You’ll learn how to create your own meal plan that will leave you feeling satisfied and happy, but still help you reach the weight goals you’ve set as you work with us to create a nutrition plan. Learning to make smarter decisions when it comes to food isn’t dieting. In fact, it’s nothing like dieting. Dieting requires that you stick to a strict eating regimen and often leaves you feeling deprived. Worse of all, diets always end and you go back to your old eating habits. That means you gain the weight back again.
Eating healthy doesn’t require you to starve.
Starving yourself is counterproductive. The body adapts and slows the metabolism, using even fewer calories. Eating healthy means making small changes, such as freezing a banana or two and throwing it into the blender as a substitution for ice cream. It’s creamy delicious and makes a great treat or dessert, but will fill you up, not out. When you’re planning a menu that includes a sandwich, use a wheat wrap to replace the bread.
Rejoice in the fresh splendid produce of summer.
Oh how I love fresh fruits and vegetables right out of the garden and crave those sumptuous tomatoes that don’t taste like cardboard. A delectable salad or snacks of fresh fruits and vegetables can add extra nutrition to your diet, while keeping the calorie count low. Buy fresh herbs for salads and add extra goodies, like berries and nuts. It’s delicious, filling and oh so good. If you notice those fresh veggies are close to the end of their shelf life, steam them for the next meal.
Start cooking differently.
You might be used to frying everything, but that’s not the way to lose weight. Once you start eating steamed, grilled and roasted foods, you’ll never go back to fried foods again. Rather than make the meat the highlight of the meal, find vegetable dishes that will have everyone asking for more. When you bake, use unsweetened applesauce to substitute for some of the oil or sugar in your baked goods.
Keep plenty of cut up fresh fruits and veggies in the refrigerator or other low calorie snacks. You’ll be amazed at just how refreshing an icy cold cube of watermelon is on a hot summer day. Whole watermelons tend to stay whole, since nobody wants the mess of cutting them. The same is true of cantaloupe.
Have plenty of bottled water ready in the refrigerator instead of sugary drinks. You don’t have to buy bottled water each time, simply sterilize and refill the bottles you’ve already finished. For a change of pace, make unsweetened ice tea.
So no to alcohol. It’s loaded with empty calories. It also tends to dehydrate you in the hot summer months.
Save calories when you eat a hardy breakfast. Add fresh berries to your pancake batter and smother them with fruit processed in the blender, rather than maple syrup. It’s extra healthy and super yummy.