diet - The First 5 Steps of a Healthy Diet

The First 5 Steps of a Healthy Diet

by Brad Lyon

There are many people out there telling you want to eat, when to eat, how to exercise, how often to exercise but the main thing that these people seem to be missing is that everyone is different so everyone has a different reaction to what works and what doesn't.

Here are 5 easy steps that you can take to help you lose weight and stay healthy;

1. Make sure you commit to your eating and exercise habits.
2. Eat regularly.
3. Don’t over eat.
4. Don’t eat after 8:00PM
5. Do take your vitamins

Staying healthy is common sense. If you eat 4 hamburgers, a slice of pizza, 2 liters of pop, etc. for supper every night YOU ARE NOT GOING TO LOSE WEIGHT.

Some people say to eat 5-6 small meals a day, but in all honesty who has the time to plan out that many meals and find the time to eat them? Unless you’re on some sort of training program this is unrealistic for the average person. You are best to stick with the old 3 meals a day plan, hey if it worked for our parents and their parents, etc. then I’m sure you can do it too.

Here is an example of what you should be eating in order to “start” to lose weight. I do say start mainly because once you do get down to the last 10-20 pounds that you want gone the

only way to get rid of this extra flab and tone up is exercise, but I’ll talk about that in my next article. Here is a very general, basic daily meal plan;
Breakfast (7:00AM-8:00AM) – Must be eaten within 1 hour of waking up in the morning. Items – Cereal, Toast, a bagel, peanut butter sandwich, instant breakfast mix or an energy/protein bar
Lunch (12:00-2:00) – Eaten no more than 5-6 hours after breakfast. Items – Basically anything goes for lunch just try not to over do it and have the whole pizza or the supersize meal with an extra burger. You want to try and look for something that has a fair amount of protein in it but fewer carbohydrates than what you had for breakfast. Less than 40g of carbs or there abouts. So anything with chicken, steak, hamburger, spinach, broccoli. Pasta is ok too but try to switch it up, pasta one day, chicken the next.
Dinner (5:00-7:00) – This is where you have to really watch what you eat. The top 4 things you want to stay away from are: Potatoes, Pasta, Bread and Rice. These are all high carb foods and you don’t want to eat anything with a lot of carbs in it before you go to bed. This is the hardest part of the day since this is where most of the meals contain those top 4 things. If you can refrain from eating carbs at night YOU WILL LOSE

WEIGHT.

Explanation: Carbohydrates are are better consumed in the morning as the average person will burn them off by simply doing normal day to day activities, such as taking the stairs and walking. If you can limit the amount you eat before you go to bed then you will continue to burn them off naturally and they won’t turn to fat.

The hardest part of any life change is sticking with it. If you can create the habit by maintaining these healthy choices for two weeks you will see a change. It’s not a diet, it’s not a miracle weight loss program, this is a lifestyle change not a miracle diet cure. Of course any lifestyle needs flexibility, so if you find yourself in a situation where you may have to carbs for dinner, cut them out at lunch that day or the next to make up for it. The most important step for success is to treat yourself. Do not deprive yourself of that bowl of icecream you have been craving once a week set aside a day for a treat. You won't be sorry. With this basic plan you will feel and look better in no time!

Brad Lyon is the webmaster of http://www.healthyhelpcenter.com where you can find great breakfast and lunch low carb, energy and protein bars to help you get started with your meals and workouts.

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