Q. I want to lose weight, keep it off and have more energy. What diet do you recommend?
A. I am asked this question often.
I have even been asked specifically what I eat so a person could follow my precise eating habits.
What I have learned in 25 years of helping people reach their health and fitness goals is that you must discern what is best for you.
I can help you by giving you some guidelines, but you must be willing to take that information and think, plan, experiment, fail and succeed.
This is the best way for you to create your diet. And by following it, you will lose weight, keep it off and have tons of energy.
Julies Golden Guidelines
for Your Diet
1. Tell your physician. You are embarking on a healthful eating plan to lose weight, so obtain his OK. If there are any special circumstances, please consult with a registered dietician to help you create your diet.
2. Eat a variety of foods. If I lined up 50 people, the thinnest ones would be those who eat the greatest variety of foods.
3. Moderate calories. I have found that most people can lose weight on a plan of 1,500 to 1,800 calories a day.
Give this a try for two weeks. If you lose about one to two pounds a week, great.
If you dont lose any weight, back off to 1,400 calories a day.
Continue to adjust calories until you are consistently losing one to two pounds a week.
4. Keep fat intake to 30 percent. An easy method to figure this is to stick with the rule that any meal or snack should have one gram of fat to every 100 calories.
5. Think balance. Some carbohydrate, some protein, some fat.
6. Eat fiber. Fiber is the single best nutritional habit you can add to your life.
It helps you feel full, keeps food moving through your system, requires your body to work at digestion and is found only in healthful, nutritious foods.
Women need 20 grams a day, men 25.
7. Limit processed foods. Try not to eat them more than eight times a month.
8. Limit alcohol and sweets. Dont consume more than 500 calories a week.
You need the majority of your calories to come from high-energy, high-value foods.
9. Eat more often. Six small meals a day keep you thinking clearly so you will not be inclined to make poor choices.
10. Study nutrition. Look at food labels, watch healthful cooking shows on TV, take a few cooking classes, and read food magazines.
11. Write it down. Get a grip on what you are really eating by keeping a meal diary. Add up portions, calories, fiber, protein, fat and sugar.
This will aid you in two ways. First, you will become a savvy eater. You will know exactly what is in the foods you eat and how much is too much or just right.
Second, you will be acutely aware of what works.
12. Just say no. Discipline builds character and a lovely, energized body.
Julie Luther is a certified fitness trainer and the president of PurEnergy Health & Wellness Services. Write to Getting Fit, c/o Life Department, News & Record, P.O. Box 20848, Greensboro, NC 27420.
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