[LuckySmile]

BASIC Nutrition – A Quick, Common-Sense Guide To What You Should
Be Eating to Stay Healthy and Get Results Right Now

Think proper nutrition is complicated? It doesn’t have to be.
Follow these simple principles and you’ll never go wrong.


I would bet that without even thinking, you could name 4 or 5
diets or eating plans that are in the popular media...Weight
Watchers, Nutrisystem, Atkins, South Beach, etc. Every time you
turn around, there’s a fantastic “new” approach to eating. It’s
enough to make your head spin!

But it doesn’t have to be that complicated. I’ve got some
easy-to-follow nutritional principles that will help keep you
on the right track. Beginner or advanced, these will work for you!


1. Focus your eating on natural, unprocessed foods as much
as possible.

While I know it’s not always possible to get fresh fruit and
veggies and other unprocessed foods everywhere you go, your body
will always respond best when you feed it foods that are not
altered through processing. Your body has evolved over thousands
and thousands of years to process foods in their natural state –
it’s only relatively recently that processed foods have appeared
on the scene.

Your body has the digestive mechanisms for efficiently processing
foods in their natural state. When you add in the fats, salt,
sugar, additives, etc., your body starts having a hard time
digesting and coping. Think of it like trying to put regular
gas into a vehicle that runs on diesel. It may run, but it’s
not going to be very efficient with the fuel and it could cause
problems down the road (no pun intended!)

Bottom Line: Eating foods that are not processed allows your
body to function more efficiently. You’ll lose fat without
even trying.


2. Get plenty of good quality, lean protein sources in your diet

When you’re training, your body has a much greater need for
protein. During weight training and endurance training
especially, your body is constantly breaking down muscle tissue.
Protein is required to rebuild it. By regularly feeding your
body good protein sources, you’ll be able to hold onto and build
muscle mass easier.

Good sources of lean protein include meats (look for leaner
cuts like sirloin), poultry, eggs (while not lean, eggs will
not shoot up your cholesterol as many worry), fish, low-fat
dairy, soybeans, and various legumes (beans).

As far as how much protein your body needs, this will vary
according to how much you weigh and your activity level. A
level of around 1 gram per pound of lean bodyweight is a good
guideline (we don’t count total bodyweight because fat is not
metabolically active and doesn’t require protein to sustain it).


3. Don’t be afraid of “good” fats

Fats can be extremely beneficial, even when you’re trying to
lose weight! Fats are important in a tremendous variety of
bodily processes including hormone production, immunity, joint
and organ protection, and even burning bodyfat. Without the
“good” fats, your body will not function as well as it could.

“Good” fats include sources such as fish, nuts, flax oil, borage
oil, and olive oil (there are many other good sources as well).
Increasing your intake of these good fats can help keep you
feeling good and burning your own bodyfat more efficiently.

Your total fat intake should be around 30% of your daily
calories. A good way to go about getting this is to try and
keep your focus primarily on low-fat foods while purposefully
adding the “good” fats into your diet (like eating a few
almonds every day or taking fish oil or flax oil capsules).


4. Carbs are fine

Despite all the talk about carbs being the enemy, it’s important
to note that carbs and foods that contain carbs can actually be
quite good for you! It’s generally the refined sugar added to
foods that is the problem, not the carbohydrate as a nutrient
on its own.


5. Non-nutritious foods should be minimized

This is an easy one. More than likely, you already know that
you shouldn’t be eating Cheesy-Poofs or chocolate bars 3 meals
a day. The calories you get from these foods don’t come with
any actual nutrients. When your body is missing nutrients, it
craves more food (not to mention the insulin response to the
sugar in many of these foods) and you tend to eat more of the
poor food that doesn’t have nutrients in it.

It’s ironic to think that many overweight people are actually
malnourished! When you eat nutrient-dense foods, your body
gets the nutrients it needs and functions much better.


5. Salads, fruits and vegetables will give you lots of fiber,
roughage and nutrition

Eat plenty of salds, fruits and veggies every day. This is
usually one that everybody already knows yet doesn’t normally
focus on. The fiber in the foods helps keep you from getting
too hungry and helps keep your digestive system clean.


6. Just do the best you can

It’s not always easy or convenient to follow good eating
principles. There are plenty of tasty temptations to be
found every time you turn around.

The REAL key to proper nutrition is to focus on trying to do
well MOST of the time, not all of the time. It’s what you do
most of the time that will give you the long-term results
you’re looking for. Determining that you MUST be perfect all
of the time is a sure way to set yourself up for disappointment
when the time comes that you don’t eat a perfectly healthy
food choice.

Sometimes, you just have to eat those Cheesy Poofs and not
worry about it.

Taken From: fitstep.com/Misc/Newsletter-archives/issue43.htm

[Light]

Thanx for the article

[Cuzimdmom]

Great information. Nice and Simple. Thank you.

[cjworks]

I totally agree, and couldn't have said it better myself. So many times we listen to the media, and follow the best new fad. These are the tried and true methods, and will work better every time.

[Fitness20]

Excellent article on weight loss and healthy living. If you don't mind could I put this on my blog?

[Maya9]

Hi

Thanx for info friend

[bentime]

Great information. I would agree those are the basic facts you need to follow to lose weight. For even more weight loss and to improve energy levels I would suggest eating 5 or 6 small meals a day instead of 3 big meals. This will increase you metabolism and should stop you from eating snacks between meals.

[livingc]

Great summary. To add to that, drinking smoothies made from a natural whey protein powder, fruit and water makes a great meal! Here is my recipe for a breakfast smoothie

natural whey protein (chocolate) use whatever serving size is on the container
6 frozen strawberries
1/2 banana
1/4 cup blueberries
1 tablespoon ground up flaxseed
1 tablespoon fiber (I use the kroger brand similar to unflavored metamucil)(it is psyllium husk)
water
6 ice cubes

Also be sure to eat your smallest meal of the day at dinner. This is because it is usually our largest meal, but then we don't do anything to burn off the calories. We go to bed a few hours later and all of those calories get stored up as fat!

The best meal would be a lean protein such as grilled chicken breast and a salad for dinner. With olive oil and lemon as dressing.

Hope this helps!

Charlie
fat2fitweightloss.com

[IChooseThin.com]

Really Good article!!!

ICHooseThin.com

[healthy_drinker]

Yes, I agree.

I think our spiraling health care costs can be traced to our emphasis on
CURE vs. PREVENTION. If we spent our money upfront on quality foods, then we'll avoid all those expensive medical procedures.

We just eat too much junk that is not only toxic, but also starves our cells nutritionally.

Mother Nature knows best how to take care of our bodies. We just need to support her as much as possible.

I recently discovered this website, good stuff:

naturalweightlosscoach.com

[Fit_nrg]

Hi LuckySmile,

Thanks for such nice contents.

[TonyBSmith]

Great info...especially about the carbs. Most people don't understand the difference in carbs.

The "good" carbs consist of complex (slow-digesting) carbs.

Again, thanks for the info

[Guest]

These are very good tips. A balanced approach is always best. The article provides sound nutritional advice. To find more diet tips check out my book 101 Weight Loss Tips. Its avaliable at all online retailers.

Best--

Jerry Mayo, PhD, RD
drjerrymayo.com
Author of 101 Weight Loss Tips