Bad cholesterol or diet is experienced by all at one point of time. It is not possible to eat healthy food always throughout our life, however hard you may try to do so. Eating healthy food that can help the heart is something that should be followed by each and every person so that it may aid people in health restoration and also reduces the potential for heart attacks.
The food and heart:
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Here are some practical tips for dealing with common dieting difficulties:
Diet Difficulty #1 – I have to go away on business
Work out the meals where you can be good and the meals where it is not worth trying. If you are having a celebration meal at the end of a course or project that’s not the evening to go on your lettuce-leaf-only fast. But when it comes to the hotel breakfast you really don’t need a huge fry up (complete with fried bread and black pudding) every day. Be good at breakfast, choose the muesli or fruit and yogurt so that it fits in with your diet plan!
Diet Difficulty #2 – It’s a celebration
Whether business or personal, you don’t have to be a misery at celebratory meals. It’s okay for you to let your diet slip FOR THIS MEAL ONLY. It does not give you permission to abandon healthy eating forever. Do what the slim people do – overeat slightly when celebrating then be sensible the next day.
And you don’t have to have chocolate pudding when you’ve already had two courses and a pre-dinner drink and wine. Then there’s the coffee and liqueur and the little minty chocolate that comes with the coffee. Enjoy your meal, but the world will not end if you don’t have all of these little (calorific) extras, so be aware of what you actually want to eat.
Diet Difficulty #3 – I’m visiting my in-laws/parent/boss
The same rules as for the celebration meal. But you also have to consider the hidden agendas here. If you have a “helpful” relative encouraging you to have “another helping, dear” or who says “only one won’t hurt” be prepared for this. Think of what you are going to say if you genuinely are tempted but want to stick to your diet. Practice rubbing your full stomach, saying “I couldn’t possibly, that was delicious” with a look of satisfied-but-full on your face. You may want to practice this in front of the mirror so you can act the part well – and when you do it for real, it may turn out to be true.
If they persist, you can escalate the acting and look pained if they suggest second helpings. This is a bit trickier with the boss, who may insist on second helpings. Inwardly remind yourself that you are too nervous to enjoy it and only a tiny second helping is needed. Here the social situation is a lot more difficult to decipher than the dietary one, so go carefully!
Diet Difficulty #4 – I feel like it/deserve it/have been looking forward to it
This is more the realm of emotional eating than dieting. If you really have been looking forward to a food and it consistently sabotages your diet efforts you’ll need to take a look at why this should be so. But in the short term, when you have that treat, savour every mouthful, taste it, enjoy it and ask yourself to stop when you have had enough. If you can discover how to listen to your body it will tell you.
Diet Difficulty #5 – It’s not the meals, it’s the snacks
A lot of snacking is situational. Do you always have the crisps/chips when you settle down to watch TV? Do you have to pick up that chocolate on the way home for work (every night)? Is it obligatory to taste the children’s food when cooking dinner? Has that large glass of wine you have while preparing supper become an essential part of the meal?
These are merely habits, and they can be dealt with effectively. Taking another route home from work; preselecting some low calorie snacks (choose them when you are not hungry, to be eaten later); take up knitting while you watch TV (melted chocolate and knitting do not go well together); cut down on TV time and do some exercise. These are just some of the ways you can counteract habits so think now of what you can do differently to get away from you bad food habits.
Here’s wishing you dieting success and a healthy life.
Healthy eating and physical fitness go together, but there are no magic foods that cause you to be one hundred percent healthy by just eating the one food. No, you need a variety of foods from each of these food groups each day. It’s also important to watch the portion size so as not to overeat. Make your mealtimes pleasant and relaxed occasions and your healthy foods will work effectively with your healthy emotions to give you a healthy body.
Berries
You may like all types of berries or just one or two favorites, but you can never go wrong by adding a few fresh berries as a quick energy snack or frozen berries made into a luscious smoothie in place of calorie laden desserts. Berries are high in vitamin C across the board, but some are high in other nutrients as well. Choose ripe blueberries for vitamin C and heaps of anti-oxidants for the health of your circulatory system. Gogi berries are less well-known but are wonderfully rich in many of the nutrients your body needs to be nutritionally and physically fit.
Citrus
The foods of the citrus family are widely recognized as a valuable source of vitamin C. Choose fully ripe citrus fruits for the best nutritional value and choose citrus as near to the tree as possible. Tree ripened fruits picked at the peak of perfection and consumed with hours of picking give you the top nutritional rating. Try grapefruit for breakfast. Add a dash of fresh squeezed lime to your salad as a dressing and enjoy slices of orange with coconut in a light honey dressing for dessert.
Vegetables
The variety of vegetables is amazing. For people who are vegetarian or vegan, choosing vegetables to be part of a nutritionally sound diet is a way of life. Your vegetable group provides many of the minerals required in a good diet. For example, you may realize that potassium is necessary for healthy nutrition. Many people claim the benefits of potassium found in a single banana. But did you know, you can also get adequate potassium in your diet by eating a stalk of broccoli? Try a salad of fresh young spinach topped with pine nuts and stirred with lightly cooked penne’. Feta cheese and a light vinaigrette dressing to create the perfect light luncheon meal.
Whole Grains
Like many other of the best foods, choosing only one type of whole grain for your meals doesn’t provide all the variety you need to be nutritionally sound. Often, mixing two or more whole grains together will give you complete proteins. For example, brown rice and wheat kernels with a spicy seasoning are a popular dish in many countries.
Salmon
Salmon is lean fish and nutritionally one of the best fish choices. It is rich in Omega-3 oils that are noted as helping improve the functioning of the brain. Salmon baked whole with just lemon or lime as a seasoning makes a fantastic main dish or a hearty luncheon featured menu item. Salmon is also commonly found in chilled seafood dishes.
Legumes
A legume is the name for a variety of fruits with a single dry seed. Legumes are sometimes called pods. Examples of edible legumes are soybeans, peas, dried beans and peanuts, among others. Legumes are rich in iron and high in fiber, making them excellent nutritional choices. Peanuts are a type of legume that have been used to make hundreds of different products some edible and others with various types of helpful uses.
Nuts and seeds
Nature has packed a lot of goodness into small packages. Most everyone has heard of walnuts and pecans which are very good nutritional products, but did you realize that flax seeds are brain food–containing critical non-meat sources of the Omega-3 oil.
Lean proteins
The keyword here is lean. Americans eat far too much protein compared to the rest of the world. Cut down of portion sizes–three ounces will provide all the needed protein needed for your day. Also, trim all visible fat from your protein source. Alternatively, use non meat substitutes such as the complete proteins found in vegetable dishes like beans and brown rice.
Tea
Depending on the type of tea you prefer, you can get an energy boost from a cup of green tea, or the calming effect of chamomile tea. Get going with mint teas or start your day with Earl Grey Breakfast Tea. Herbal teas are soothing, tasty and good for you. Non herbal teas will help you to stay alert when you need help to function.
Olive oil
Olive oil is probably the healthiest substance you can use to keep fat in your diet. You can use it on your salad, mix it with a little vinegar to create your own, or fry other foods in the hot oil. Just make sure that the temperature is not too hot so that the oil is broken down.
