Healthy Eating Tips

Nutrition: is a very important element to staying fit. If you exercise, but then eat unhealthy foods, you would be counter-balancing the effects that you worked so hard for when exercising. All that fat burned off would just be gained again.

However, exercise does increase your metabolic rate at which you digest calories so you can burn fat faster which does give you more lenience on what you can eat. It is not good to use faster metabolic rate as a reason for eating "junky" foods though! So the goal of this page is to make you aware of what to consider when deciding what to eat, because your body requires more of certain types of food when you are exercising regularly. Protein Protein is necessary for the growth, repair, and maintenance of muscle and other lean tissues.

There is a misconception among athletes that protein will increase muscle mass and strength, but only training will do that.

So many athletes may tend to intake more protein than necessary. In reality, greater than normal intakes of protein has no effect on muscle mass. The typical American diet supplies two to three times the recommended amount of protein and is me than adequate to meet all protein needs of exercisers.

Carbohydrates: are the primary fuel for anaerobic exercise and are the kindling fuel necessary for optimal fat burning aerobic exercise. Women engaged in moderate to vigorous physical activity should consume at least 60 percent of their calories in the form of carbohydrates, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grain breads and cereals, and cooked dried beans and peas. The amount of carbohydrates in the diet is directly related to glycogen storage and physical performance.

A high-carbohydrate diet will result in greater build up of muscle glycogen and power output during exercise. (Remember: glycogen is the important fuel for anaerobic exercise!) Conversely, a low-carbohydrate diet will not only reduce physical performance, but also affect mood and behavioral factors such as increased tension, depression, fatigue, anger, mental confusion, and reduced vigor. Wow, so you wouldn't want that to happen would you? So eat your carbs!

Fats: Dietary fats include a variety of compounds that are insoluble in water, including cholesterol, saturated fats and unsaturated fats.

Since fats are insoluble in water, they will just store in your body. Your body does burn some of it off automatically, but you can control the amount of fat in your body by exercising it off. Excess fat intake increases the risk of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. But your body does need some dietary fat; the recommended amount of fat in your diet should be about twelve to twenty percent.

Most foods you eat will have some fat in it so I do not think finding something with fat in it will be difficult. The difficult part will be consuming the right amount of fat. Remember that too much fat is not good for you, but you do need to eat food that contains fat! So enjoy a little! Just in case you are not aware of this, if you want to find out what percentage of calories you are eating is fat calories, multiply the fat grams of the food by nine and you will have the amount of fat calories you are consuming.

If you want to know what percentage makes up of the total food you are consuming, then divide the number of fat calories by the number of total calories of the food and then multiply that number by 100 to get the percentage. An example would be if a cookie was 100 calories and the fat grams were 5 grams, then I would multiply 5 grams times nine to get 45 fat calories. Then I would divide 45 by 100 to get .45, and then I would multiply that by 100 to get 45 percent. So 45 percent of that cookie was fat calories, which is bit on the high side.

Fluids and Electrolytes: Dehydration resulting from inadequate fluid replacement is the most common contributor to reduced physical performance. A common symptom of dehydration is reduced exercise performance and fatigue, accompanied by risk of injuries.

Water: is the best fluid for replenishing your thirst buds. Since thirst is a poor indicator of fluid needs, a general rule is to drink twice as much water as is needed to quench thirst. You should drink water prior to, during, and following exercise. There is some controversy over the loss of electrolytes-- potassium, sodium, and chloride and their effects on performance. In general, fluid losses exceed etiolate losses.

Replacing electrolytes prior to fluid replacement could be detrimental to health since this would super-concentrate electrolyte levels in the blood and aggravate the dehydrated state. So drink water first, if not only! Also, there are no shown differences in body temperature, blood volume, or blood levels of potassium, chloride, calcium. or sodium from drinking electrolyte-replacement drinks versus non-electrolyte containing drinks.

Suggested Menus: The biggest changes to your diet will probably cutting the fat from it, it is not that hard nor is it bad (for your taste buds, that is). Remember, you do not need to cut out all of the fat or shall I say the goodies from your diet: you will need to eat some of that stuff every now and then too!

As far as servings go, you should consume at least five daily servings of fresh fruits and vegetables, six servings of whole grain breads and cereals, and three to four calcium-rich foods (including non-fat milk) daily. All those servings should equal to about 2,000 calories.

When it comes to eating all of this food, the trend is to divide food intake into several (four or more) small meals and snacks throughout the day.

Eating every four hours or so is more likely to help you maintain a desirable fit weight and a lower risk of disease than is skipping meals or fasting. This section is going to be divided into seven parts; I know that seems like a lot but eating can get complicated :

1. What Foods to Keep On Hand at All Times at Home
2. What Foods to Bring with You at All Times Outside of Home
3. Breakfast
4. Lunch
5. Dinner
6. Snacks
7. What Foods to Order when Eating Out

What Foods to Keep On Hand at All Times at Home: Life can get pretty busy and sometimes it is just so much easier to stop off at McDonald's or order a pizza for dinner.

Now if your kitchen is always stocked with healthy and easy to prepare foods, you won't have to compromise your eating style because of time.

The foods suggested below should provide you with several options of quick meals you could make.

Fill the cupboards with low-fat crackers (such as saltines), cans of kidney or garbanzo beans, fruits canned in their own juices, canned clams, and tuna packed in water. If that's not enough, how about granola bars, low-fat spaghetti sauce, and pasta? Fill the crisper with fresh fruits and vegetables and the freezer with frozen plain vegetables, fruit juice, and frozen yogurt.

What Foods to Bring with You at All Times Outside of Home: So much of the day is spent outside of the house now and so you need to be prepared for an attack of the munchies. As an alternative to candy bars, doughnuts, and other sweet temptations, try carrying low-fat foods such as apples, rice cakes, dried fruit, oranges, tomato juice, or a raisin bagel in your purse or briefcase, backpack, glove compartment, or work-desk drawer.

Breakfast: Has anyone ever told you that breakfast is the most important meal of the day? Probably, but do they ever tell you why also? I hope so because I can't emphasize enough what a bite in the morning can provide for the rest of the day, or at least until lunchtime. Your body needs energy to start the day off and food will give your body that energy. So even if you aren't hungry in the morning, try to eat something or your body will start to take away from your muscles for energy. Toast and jelly, fruit, cereal, bagel and cream cheese, non-fat or low-fat milk, and fruit juices are all great for breakfast.

They are also your typical breakfast foods. Personally, I have grown up eating leftovers from dinner for breakfast and I think there is nothing wrong with that either. It seems like that would be too heavy for the morning, but I think it is okay. However, it really depends on your preference. The important thing is to eat something. There are some unhealthy foods that seem to be popular breakfast foods such as eggs, bacon, and sausage. I think eggs are okay if you eat them in moderation such as once a week for breakfast. Bacon and sausage just are downright "bad for you"but very nice foods but you can still eat a little bit of it.

Just try to skip on some other treat you would have given yourself later in the week. Try to strike a compromise with your eating habits.

Lunch: I am going to focus on "brown bag" lunches. If you do have the option to stay at home and make something, you can still use these ideas. The easiest things to make are sandwiches. All you need is bread, lettuce (tomatoes, cucumbers, sprouts, and all the other vegetable fixings you like), mustard or low-fat salad dressing, and sandwich meat, if you like.

Sandwich meat today is pretty low-fat, especially the turkey sold in pre-packaged boxes. Tuna is also another ingredient for yummy sandwiches. So slap those ingredients and you will end up with a nice thick sandwich. You might also think about bringing a thermos of homemade chilli, stew, or soup. As for drinks, try non-fat milk, fruit juice, or water. How about some fresh fruit or yoghurts for dessert?

As you can tell by the short description, I do not think there's much to say about it besides what you can bring from home. I think it might be common for people to go out for lunch so you can take a look below at the section about eating out.

Dinner: There has always been this notion that dinner should be the biggest meal of the day. However, I think that dinner does not have to be that grand because what you do after dinner may not require as much energy as what you did during the day. But I still look forward to dinner because I get most creative for this meal.

Snacks: Snacking during the day can be dangerous because you may tend to eat many sugary sweets or sodium filled food such as potato chips. Eliminating snacking is definitely not the answer; snacking can serve as one of the many little meals you eat during the day.

Here are some suggestions--that may require a bit of planning--for snack foods:

fresh blueberries fresh fruit and non fat milk "milk shake"
1/2 papaya filled with non fat yoghurt
1/2 cantaloupe filled with chicken salad or cottage cheese
air-popped popcorn
2 rice cakes (toasted) with a think slice of cheese
crunchy vegetables
peanut butter spread on a whole wheat bagel and topped with raisins or banana slices
corn tortillas cut into triangles, baked until crispy, and served with salsa an English muffin topped with all-fruit jam
fruit-filled shredded wheat, Cheerios, and other ready-to-eat cereals If these seem to complicated or you are pressed for time, try snacking on the food that I mentioned above which you should carry with you at all times outside of home.

What Foods to Order when Eating Out: Eating at restaurant can be tricky since you do not know how much fat, salt, sugar, cholesterol, and calories are in a menu item. However, you can control the food preparation, portion size, and fat content of a meal. You can request for your food to be prepared without oils or fat.

Usually restaurants will serve big portions that are bigger than necessary; you will probably only need half of the portion to fill you up sufficiently but may be tempted to eat more because it is in front of you and it tastes good. In that case, either request for half a portion or ask the waiter immediately to put the rest of your food in a doggie bag.

You could always share with a friend too. As far as the fat content goes, I am going to suggest some tips to ordering food at a restaurant.

Ordering Low-Fat Appetizers: Vegetable, bean, or tomato-based soups; raw vegetable plates with dip on the side; fresh fruit cocktail; steamed seafood; shrimp cocktail

Salads: All tossed salads and most salad bar items. Use lemon juice, low-calorie dressing, or plain oil and vinegar served on the side.

Entrees: 2 to 3 ounce portions of extra-lean meat broiled; fish poached, broiled dry, grilled, baked, stewed, barbecued dry, or roasted; poultry without the skin; sauces on the side; vegetable and grain dishes; pasta with vegetable sauce(not cream sauce)

Side Orders: Plain baked potato served with chives, cottage cheese, or non fat yoghurt; mashed or boiled potatoes; plain noodles or rice; beans, rice pilaf, or grain salads; steamed vegetables; mushrooms cooked in wine

Desserts: Gelatines, fruit ices, sorbet, fresh fruit, angel food cake, sherbet, frozen yoghurt