The main difference
is that eating healthy is fun and diet food is something that we hate. The other
is that healthy food makes a person – well – healthy, and diet food may ruin
our bodies and do exactly the opposite of what we want.
Diet food contains no
fat or no sugar. It cannot exclude both because, as one of the Friends
character once said, “It's no fat, no sugar, no dairy... It's no good, throw it
out.”. It means that sugar and fat are comforting and taste giving, so if you
exclude both from the product that should contain it, nobody will want to eat
it. If you read the labels, you’ll see that 0% yoghurt is packed with sugar.
The other thing is that excluding anything from the diet is really unhealthy.
It works of course, but it’s only effective on a short term basis and the yoyo effect is guaranteed. There are diets based on
proteins only, fat only, sugar excluding etc. but the best way is to know how
to combine them to satisfy your organism and what PRODUCTS to exclude. The human body needs carbohydrates, proteins and fat (a
balanced diet includes them all) and if it lacks
any of these (which is an effect of a restrictive diet), it wants to regain it
in the fastest/easiest possible way. If you need sugar, you eat chocolate or
cake, if you are in a need for fat, you reach out for a pack of crisps or a fat
dripping cheeseburger. The other thing is that this kind of food gives us
psychological comfort because in our heads it is connected with a feeling of pleasure.
But this is a guilty pleasure and the regrets come shortly afterwards. If we
are feeling down, it’s better to talk to a friend and eat a salad.
Look at a sample menu
for somebody that desperately tries to lose weight:
- Breakfast: black coffee
- Dinner: Two slices of steamed chicken breast, two leaves of salad, cola zero
- Supper: 0% cottage cheese
How on earth a person
can lead a normal, healthy life eating practically nothing?! I confess to
eating nothing but a can of tuna and two apples a day (Christian Bale’s diet
when he was preparing or the movie “The Machinist”) for more than three weeks.
I lost a lot of weight, but I couldn’t think, I was feeling like I was stuck in
a syrup and basically it was one of the worst ideas I’ve ever had in my life.
When we want to lose
weight, we put on restrictions. Restrictions are ok for example if you
eliminate fast food from your diet, but are not fine when you deprive your
organism of its basic needs. But look at healthy food and lifestyle: it means
possibilities. Eating healthy means eating a variety of foods. There are
hundreds of fruits and vegetables and thousands of possible ways of combining
them. Who said that losing weight has to be boring and tiring? All you have to
do is to explore your options, experiment a lot and discover many new tastes.
The basics of a
healthy plan are:
- eat 5 times a day, every two hours or so,
- eat no more than a handful of food,
- try to avoid combining fat and carbohydrates in the same meal,
- drink plenty of water,
- eat more colorful vegetables.
Why is
that? Eating often informs your organism that it doesn’t have to store fat for
the future. It speeds up our metabolism. Eating just a handful is enough
because after all you eat 5 times a day. And
your body needs 20 minutes before it knows that you ate, so it’s better to
limit your food in the first place. Combining fat and carbs is not good,
because carbs increase your insulin level and insulin helps to store fat.
Drinking a lot of water hydrates your body and also makes you feel full. Some
say that many times when you feel hunger, you
really feel thirsty. Vegetables contain a lot of necessary substances and also
experimenting with different ingredients gives us the joy and keeps our
motivation up. And who doesn’t like pretty food? You can also work with your
habits and needs: if you need something crunchy – eat a cucumber or an apple
instead of chips; if you need something sweet – try to eat a couple of dates
instead of chocolate.
Questions:
- What is the worst diet you’ve ever heard of?
- Have you ever limited your food below minimum to lose weight?
- What is your healthy eating plan?
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Comments
Anyway I think if when someone really wants to lose weight, they should exercise and just eat less of everything because as you said when you are on a restrict diet and finish it, you’ll just gain your old weight back. If someone has a tendency to gain weight they unfortunately have to keep an eye on what they eat and how much they eat every day, not only for a few weeks. If you eat smaller portions long enough your stomach will get smaller.
I have never limited my food below minimum but I’m pretty thin and I sometimes don’t eat that much, because I just don’t feel like it. I just always try to eat only when I’m hungry and I just never developed a custom to eat after I’m full. Of course there are times when I eat purely out of gluttony but it doesn't happen every day. Actually I hate it when people try to make me eat everything on my plate (in some houses this is a custom) when I’m already full. I don’t like to throw out food but I would much rather leave some on my plate then force it into myself (and eat the rest next day).
I don’t have a healthy eating plan, when I “sometimes” try to be more healthy I just stop eating sweets and try to exercise. I eat a bit less of everything and if I would eat something really fatty or unhealthy I would think about as a meal and eat a smaller supper or whatever. Anyways as a naturally thin person I have a much bigger need to work on my condition and exercise more and I’m actually trying to do so right now ;)
It depends on the amount of physical excercises you do, on your age, gender, season and many more and as far as drinking water is a good decision, you should have in mind that you absorb it in other food products as well. When you drink water it can have low, medium or high level of minerals, it also differs in proportion of specific ions.
Drinking one type of water (from one source, one spring) can cause the situation when you wash out some of the minerals, having some other on too high level. Our kidneys also have limits when it comes to fluid filtering.
The Institute of Medicine determined that an adequate intake (AI) for men is roughly about 13 cups (3 liters) of total beverages a day, for women it is about 9 cups (2.2 liters). All fluids count! Tea, coffee, beer... watermelons too as they contain 92% of water.
Please, be reasonable with water, because too much of it mess with the right balance of electrolytes in our body and in extreme situations (hyponatremia - having a blood sodium concentration below 135 millimoles per liter) it may cause death.
Good diet is very important for our physical and menal health. It's easy to eat smart when you have a lot of free time. It gets more difficult when you have to combine work, school and other activities which leaves you no free time to rest, not to mention prepare balanced meals.
That's why I have consulted a dietitian. I don't have any problem with weight, but I wanted to get some good tips on how to eat healthy during a busy day or when I'm travelling. We should eat every 3-4 hours, 5 balanced meals a day. No carbohydrates in the evening.
Switch white bread, rice and pasta to wholemeal and you will feel a lot better right away.
When I'm eating like that I don't know what hunger is and frankly speaking it was quite strange feeling at first. When sometimes we get hungry, our body 'fights', we notice it. When we are never hungry... we are like a well fed lion lying next to a lamb :D our body is calm and happy.
Some time ago I decided to eat more healthy food. However, I didn't want to renounce my favourite meals totally, because then I wouldn't feel any joy about eating. For example, I hate eating raw vegetables, and when I think about replacing any snacks with them, I shiver with disgust.
I decided to take it slowly, step by step and replace only the products I don't mind replacing. I switched black tea to green tea, stopped adding sugar to it, and started to sweeten my coffee with honey instead of refined sugar. Instead of buying cereal, I make my own granola. I also bake oat cookies without sugar and muesli bars, which I eat instead of chocolate bars. I stopped drinking sweetened juices and started drinking water instead. Sometimes I replace white bread and pasta to wholemeal, but I can't help absolutely loving everything made from "normal" wheat flour - that's my guilty pleasure :)
I think it gets much easier when you don't radically change everything at once, replacing everything with salad and water. Eat rationally and try to change your bad habits with small steps - in my opinion, that's the key :)
Below minimum? Nah, I like eating too much to give it up below the minimum ^^
Healthy eating? Well, it depends mostly on my physical activity levels. If I'm not stuck with sitting work I can safely eat any amount of food and my metabolism is really good provided I tire myself during the day. If I don't have time to work out, then it gets a lil' bit difficult since i have some bad eating habits and my metabolism slows down. Oh well.
Now instead of being on ultra-low calories diet I go to the gym and exercise. I don't eat sugar, but I do eat everything else.
The very important part of staying healthy is not just eating healthy food but also having enough exercise to keep your physical strength at good level and to maintain your physical health.
5 or more years ago I tried to lose my weight and I have limited my food to minimum, but not below minimum. It’s not healthy to organism, because it must to become accustomed to less meal. If we instantly eat less, our organism will collect fat from our meals and in fact we don’t burn it.
I don’t have ideal eating plan. I’m trying to eat green and healthy, systematically and first of all – variously in accordance with rule – eat what you want, but eat with mind.
Drinking only water for several days.
Have you ever limited your food below minimum to lose weight?
No, I didn't, but I often eat very little because I don't have time to eat when I work.
What is your healthy eating plan?
I don't have any unfortunately. My perfect eating plan would be lot of fruits: mango, lychee, apples, grapes, melons; whipped cream, shrimps, sweet potatoes, lobsters, squids etc.
I have to admit that I wasn't always that smart when we're talking about healthy lifestyle and I used to cut out carbohydrates to the level below the minimum. Now when I'm really into dieting and training I've got a special nutrition plan which consists of 5 differentiated meals, I'm never hungry and I've never had before that low level of the body fat.
The most disgusting diet I’ve ever heard of is dr Kwaśniewski’s diet. It is based on fat products such as egg yolks, butter, cream, fat meats etc.
About crimes - I hate it when people are dieting and everytime they eat something 'improper', they consider it a sin and have a deep feeling of regret. I think that even if you try to keep some things out of your diet but you eat them anyway, you just need to get over it and continue the diet. We're just people anyway and a little chocolate will not make you a lot fatter;) 'Food is also a big source of our happiness' - I try to live by these words!
Eat less is a favourite diet of my grandpa: everytime someone complains about their weight he responds that the best diet is MŻ (Mniej Żreć) method. Not very subtle;)
I think that one of the reasons why Polish people have problems with keeping their weight is because we have an old habit of eating everything from our plates and not wasting any food. What do you think about it?
Good luck with your exercises!
I agree with you that eating smart is easy with a lot of free time. But when we have less time, we can eat more raw wegetables and fruits, it takes literally no time to prepare them:)
Eating five times a day might seem weird. When I first started doing that I felt like I was eating way too much, but still I was loosing weight and it was kind of amazing!
- drink at least 1,5 l of water
- eat 4 to 5 meals, no more than a handful of food - just like author said
- do exercise at least 30 min per day
- don't combine PROTEIN and carbos
- take care of your inner life (stress, state of soul, optimism)
- supply your organism with vitamines
- don't drink sweet drinks, energy drinks
- don't eat anything that is PROCESSED - buy raw products instead and make meals on your own, only then you can be sure of what you are putting into your organism
Magdalena Żołądek
2. Yes! I've tried and succeeded as many times as I failed. After some time of eating healthly I'm getting back to my old habits - I'm an expert when it comes to yo-yo effect. Interesting thing I observed is that the older I am - the harder it is to change some habits.
3. Currently I don't have any healthy eating plan due to lack of time but it may change soon as we are having spring :)
Hey, your perfect eating plan is quite healthy! Of course not including whipped cream, but still;)
Yes I have limited my food below minimum to lose weight. It gives the effect for a short time. Generally it has no sense.
Now I’m eating a lot of vegetables, fruits and lean meat. I limit sugar and carbohydrates in the diet
The most important thing is balance, your body has many different needs that you have to take care of.
Eating healthy and diverse meals in moderate amounts is key to satisfying them.
Another thing (and often overlooked) is that everyone has different metabolism and biological needs, and a diet to be successful has to be tailored towards that person's body needs.
Of course diet is not the only thing to keep in mind when taking care of your body - exercising is vital in my opinion.
Not only does it help you to stay in shape, but it also boosts your mood and general effectiveness of your organism.
Keeping healthy diet though might be hard these days, people are always in a hurry - going to work, coming back home, dealing with some other responsibilities.
Often we just don't have time or energy to prepare a healthy meal ourselves.
Even though you may feel compelled by a fast and cheap meal after a hard days work I'd strongly advise against eating in fast food restaurants :)
Yes i have limited food a few years ago. Currently I weigh about 17 kg less. Of course, I did it with the help of a nutritionist and specifically selected products. But I feel the actual weight of a lot better.
In my opinion, diet and carefully selected products are very important for us and for our health.I'm talking here not about dieting only taking care of your own body.