Along with exercise, this is the single most beneficial thing that you can do to help you lose weight. Unfortunately it is also a fad word that many people toss around all too casually, and for some people it can even be a four-letter word if you get my drift.
The reason for this is because there are just too many connotations and bad memories associated with the word “diet” for many people to take to it willingly.
For me at least, the word “diet” used to conjure up such nightmares as starvation and deprivation of all the foods which I hold so dear. Luckily with a new positive outlook on losing weight, the visions associated with going on a diet were changed.
Now whenever I hear the word “diet”, I think healthy foods and nutrients all rolled into one. I think of a good meal which includes all the necessary foods, and I think of fruits for snacks instead of fizzy drinks and cookies.
That was the spiel. Now for the reality. That is most definitely what I visualize whenever I hear someone talking about a diet, but the sad truth of the matter is that I’m not a saint and therefore I fall, many a time, and painfully.
Yes, I follow my own advice and eat healthy meals, and yes, I do eat lots of fruit, in fact, I prefer fruit, over cookies and fizzy drinks when I’m hungry between meals.
But there are times when being good and proper just don’t cut it. I have to confess that I do go back to my old bad eating habits, but not for long, and only once in a while. At these times I satisfy my cravings for high-fat, highcalorie foods and damn the consequences!
This is the method that works best for me as I find that I cannot sustain a rigid imposed diet for an extended length of time. And this is what you need to do when deciding on a diet for yourself. You need to find one that works for you.
One that works with your strengths as well as your weaknesses; and one that will take into account your busy schedule, and which will be forgiving when the schedule intrudes upon it.
This might sound a like a lot to ask from a simple diet, but I prefer to think of it more along the lines of a change of lifestyle instead. Because really, this is what you need to do.
You need to change your lifestyle to suit the body that you would ideally like to have, and unfortunately for us this doesn’t include your favorite takeout or pizza every night!
In other words, you need to learn to eat in a healthy manner for just about every meal. You will also need to
reprogram your thinking to take in the fact that eating healthily, doesn’t have to be a big hassle.
It is entirely possible to eat a healthy meal without having to resort to using every single appliance in your kitchen.
I have included some easy recipes in the section funnily enough entitled “Ten Easy Recipes”!
And if you look closely enough you will find that these recipes tell a story in and of themselves. Just because you should be eating healthily, it doesn’t mean you need to pull out all the stops and weigh, measure, cut and chop your every food to a certain exact guideline.
It also doesn’t mean that you have to use only the healthiest of ingredients when you’re cooking, nor does it mean that you will have to stay away from such things as oil.
Although most fitness gurus will recommend this option to you, I believe that moderation is the key. Anything in large quantities is bad for you, and this applies to the use of cooking oil as well. Use these in moderation and along with a well balanced meal you will find that it is not so bad for you.
Use it in excess, and you will find yourself suffering for it. Or if you personally feel that some foods are just not good for you (like oil), you can make a concession to these and use healthy substitutes, or do away with them completely.
Just remember though that just as an excess of certain foods is bad for you, so is a shortage of certain foods not good for you. Moderation is most definitely the key here, and is the one thing that you should allow to dominate your thoughts when it comes to dieting.
When you begin on this lifestyle change you might find that after a time it becomes difficult to keep it up; that you can’t find new and inventive ways to cook the same old thing; that you can’t come up with new menu ideas.
Having to cope with all of that on top of having to do everything else is a surefire way to lose your interest in your diet altogether.
So before we part ways for this section, I will leave you with this little piece of advice: you don’t need to come up with a new and exciting menu everyday.
The old foods work because we like them, because they taste good, and because they do the job they were
intended to do, which is to fill us up.
Leave the new and exciting menu items for those days when you have the time to wrap your head around it, when you have the energy to do it, and when you feel in the mood to do it.
There’s nothing more dampening to a good home cooked meal than bad tempers and soggy, burned or overcooked food because you weren’t in the mood to cook.
Use the old standbys, that’s what they’re there for, just change things around here and there so you don’t get a consistent menu of the same items day in and day out.