Ways to Lose Weight – Dietary
Dietary Considerations
You didn’t end up being overweight or obese by random circumstance. In all probability, you followed the path of lowly thoughts. You attracted what you loved – comfort food, and also what you feared – the consequences of too much comfort food. Presumably, you’re a mess, just as I was. This is the perfect place to start to make some dietary changes. As you will see during your revised eating regimen, you will no longer attract what you previously wanted, in terms of cravings and comfort, but instead, you will now draw to yourself the right kind of foods to whom you are becoming – and that is someone who desires to walk in wholeness and better health.
If you’re looking for ways to lose weight, don’t wait any longer…Get started today! Change how you shop for groceries, how you prepare foods, and how you regulate when you dine and how much you eat!
A Focus on Moderation
First of all, the type of dietary changes I made was done so with the emphasis on moderation. I didn’t bother to pen any food journals, nor did I focus entirely on the whole, unrefined plant-based approach to better eating. I ate lesser-sized portions during specific times of the day, and I virtually exchanged lesser nutritional foods for higher quality ones. Calorie counting may have its role in the field of weight loss; but as for me, this method did not fit my approach to healthier living.
Thanks to the persistence of my wife, we basically purchase our groceries from a natural health food store, named Whole Foods Market. Organic over nitrates and preservatives serves as our motto. Combining lean meats with complex carbohydrates, such as fruits and vegetables, provides the basic theme for many meals. And for me, meals are considered larger snacks, usually eaten four times per day. As a general rule, I rarely eat anything substantial, in terms of calories, after 5:00 p.m.
12 Dietary Tips for Weight Loss and Long-term Management:
- Think before you eat. In the beginning stages of changing your diet, do not let your body tell you when to eat and how much to eat. It became an issue of mind over body, altering neural pathways to create healthier connections of living.
- Reduce calorie intake. Your body wants to receive the proper amount of nutritional fuel to keep the organ systems operating optimally. For me, who lives in chronic pain, it wasn’t conducive to prepare and eat the recommended six meals per day. Instead, I did it my way. I changed my choice of foods, reduced my portions to tennis ball sized amounts, and eat four times per day. At first, I felt hungry. I also experienced headaches. But soon after, about ten to fourteen days, my body adjusted accordingly.
- Drink plenty of water. My water intake varies from six to ten glasses per day. This amount helps to regulate metabolism and rids the body of unwanted toxins.
- Eliminate diuretic fluids. Diuretics, such as coffee, tea and caffeinated soft drinks, simply dehydrate the body.
- Minimize salt. Don’t sprinkle handfuls of salt on each meal. Why tax your kidney function?
- Take Essential Fatty Acids (EFA’s). To burn fat more effectively, it is essential to glean your EFA’s from oil sources, like Extra Virgin Olive Oil, grapeseed and flaxseed oil. Excessive saturated fats raise blood cholesterol and do not provide the cells with proper burning capacity. Their effect is like drinking lard.
- Reduce animal fats. In other words, I needed to break strong addictions from the radical consumption of red meat sources. On the revised plan, my red meat intake includes only lean meats, whether ground chuck or filet tenderloin, once to twice per week, in 5-7 oz. portions. Other meat substitutes for protein include oven gold turkey, chicken breast, turkey bacon and fish. Relative to preparation, nearly every bit of fat undergoes debridement before cooking.
- Eat whole grain sources. In keeping with moderation, I periodically eat whole grain bread, perhaps one piece every third to fourth day. It was foremost on mind to avoid any boomerang effect from completely eliminating any bread or brown rice from my diet. Of course, portion control has been strictly enforced.
- Eat snack foods. Throughout the day I usually derive protein sources from the following: unsalted soy nuts, oriental trail mix, Clif Kid Z Organic Energy Bars, or from apples with natural peanut butter cream, just to mention a few. For me, these particular food sources seem to counteract any drops in blood sugar levels.
- Fruits & Vegetables. These particular food groups provide sufficient levels of phytochemicals and antioxidants. Usually with every meal, part of my entrée includes either fruits or vegetables. Typically, fruit, such as grapefruit, oranges, strawberries, pineapple, bananas, kiwis, watermelon (good fiber source), cherries, blueberries, wild berry fig bars, and cranberry raisins are routinely rotated as part of my breakfast menu. Vegetables, such as green beans, asparagus, spinach, peppers, water chestnuts, artichokes, cabbage, carrots and onions accompany lean meat or salad preparations.
- Salad. Either early or late lunch, I’ll have a green salad with vinaigrette dressing and some type of protein source mixed with sliced fruits and vegetables.
- Reduce desserts. Once per month, I indulge in a soy-based ice cream sandwich which contains 90 calories. Once per week, I’ll eat a few squares of 70% organic chocolate. Otherwise, the dessert menu collects dust on the shelf.
When deciding to take that leap of faith by changing your diet, please feel free to glean information from my moderate approach to eating better. The above-mentioned information is not all inclusive of my diet plan, but satisfactorily outlines my approach to lifelong weight management. If you’re interested in other ways to lose weight and related topics, please continue to browse this site. The second part of this article series is available here: Ways to Lose Weight – Practical Steps. Thank you for stopping by…