Chapter 3
Healthy Nutrition And Its Benefits
You would have heard lots of people saying that healthy nutrition is important for a healthy body but you need to know what is the actual meaning of healthy nutrition and why it is so important. Let’s define nutrition.
“Nutrition is the process of giving your body all the important and necessary elements which can help it to grow in a proper and balanced way.”
This is the simplest definition of nutrition which tells you that you need to eat proper food with good basic nutrients. Healthy nutrition can make your body strong and healthy also it can help it to grow and repair itself while an unhealthy nutrition plan can make your body weaker and can make you ill and you will not be able to fight against certain minor diseases.
Calories In - Calories Out
Everyone who wants to lose weight has probably tried multiple diets, supplements and/or plans. There are hundreds of weight loss methods available to buy. All of them making wild promises.
Here is the hard truth - there are no magical pills, diets or exercise gadgets that will make weight instantly disappear. It comes down to eating right, staying healthy and burning more calories than you take in.
That is where the saying “calories in - calories out” comes from. You want to make sure you burn more calories (out) than you consume (in).
Clearly, this is a simplistic view and a proper diet consists of taking more than calories into consideration. We will look at that in other chapters, but right now we want to talk about creating a calorie deficit.
In order to track this you need some basic information. First off you need to figure out how many calories you burn per day naturally. This comes down to factors such as age and weight.
Calculating the Number of Calories You Burn Daily
This formula will give you the basic calories you burn daily, just by breathing, heart pumping and etc... These are how many calories you burn if you didn’t move all day (basal metabolic rate).
Once you have that number, you need to start tracking the calories you burn and the calories you consume. This can be tricky because it is a lot of information to keep track of.
There are websites that can help though:
http://caloriecount.about.com/
This is one of the more popular calorie counters out there since it is free. It will help you track what you eat, and what you expend.
You just have to enter the foods and activity you had for the day. It will even allow you to input your basal metabolic rate.
It is ideal if you can keep a daily caloric deficit, but that isn’t always possible. Sometimes we slip and sometimes we indulge. If you can get a weekly caloric deficit that will still have you losing weight.
This isn’t about starving yourself, or exercising until you are dead. It is all about being aware what you put in your body, and what you exert. Weight loss can be a struggle, but if you can manage your calories in and calories out - you can overcome!
Clean Eating
We have talked about calories in calories out - the basic weight loss guideline. It is a basic tip because you still want to make sure you are getting those calories from good sources. Keeping your calories down by eating two corn-dogs a day probably isn’t your best choice.
Eating clean is a term that doesn’t have an official term but in general it means:
“Eating healthy whole foods while avoiding processed foods and refined sugars”.
That is a general goal to strive for, it isn’t always possible to eat completely “clean” but if you are getting the majority of your calories from clean sources then you are doing great. When you eat clean you avoid processed foods so automatically things like fast food and junk food are eliminated from your diet. If you do eat some processed food don’t fret over it, the idea is to eat leanly as much as possible.
Here are some general clean eating tips:
Eating clean is a great way to make sure you not only lose weight but you are overall healthy. It isn’t necessarily an easy transition and you don’t have to try and turn on a switch and do it overnight. If you are committed to losing weight and being healthy, you should choose to clean up your diet.
Reducing Your Portions!
Anyone who is trying to lose weight needs to consider their portion control. Just talk to anyone who has actually lost weight (and sustained it). They will almost assuredly bring up portion control as one of the keys for their success.
What is Portion Control?
Portion control is understanding how much a serving size is and how many calories a serving contains.
One of the biggest problems overweight people face is realizing what constitutes a proper portion of food. When you eat a meal you need to realize what constitutes a serving size of your foods. While not scientific, the following list gives you an idea of some recommended portion sizes. If you struggle with weight loss, these portions might seem smaller than you thought:
I know personally that the cheese serving size surprised me when I first saw it. You can find portion information online. You can find much more specific portion control guides online as well. Some sites will break it down by food weight, so you may need to weight your food for exact portions. The above list though is good enough to give you a rough idea.
When you eat a meal, control your portions! Learning how much food you actually need is one of the biggest steps you will take on your weight loss journey.
Spreading out meals into smaller portions as opposed to eating enormous meals at any one time is a major factor in losing weight. It's been proven that rationing your meals not only reduces your caloric intake throughout the day but it also helps to steady your metabolism. If you're in the habit of eating 2-3 massive meals daily, consider eating 6-7 smaller meals which are spread out throughout your day.
One thing people enjoy doing is eating right from the packet as opposed to taking out what they need and putting the packet away. Such an example is eating out of a mega-sized packet of potato chips. Not only do you have no idea how much you are consuming, but typically you're satisfying a craving by eating more than you really need until you are completely satisfied when instead you could pour a small portion into a bowl and add a piece of fruit to get the amount of food you actually need.
Super-sized packets are more commonplace now than before. More items are sold in bulk and more foods are served at restaurants with the option to supersize for a few extra cents. Increased portions are a factor in the rising statistics for obesity. There is always a cause but people put enjoyment ahead of anything else which naturally leads to a health risk. This is why rationing meals are a handy way to take control of your bad habits.
It takes discipline to make adjustments and there's really no reason why people must feel they should eat until they're full. As always, tiny servings are fine and if still peckish, add a tiny bit more as opposed to loading your plate and trying to finish it all. Rather than sit around feeling stuffed and undoing your belt buckle, leaving some room so that you can have another small meal a few hours later while still feeling good enough to mix in a little bit of exercise is a good balance which leads to improved results.
Doing this helps control the weight and slowly it begins to come down which is a marvellous feeling when you experience it, motivating you to work a little harder as you become confident in your ability to take control of your own body as opposed to allowing your cravings to take control for you.
Water Is Your Best Friend
It's been suggested by research that you require at least 8 glasses of water daily, but it can depend on your weight regarding how much you actually require. You would need to divide your weight by 2 so as an example, a man weighing 180lbs would need 60 ounces of water in a day.
So why do experts suggest that we drink lots of water and why is it considered so essential to a healthy life?
Well first off it helps to avoid dehydration and it keeps the kidneys functioning well by assisting in the elimination of waste products plus it helps to increase your metabolism which helps you to lose weight. But aside from listening to what experts tell you, you should make it a priority to listen to your body first and foremost. When you are thirsty, then naturally you will drink water to replenish yourself. Depending on the kind of work that you do, you should try to get into the habit of drinking water regularly or even better, keeping a water bottle handy, especially on really hot days since the heat causes you to sweat and your body loses water and thus you will need to replenish yourself.
This is why water is so important in our lives. Not only is it zero calories, it is the best source for quenching your thirst AND the healthiest. You may consider adding water to all of your meals over time and doing away with fruit drinks and sodas ultimately as it will help reduce your caloric intake and you'll also feel much better without the added sugar that comes with the other drinks