The 4-6 meals a day should be small. Measuring out your food and keeping the portion sizes small is very necessary. I believe most Americans underestimate the amount of calories they eat. Quality of food has been placed on the back burner, while the amount of food for the dollar is what people are looking for in a restaurant. Sometimes my other half and I order one meal in a restaurant and have the waiter split it in order to reduce caloric intake.

It is important to have a balanced diet. It is proven that there are great deals of negative side affects that are associated with high protein diets. Some of those side affects are less energy, slower metabolism, weight rebound and eventual hunger. High protein diets can also cause damage to your liver. It is important to have 25-35% of protein in your diet. Protein is important because it enhances your muscle recovery after exercise which allows you to spend more time building muscle and losing body fat. This in turn speeds up your metabolism.

Popular diets claim that carbohydrates cause obesity, diabetes and that high glycemic food make you fat. That is all an old wive's tail. Carbohydrates are an essential part of losing body fat. We use carbohydrates for energy. It is important to have 50-55% of carbohydrates in your daily caloric intake. There are two types of carbohydrates. There complex and simple carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates are long lasting energy. For instance rice, wheat, and oats are are considered complex carbohydrates. Simple carbohydrates, like sugars and fruit, are for quick energy. Dietary fibers come from complex carbohydrates. Fiber is very important to have on a daily basis because it helps stool formation, stool transit time, regularity, and overall colon health.

Another important percentage of food intake comes from fat. So many people are scared to include fat in their diet. We have all these fat free foods out there, but what a lot of people are neglecting to realize is fat burns fat. There are two types of fat: unsaturated, and saturated. Unsaturated fat is our good fat that we should be including in every meal. Saturated fats include polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fat. Polyunsaturated fat can help bring down your cholesterol. Monounsaturated fat is found in foods like olive oil, peanut butter, and avocado. Unsaturated fat is a liquid type of fat that is easy to digest. Saturated fat is considered unhealthy fat. It is a hard white type of fat that is difficult to get out of our system. For example like skin on chicken, butter, etc. Trans Fat is also another term for bad fat. Your bad cholesterol easily rises by eating food that contains Trans fat. When I go grocery shopping I look for the labels that say no Trans fat. A good majority of the fat free foods contain a great deal of sugar. You should be trying to avoid sugar in your daily food intake. Sugar will turn into fat unless you immediately burn them off through exercise.

Preparing to succeed is very important. Set aside a day of the week to go grocery shopping and organize your food for the week. Scrambling for food or deciding what to eat at the last minute is why most people fail. Make it easy. Choose foods that are easy for your lifestyle. If that means you need to buy a George Foreman Grill, then do that! If you need to eat out for social or business reasons that does not mean you can't still eat healthy. Choose from the menu wisely. Make a fist with your hand and that's what your portion sizes should be. If you love fast food go rent the movie Super Size Me. I promise you will not want to eat fast food again, but if you do, you can still choose off the menu wisely. For example, if I was to eat at Mc Donald's, I would order a Mc Grilled Chicken sandwich without mayonnaise.

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