Diet Sense
If you are ready to change your mind-set about your eating, exercising habits and patterns so that yours may be a body in good health, here are some things to consider.
Take some time to put down in writing the benefits that will accrue to you with a lighter body. Things such as feeling better, looking better, having more energy, needing less sleep, living longer, enjoying outings and activities, etc. This is an important step because motivation is the fuel that feeds commitment to accomplish our goals.
Let’s review some basics about fats, carbohydrates, and proteins and how adjusting your caloric intake is of prime importance to weight loss. Proteins are the building blocks of muscle.
The average American diet contains between 15 – 25% protein. A goal of less than 20% protein is good for most Americans. Carbohydrates make up 25 – 45% of our diets and that could be increased to 60 – 75%. However, we consume far too many ‘empty’ simple carbohydrates like honey, sugar, and alcohol which are of very little nutritional value.
We need to cut down on these sugars and increase our complex carbohydrates which are also called starches. Starches are found in such foods as grains, beans, fruits, and vegetables. These products are of great nutritional value containing many vitamins and minerals and they are also filling. Fats contain 9 calories per gram, whereas carbohydrates and protein contain only 4 per gram. That’s more than twice as many calories! Our average diet contains 40 – 50% fat. We should trim that back to less than 30% and maybe down to 10% if you have coronary heart disease.
Let me share an example which shows how knowing where calories come from gives you the power to slightly adjust your intake and significantly reduce calories. A medium sized baked potato is only about 104 calories, but a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of sour cream add an additional 130 – 140 calories. If you cut out the butter, you save 100 calories. If you cut back only 100 calories a day, you could lose 10 pounds in a year!
It usually takes years to reach a state of being overweight, so don’t try to reduce to your ideal size in just a few weeks. Make your weight loss journey proportional to the amount you wish to lose.