Nutrition For Life

If you have ever been on a diet, calories have probably been the main focus of the program.  Typically that focus has been that to lose weight you need to reduce your calorie intake.  The outcome was more than likely that you lost weight during the first few weeks, which got you pretty excited, and then there was a change.  You actually started to gain some weight and before you knew it your weight was greater than when you started.

The truth is that you were doing just the opposite of what you should have been doing.  With a calorie reduction your body thought it was going to starve so it went into a storage mode.  What you should have been doing is following a nutrition plan that had you increasing your calories, adding an exercise program, and increasing your metabolic rate.  Then you would be seeing fat lose and muscle gain.

But increasing calories does not mean that you can eat anything that you want.  All calories are not the same.  Calories from red meat is not the same as calories from chicken, and calories from a white bread is not the same as calories from whole wheat.  To have a long life and a healthy life your nutritional diet needs to be from eating the right calories, or foods.  A healthy life nutritional diet should be around 20% fat, 30% protein, and 50% carbohydrates.  Of course this can vary per individual and can change for certain health reasons.  Some people, in fact, are carbohydrate intolerant and tend to gain weight easily from carbohydrate consumption.  If you notice that you easily gain weight around the middle then lowering your carbs might be necessary.

A healthy life nutritional plan also includes the frequency which you eat.  Instead of eating three large meals a day, try eating five or six meals a day.  You will find that you can actually eat more and avoid those feeling of starvation coming over you and eating way past the feeling of being full. Eating more often will keep your metabolic rate up and help build muscle.  But only when you have included a fitness plan with your nutritional plan.  This doesn't mean that you can no longer have treats or cheat days.  Pick a day a week to have a small bowl of ice cream or a piece of pizza.  Just don't gorge yourself so that you are taking steps backwards.  Remember also that chunk food eating is a habit and just like the person that can't have one drink some people can't have just one piece of pizza.  Think about that before you cheat.  

The word dieting has been used a fair amount just because it is familiar and convenient.  Diets are only temporary, and what you are accomplishing is a lifestyle change.  If you eat this way for the rest of your life it is not a diet, it is just the way you eat.  Make nutritional planning a part of your total live long and healthy lifestyle.