There is no getting away from the fact that if you want to sustain your new figure, achieve weight loss or keep up the progress you have made towards your weight loss goals, you are going to have to learn to eat healthily. It can be difficult sometimes with so many temptations around us but making the right choice when it comes to what we eat can be the difference between staying overweight and achieving the body of our dreams.
Understanding the ‘ground rules’ is key to successful healthy eating – so today we are going to cover the basic food groups that you need to look out for.
Learn to love wholegrain
It is recommended that you eat around 6oz of grain each day and the easiest way to do this is by eating a wholegrain cereal for breakfast, or grabbing two slices of wholegrain toast before you dash off to work in the morning.
Vegetables
For best results you need to mix up your vegetable intake and keep your body guessing. We all know that we need 5-a-day meaning that in some form or another we need to consume 5 different portions of either fruit or vegetables each day and this isn’t just for weight loss or dieting it can also help keep your immune system working and has actually been linked to lowering the risk of cancer. Experts recommend that you eat dark vegetables like broccoli, spinach and beetroot as well as the more common household favourites like carrots. Remember that raw vegetables are far better for you than cooked vegetables ever will be.
A top tip is to buy frozen vegetables because they are often cheaper, are easily stored and have all the same (if not more) nutrients than their fresh counterparts.
Fruits
Fruit ties in with vegetables because you need to consume at least 5 portions of either fruit or veg a day in order to keep your body healthy. Remember that with fruits like strawberries and raspberries you need to eat a good hand full for it to class as a portion. If you can eat fruit rather than drink it then this is better for you as often (even premium smoothies) have had the fruit processed removing some of the goodness and really concentrating the acidity which has an impact on your teeth too.
Remember that fruit is high in natural sugars so be sure to monitor your intake to avoid getting too much sugar.
Milk
There is a good reason why children are made to drink milk here in the UK and that’s because it provides our body with calcium which aids bone growth, bone strength, teeth strength and it also takes care of our complexion and gives us healthy hair and nails. So how does it help with weight loss? Well it is a handy alternative (particularly if you opt for skimmed milk) to sugary fizzy drinks or artificial fruit squashes but more importantly, calcium has been proven to be an excellent fat fighter for your body.
Meat
Be sure to incorporate meat into your weight loss diet because although many dieters will tell you to avoid it because it is fattening, meat is an essential component in weight loss. Meat is high in protein and provided you select the right cuts and cook them in the right way (grill it) then you can get yourself one tasty, healthy dish.
If you are trying to lose weight then you really need to avoid cooking with things like butter, lard and high-fat oils. Read our guide to cooking healthily with oils – cook yourself thin
Watching what you eat doesn’t mean you have to develop a hate relationship with food, but rather learn to love the foods that you can enjoy and enjoying the results that they help to deliver.
