don’t have to be extremely strict with your diet unless you’re a body builder or your health is in danger because of your weight… in fact I feel bad for all those exercise “gurus” who are always preaching that you should eat chicken breast every day (and probably pretending that they do too). This is coming from someone who HATES chicken breast, but what’s life without good food? Eat what you want (in moderation), get all your nutrients, fulfill your daily calorie intake, exercise and you’ll be fine. It sounds intimidating but once you start, it’s actually hard to get back into the really bad junk/processed foods and an unhealthy lifestyle. Of course, you have to treat yourself to cheat meals once in a while and they’ll taste better too.
If you’re dedicated to health, earning a health education masters degree could help you maintain personal health and assisting others to achieve healthy lifestyles and good eating habits.
KATY:
VERY good tips.. I will definitely have to start following them
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As you said, it ultimately comes down to how many calories you consume versus how much you burn off. I’m probably a bad person to talk about health but I’ve noticed adding really easy, small changes into your daily life slowly tends to make the most difference — and those are the things I keep up. For example, taking the stairs down a couple of floors rather than the elevator or an escalator. It’s easy, but these things add up.
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Katy
September 30th, 2009 |
Yeah.. the little things definitely make a huge difference. My top two is: drinking lots of water and eating a big breakfast everyday.
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[...] original here: Nutrition and Diet Basics Share and [...]
Great tips! =)
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Katy, I love it. We’ve got a lot of the same pointers and you have more so I’m glad. I gained more information. =)
Haha I too, will not, under any circumstances swap white rice for brown rice.
Alrighty…thanks I’m going to post my entry up now.
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Nice tips!I definitely need more motivations since I have poor eating habits :p
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Just the 932423847th thing I’ve read that confirms that me skipping breakfast daily is bad…
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Just the 932423847th thing I’ve read that confirms that me skipping breakfast daily is bad…
BTW I love your blog!
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HEYYY! i am soooo happy for this post i am on a diet and this helps alot yeah i have been doing similar to what you wrote like i eat a low carb diet BUT still have carbs i just take it in better ways like fruits veggies, wholegrain or wholewheat bread instead of the regular stuff, this also applies to pasta.
this is awesome thanks lots!
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i have just made up my mind to diet. so that i would look slim (-mer) on my bday, which is 2 months away *hints hints*
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Katy
September 30th, 2009 |
Just eat healthy and spend an hour or so at the gym everyday and make sure to weight train! You’ll look a lot leaner because your fat would turn into muscle. It’s really easy once you get into it.
Good luck.
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Great tips!! You’re 100% right, carbs should not be cut from a healthy diet! I cannot stand the no carb all protein diets. Whenever you start eating carbs again all of the weight will come right back! You need the carbs for energy. Also, I’ve found watermelon works great for the sweets craving, and it’s so juicy and delicious!
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Yayyy thanks for the tips! It’s hard to really eat many small meals with my meal plan at school though
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and may i add, be happy! hug your kids. hug your cat. do whatever you can to keep from trying to comfort yourself by eating. thanks for your uplifting and helpful list!
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Great tips. I stand by white rice too!
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I can’t give up white rice either – I don’t know why, it just tastes better. But I have switched to a lot of wheat foods, even my tortillas are whole wheat. I don’t think it’s a huge sacrifice in taste – I think I’ve learned to love how food is supposed to really taste and not the crap that they serve in chain restaurants sometimes.
Although I can’t say no to dessert from the Cheesecake Factory either
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Sounds like very good tips, I will have to follow some of these
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I think you would enjoy hot yoga katy!! the heat was unbearable for me too (i’m very sensitive to temperatures and sweat VERY easily) but you get used to it after your first time.
you may think its slow but its veryyy hard working and your heart rate goes sky high after the 3rd pose (you warm up the first 2 poses) and then your heart is racing for the next b/c you are moving around. So it is cardio as it gets your heart rate butttt you aren’t running or rollerblading, etc. (which is very fun as well!) Let me know your experience if you ever decide to give it a try!
btw – love the diet/health post. maybe its me but is everybody suddenly on a health kick? (maybe due to winter coming!)
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Katy
October 5th, 2009 |
I noticed that too… everyone is blogging about health and well-being nowadays. Well a lot of the bloggers in my reader anyway.
At least we’re all here to support each other!
I think I’ll give hot yoga a try… one day. :S
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greatttt tips on nutrition and dieting. i like this post of yours on eating healthy and whatnot.
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One thing I like to do is set up an eating schedule. I broke down my 6 meals to be eaten at certain times. This will ensure that I don’t skip any meal. It also helps me maintain a strict diet. Also, allow your body to digest everything before you go to sleep. That means that your last meal should be eaten no more than 1 hour before you sleep. If you sleep at 11, your last meal should be at 10. I think this is the misconception people have about following the specific time rule to stop eating. It’s not about the time of day. If you stay up until 2AM, it is totally fine to eat something after 12. It’s about the time it takes for your body to process and digest the food.
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I love that you’re posting these kinda of things lately, because I’m just getting really into diet and exercise right now. I agree with you 100%, once you get into the habbit of eating healthy, junk food doesn’t seem to appeal anymore. I had a handful of chips the other night, the kind that used to be my favourite to devour the whole bag. I still have the bag. I don’t want it.
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Yes, and I hate chicken breast. It tastes like a chicken’s breast. So so dry.
nom nom ew.
xo
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Well said. Pretty solid post, rather level headed. I’m especially liking the fact that you’re advocating protein intake instead of thinking “ewwww meat is unhealthy” lol. It’s sometimes good to absorb and assimilate into western culture as the typical eastern “eat only vegetables to be healthy and lose weight” thing is a complete crock. With that being said, see you around soompi. Keep up the good posts
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Things I knew but most def needed to hear again. Thanks!
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[...] remember to eat… girls who starve themselves don’t realize how detrimental it is to their weight loss [...]
YES! You are so right. I absolutely love nutrition & well being. I have always wanted to right a book (or guide rather) on nutrition and the HEALTHY ways to go about dieting. It’s fascinating stuff.
I hope others have gotten something out of your post! As well as your recent one about exercise.
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