Learning to Eat Properly For Healthy Weight Loss

You might be shocked to learn most of those who are overweight in the US lack an adequate diet. Does that sound surprising? How can someone say we lack an adequate diet?

The truth is, we don’t know how to eat properly. We know how to eat, but we allow junk food to fill us up. Our bodies crave real food. So, because we’re still hungry, we eat again, and fill up again on junk food, and we’re still feel starved.

It’s because we are starving that we feel the need to eat. We have only vague ideas of what we should eat. We have substituted sweets for fruit, drink milk as if it’s a beverage instead of treating it as a food, and eat chips for something crunchy when our bodies need crisp, fresh vegetables. To make matters worse, we expect our daily vitamin pill to do the nutrition job for us.

Unfortunately, the sad truth is, our bodies don’t absorb vitamins well from pills. Our bodies still need real food. So what do we do? We must learn to eat properly for healthy weight loss.

Please, don’t be offended. We can’t hope to take off pounds and keep them off until we learn this one skill, eating properly. It’s true. Ask your Health Care Provider and you might be surprised with the answer.

What do our bodies need? Let’s take a look at our supper plate. What is on it? Is the meat serving no larger than a deck of playing cards, or have we piled on the meat thinking that will help?

What else is on the plate? Here are some great suggestions. Divide the plate into four sections. Half the plate should be vegetables, as fresh as we can get them, such as salad and green beans or broccoli. One quarter of the plate can be reserved for our 3 to 4 ounces of meat. The fourth section can be either a starchy vegetable such as corn or peas—and pay close attention to this—or one slice of bread or one dinner roll. Serious dieters usually always follow this plan.

Dessert can be fresh fruit. If you must have a dessert other than fruit, you can limit it to a quarter cup of your favorite indulgence, such as ice cream or a 2” x 2” square brownie. Try this as an evening snack if you wish, with some fat-free milk. You’ll love it!

So what does your body really need?

It is suggested that an adult body needs no more than 2 servings (3 to 4 ounce servings) of meat or a meat substitute such as lentils. Lentil soup is fantastic, by the way. It also needs two 8-ounce servings of fat-free or 1% milk. Cheese is great, but it’s also loaded with fat, so use a low-fat cheese like mozzarella. Your body can use 4 servings of bread, but you’ll need to include starchy vegetables as part of that total. You also need 4 to 6 servings of fruits and vegetables. And that’s usually where we have the most trouble. We need to eat our vegetables, and we don’t. We also need to drink at least 8 ounces of water, no substitutes, just plain, clean water.

Where do high sugar and high sodium (and that includes soda drinks) snacks come in? They don’t. They are treats, and must be considered as that, as an extra indulgence, not as real food. In fact, they rob us of nutrients as our bodies try their best to digest the stuff.

So take this information to heart. Learning to eat properly to lose weight isn’t difficult, It will require some changes, but it is doable. Learning to eat properly will change your life for the better. And don’t forget to consult with your Doctor or Health Care Provider before you start any weight loss program.