A healthy diet helps you to maintain a healthy lifestyle. However, it takes lots of efforts to maintain a healthy diet and exercise routine. Many people think that they can eat whatever they want if they exercise regularly. But, it’s simply a myth. Your diet is reflected on your body and physical and mental health. Neglecting your eating habits may prove fatal to you. In fact, your poor eating habits or tendency to overeat may result in becoming obese and prone to various physical or psychological situations such as depression, cancer, diabetes, and poor digestion. Therefore, it is important that you follow guidelines as listed below to maintain a healthy lifestyle:

1) Know your calorie intake

An average person should have at least 2,000 calories in a day. However, this count should go up if you are a sportsperson or go to the gym in order to meet your energy requirement. Your exact calorie intake is directly dependent on you gender, weight, height, and physical activity.

2) Eat different types of foods

Eat different types of foods including whole grains, proteins, fruits, and vegetables. Inability to have good amount of fruits and vegetables in your diet may result in various deficiencies.

3) Be a cautious buyer

Remember to check the food labels carefully when you shop for essential commodities. If a food item contains low amount of fat or sugar, it doesn’t mean that it is a healthier option for you. Many food manufacturers add various unhealthy ingredients to reduce fat, carbohydrates or sugar. Even a seemingly healthy food item may have been manufactured using a less healthy ingredient. For example, you should check whether whole wheat flour is the first ingredient in a whole wheat or whole grain bread. Also, you can ask for nutritional facts of your meal when you order food in a restaurant.

4) Eat smaller meals

If you eat 2-3 larger meals a day, your blood sugar level increases, which is likely to cause weight gain. On the other hand eating 5-6 smaller meals everyday helps you boost your metabolism and get required energy and nutrients to meet energy requirements.

5) Avoid eating junk food

Junk food is bad for your physical as well as mental health. People having junk food are often reported to feel more depressed. Other than this, they are likely to face lots of health problems in their life. So, avoid eating junk foods just for their taste. If you find it difficult to curb your temptation to have junk food, you can indulge in occasional pleasures, but never allow it become a habit!

Other than following these five tips, you can research on Internet to get tips on developing a healthier regimen. You can even seek online health guidance to devise healthier eating plans. Inform you family and friends and seek their support in order to follow by a healthier dietary routine. Your eating habits will surely be reflected on your health, so plan your diet carefully.

Helen R. Miller is a diet control fanatic, who has lost over 70 pounds of body fat. She shares her amazing story of how she did it through her weight and diet control blog.

A vacation is the perfect time to over-indulge and ruin all the progress that you have made on reaching your goal. Being prepared and thinking about what you are going to eat ahead of time is going to save you on your trip.
When you start to pack your luggage, you should start packing healthy items to get you through rough parts of the day.

Pack almonds in your bag. They help curve your hunger and they are healthy. You can buy the 100 calorie packs and throw one in your bag to eat on the plane. The airlines only hand out unhealthy snacks on flights, so it is best to be prepared with your own healthy food.

Another healthy option is pack a few protein bars in your luggage. These are healthy and will get you through the day without falling off your diet. If you use protein powder, put some in a Ziploc bag and bring your shaker. You can easily make a protein shake in your hotel room.

Pack tuna packages and eat them when you are feeling hungry throughout the day. They are high in protein and low in calories.

Call your hotel ahead of time and ask if there is a refrigerator and microwave in your room. If there isn’t, ask if you can change to a room with one. This will save you a lot of calories on your trip.

Once you have arrived, go to the grocery store and purchase the Ziploc steam bags. These are absolutely a time saver and a calorie saver. They are so easy to use and the directions to use them are right on the bag.
You can steam vegetables, chicken, fish, steak and numerous other items in these bags in the microwave. They come out very tender and you would never know they were just made in a microwave.

Purchase a few chicken breast and some fresh vegetables. Put them in the refrigerator and when you feel hungry steam some chicken.

If your family or friends want to go out to eat, stay back and steam your food or go with them and order a salad with low fat or fat free dressing on the side. This is going to be difficult at first but after a few meals you will get use to it and you won’t have that guilty feeling after leaving the restaurant.

Debby has been writing articles for nearly 3 years. Come visit her latest website over at http://www.alloycouponcodes.com/ which helps people find the best Alloy Coupon Codes online to save you money on your purchase!

There are three things that you must have if you want to achieve permanent weight loss. They are: good nutrition, regular exercise, and the right mind state. What you eat and how you eat affects, to a large extent, your weight gain/loss. In this article, I present 5 habits that make for healthy eating for weight loss. Gradually, but steadily, make each of them a habit that you live by each day. Before you know it, you will have developed a much healthier eating lifestyle. Healthy eating for weight loss has a lot to do with forming the right habits.

1. Breakfast is Your Most Important Meal of the Day

You’ve probably heard this before, and it’s true. After about 10 hours of fasting, your body needs fuel to get you going through the day. Breakfast is a way to supply your body with the energy it needs to function for the rest of the day. You will have more energy and will be more alert after eating breakfast.

So, before you rush out each morning, take a few minutes and give your body the treat it so much deserves – have a healthy breakfast. Your body will thank you for it.

Also, make your children eat breakfast as well. They will be more alert in school and they will concentrate better.

2. Don’t Miss Lunch

it sounds logically correct that when you skip lunch, you lose weight faster right? Wrong. When you skip lunch, your blood sugar levels drop, your metabolism slows down to compensate for the missing fuel and when you finally get home you are starving so you eat anything in sight. That’s a perfect recipe for weight gain.

One of the requirements of healthy eating for weight loss is; never skip your lunch or any meal for that matter.

Have small, but frequent meals each day. That way, your body doesn’t run out on energy, and you don’t eat too much. Savvy?

3. Snack Frequently

As a rule of thumb, never allow yourself to go hungry at anytime. You need to have something in your stomach at all times. Your body needs energy to burn more fats so you need to supply it with the energy it needs. Yes, you can’t eat whole meals frequently. So, snack – not on junks though. You can have healthy snacks: Apples, Oranges, Nuts, Pretzels etc. Eat anything you want (in small quantities), just make sure you have something in your stomach at all times. Don’t go hungry.

4. Drink Plenty of Water

70% of your body is water, so it is only natural that water becomes your natural source of refreshment. To perform at its best, your body has to stay well hydrated. Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day.

Water contains no calories; so your body uses up more to raise it to your body temperature. This increases your metabolism and elevates your weight loss progress. In fact, research has shown that you can speed up your metabolism by 1/3 just by drinking several glasses of ice water each day.

5. Don’t Eat Late

Having an early dinner gives your body time to digest most of the food before you shut down for the 7 hours. But we are so busy that we are always tempted to put off dinner until the last minute.

Remember, you need to make each of these tips part of your daily habits to succeed. Now, it takes approximately 21 days to form a new habit. So when you slip, don’t kick yourself – you may, just don’t do it hard – know that you need to pick yourself up, and continue. You will be doing this probably for the rest of your life so you can as well get used to it.

Finally, healthy eating for weight loss is not complicated or difficult at all. One step at a time brings you closer to your goal. All the best.

Samuel Pinn

Eat foods low in saturated-and trans-fats such as rice, fish and vegetables.

Remember the analogy of the human body as a car; our bodies are no different really. In order for us to function at our optimal best we need to add fats to our diet and they actually assist in weight loss. By adding the good fats to your ‘tank’ is not all that difficult providing you know what to look for.

There are four different types of fats and they are:polyunsaturated – which is liquid at room temperature, and are found in foods such as corn oil, sunflower oil, sesame oil and seeds and flax seed oil. There are a whole host of reasons why to add this fat to your diet from controlling blood sugar, preventing blood clots and assisting with the body’s water by maintaining equilibrium. Monosaturated – are excellent sources of the healthy fats and are known to reduce the risks of heart disease. Foods containing these good fats are nuts, sesame and pumpkin seeds, olives and avocados and it can also be found in oils such as Olive oil and canola oil. Mediterranean countries have used these types of fats and oils for centuries and have recorded a lower incidence of cholesterol, breast cancer and other types of cancer including bowel cancer. If you want your hair, skin and nails to look healthy and strong, it’s also an antioxidant rich in vitamin E. Aim to have more of this in your diet.

Now for the bad news – saturated. These fats come from animal sources and are solid at room temperature, for example – butter. Saturated fats should be avoided and should be restricted to less than 10grams per day. Foods that contain saturated fats are found in a variety of other dairy products too, so always check the labels before purchasing. It can also be found in lard, some meats, (here again, always look for the heart tick selections when shopping, as these are the ones that have been approved by the National Heart Foundation), and the humble egg. While saturated fat is unhealthy, the worst offender is the hydrogenated or transient fats which are usually found in things like margarine and some take away foods, particularly if they are fried and deep fried. A good example of this type of food is deep fried fish and chips. These are considered to be very bad for us because of the impact to our hearts and circulatory system in that they are one of the contributing factors to clogging of arteries called Atherosclerosis. This is the accumulation of fatty deposits inside the artery walls, particularly those leading to and from the heart. Blood clots can also form if the plaque or build up of these fatty deposits becomes too high and breaks off – and is often the cause of heart attacks.So again always check the labels before buying and if it has a listing for it then you know what to do with it – put it back! Or just steer clear of them altogether.

Dean Piazza is the resident personal trainer @ http://www.homegymequipment.com.au. – Australia’s Biggest range of Home Gym Equipment at Cheap prices. Dean Is the expert personal trainer on NineMsn, Australia’s largest website portal and regularly appears in magazines with his training tips, weight loss comments and fitness equipment reviews.

Making the decision to improve your health by dropping a few pounds is a big deal. But the laundry list of foods you should and should not eat can be confusing. Here are some tips to remember when you are eating healthy to lose weight.

Eat Organic Meats, Poultry, Eggs and Produce

The guidelines for foods that are grown and raised organically are far more stringent than the requirements for industrial meats and produce. Industrial farmers use growth hormones in their animals so they grow bigger and produce more milk.

Antibiotics are regularly used to combat diseases and infections in industrially raised livestock. As a precautionary measure, these antibiotics are used even when the livestock are healthy. Farmers also add dead animal parts to their animal feed because it is an inexpensive means for protein.

When you eat the meat, poultry and eggs from industrial farms, the toxins go right into your body. You don’t have to worry about this with natural meats because organic farmers are not allowed to use hormones in their animals, nor are they allowed to add dead animal parts to their feed.

Antibiotics are only used during organic farming when illness is present. Most of the illnesses and disease in livestock happen as a result of crowded and unsanitary conditions. Since organic farmers are prohibited from keeping their animals in these types of conditions, the use of antibiotics is rarely necessary.

Fruits and vegetables are supposed to be healthy for you. However, produce grown on industrial farms are slathered with pesticides, herbicides and fungicides to help prevent diseases, and keep pests at bay.

Pesticides can penetrate produce like bell peppers, peaches, potatoes, strawberries, grapes and celery because they have thin or soft skins. So even when you wash and peel fruits and veggies, the chemicals can still enter your body when you eat them.

When you opt for organic meat, poultry, eggs and produce, you minimize the risk of ingesting hormones, antibiotics, pesticides and other toxins that can endanger your health. 

Avoid Eating Low-Calorie Sweeteners

When you are trying to lose weight, low-calorie sweeteners may seem like a good way to liven up some of your favorite goodies, but these sweeteners can increase your appetite and contribute to weight gain. Low-calorie sweeteners can also contribute to a number of physical and mental health problems including:

• diabetes
• cancer
• mood swings
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Parkinson’s disease
• panic attacks
• migraines
• headaches
• brain tumors
• vertigo
• sensory neuropathy

If you are in the mood for something sweet grab a piece of fruit or use honey or agave syrup in your organic coffee or tea. These foods can satisfy your sugar cravings without the negative impact on your health.

Stay Away From Processed Foods

When you walk down the aisle of any grocery store, you find rows of frozen, dried and boxed foods. These are considered processed foods because they have been altered from their natural state to improve their shelf life and make them more palatable. Some examples of these foods include:

• frozen fish sticks
• chicken nuggets
• bologna and lunch meats
• pastries and cookies
• whole-milk
• cheese
• canned meats
• store-bought juice
• hot dogs
• white bread
• pasta
• cake mix
• frozen pizzas and entrees
• margarine

Processed foods are full of additives that can contribute to weight gain, diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease, strokes and cancer. Some of the additives you might find in processed foods include ethyl nitrate, hydroxphrenyl-2butanone, ethyl valerbate, methyl anthranilate, dipropyl ketone and amyl valerate.

Making the decision to lose weight is the first step to a healthier you. Make the most of your nutritious meal plan by eating organic foods, staying away from artificial sweeteners, and avoiding processed foods.

Healthy meal plans to lose weight should be realistic and sustainable. Learn how to lose weight and keep it off at http://www.thedietsolutionprogram.com/

Nowadays, many children are overweight and reaching the brink of obesity. The rapid increases in the rates of obesity are at a disturbing pace which makes it a worldwide issue that should concern each and every parent. It has been said that kids are naturally attracted to junk food and sugary treats and tend to push away all that’s good for them. Hence, it is up to you parents to monitor your child’s food intake and make sure they do not consume too much calories.

Studies show that between the age of 1 till 5, kids tend to be picky eaters and only eat certain things and at certain times. Often enough, this could be difficult as your child would create a big fuss. To avoid your child from growing up overweight, there are a few ways to teach them good eating habits.

First, children are more likely to eat their vegetable if it is cooked rather than raw. Also, give them small portions of a variety of vegetables so that they see different colors and get different taste. It would be best to stick to small portions at each meal so that they don’t see too much of it. Also, put nutritious food in front of your child. Don’t worry on how much he is eating. It is the quality of the food that is important, not the quantity.

Furthermore, satisfy your child’s sweet tooth by serving nutritious fruit based desserts. You can occasionally add the delight of ice cream but not too often. Aside from that, try serving food in attractive ways like cutting vegetables in odd shapes, decorating with ketchup or herbs. Presentation matters to kids, the more attractive it is; the more likely they are to try it.

In conclusion, keep your child happy by serving foods in ways they would happily eat. During those frustrating moments at the dinner table, handle those situations with patience, a positive attitude and firmness. Don’t be aggressive or emotional.

For more facts about childhood obesity including preventing childhood obesity, visit SolvingChildhoodObesity.com.

There are many simple ways that you can encourage your children to have healthy eating habits. It starts with keeping all the good foods in sight and readily available, and can lead to such interactive things as helping to prepare meals and planting a garden.

Everywhere we go we see the phrase ‘eat right’. Sounds great but how exactly do you get your kids to start eating right? Most of us have a good idea of what some of the healthy foods are: fruits, vegetables and whole grains and what the unhealthy foods are: processed foods, sugary snacks, regular soda. Even if you shop smart it’s another thing to get your kids to eat it. If it’s not in a shiny package, a pretty color or makes funny noises when they chew they may say “no thank you.”

One of the simplest ways to get your kids to eat healthier is to be the gatekeeper and don’t bring the unhealthy options into your house in the first place.

When you do purchase the occasional treat,  do yourself and your kids a favor and think like a supermarket. Once in a while foods on the higher shelves, sometimes foods on the middle shelves and almost anytime foods on low shelves. When stocking a healthy, kid friendly pantry, that eye level is where the cartons of yogurt, snack packs of carrots, and apples go. Remember that eye level for them will be on the low on the shelves where they are most accessible. Also, arrange your home so the not so healthy-high calorie foods are out of sight and the healthier foods are in full view on the countertops or in a favorite drawer. That way the once in a while foods are not something your kids will be seeing every day. Always remember – everything in moderation. Sometimes a little treat is absolutely fine.

More often than not, you’ll want your kids to have a healthy snack but wholesome foods can take a longer time to prepare. In order to make sure that you don’t simply grab what’s available, take some time after your shopping trip or in the evening after dinner and cut up, wash and store your veggies so they become a take and go healthy snack. When doing this, keep an eye on portion sizes! This is a source of stress for many parents. A child’s portion is not the same as a large adult portion. Your children don’t need to eat the same amount as a hungry adult-although sometimes they seem as if they can eat twice as much. 

If you have a picky eater, a simple way to take the mystery out of food is to have your kids help out in the kitchen. When they help you prepare and cook a nutritious family meal they will be more willing to be try what they have helped to make. It’s also a good way to give mom or dad a hand in the kitchen.

Another way to encourage healthy eating is to plant a garden. This will help your kids learn about where food comes from and can give them some control as to what comes into the kitchen. This will not only help to educate them about where certain foods come from, but it will also teach them responsible since a garden will require regular attention. When the vegetables are ripe, let them pick what they have grown. Planting and cultivating a garden with your children is a fun and educational way to encourage healthy eating.
 
Encouraging healthy eating habits in your kids can be both fun and educational. The best part is that they will develop good habits that will last the rest of their lives. 

I’m Mark and if you’re a parent like me, you want to do your best to make sure that your kids grow up healthy and strong. Helping them to develop good eating habits is a one of the best ways to make sure they stay healthy their entire life. If you found this article useful, you can get more information at Prepare Healthy Meals for Kids. In addition, I’ve got information on nutrition, recipes, kitchen appliances, and more on my blog at http://homechefcookingtips.com/

Balancing the food you consume will help keep your body in great health.

Eating healthy will energise your body for the day, while giving your body the vitamins and minerals it needs to stay strong for you to enjoy activities which will in turn help you to maintain a healthy weight.

Below, you will find tips designed to aid you with healthy eating.

1.  Do not skip any meals

Three meals a day with snacks in between is the ideal way to maintain both your energy and to keep a healthy weight. When you skip meals and get hungry, you are to a higher degree likely to select foods that aren’t really healthy for you.

Whenever you are eating away from home, take the food with you or know where you will be able to purchase healthy food.

2.  Learn about how to prepare foods

Rather than choosing to deep fry, attempt to grill, stir fry, bake or even boiling your food.  You should also consider fresh or even dried herbs and spices to bring flavour to your food.  Prior to you consuming any type of meat, make sure to trim the fat and skin away.

3.  Avoid a large amount of sugar

Beverages that contain sugar are a major source of empting your energy levels.  What this implies, is that the beverages hold a lot of energy that your body might not need, and it does not contain any vitamins or minerals.  Whenever you plan to drink sugary beverages, do not go overboard – limit yourself to 1 a day.

4.  Avoid thinking of dieting.

There are neither good foods nor bad foods.  All food can become part of a healthy diet, when consumed in moderation.  You do not need to purchase low carb, fat free, or even so called diet foods, as these foods normally have lots of additional added ingredients to replace the carbohydrates or fat.

Happy Eating.

J. Walker is a designer, publisher and researcher. If this article interests you, visit her website here:Vine of Words – Finding Something of Interest