Eating: A small perspective change

All right everyone, Let's do this!

So, to start out, I want to talk about some simple tips in adjusting our diets to be more healthy.  Remember how I talked about how I don't Diet... It is true! (Ask my husband!)  In fact, I think I heard somewhere that diet is a four letter word...  So the things I want to talk about will help you to eat healthier without all that groaning and hunger that often accompany dieting.

First of all,  if any of you are like me, you like to eat a lot of food.  If this is true, I want you to tell yourself that this is natural.  Our bodies like to eat.  In fact, every time we eat, we have some special chemicals in our brain that tell us "good job"  and give us a psychological pat on the back.  Eating helps us survive and is therefore not a bad thing. However, while eating is good, we need to be aware of a few things about the food we eat.  Just like a car runs on gasoline, food is the fuel that feeds our body.

Our bodies are very economical with this fuel/energy.  In fact you might say that it is the perfect machine.  Unlike your car, which often changes on how efficiently it uses the gas you put into it, your body is very efficient.  When the energy we put into our bodies, equals the amount of energy we expend, we will maintain our weight.  If the energy we put in is greater then the amount that we expend then we store that extra energy to use for later in what is affectionately known as "Fat."  When we put less energy in then we expend then we will tap into our energy stores and generally lose weight.



Now, lets go back to the fun topic of eating.  If you are wanting to eat a lot of food, then I want to share with you a simple principle that will help you to do this and either maintain or lose weight.  You want to be able to eat the largest volume of food that contains the least amount of energy.  Foods that have this characteristic are foods with high water content such as fruits, veggies, and clear soups.  These foods are ones that don't make you super thirsty after you eat them.  Also, there are certain foods that can help you feel full faster with fewer calories.  These foods are foods with whole grains, protein and low fat.  These foods help your brain to be satisfied faster.  Now let me demonstrate how this works...
Below I have two different meal options... Notice the size and the quantity of food.  The calories of each meal are listed after them in parentheses.

Meal option number one: 1 cup 2% milk(120), 1 glazed doughnut(250) Total Calories=370	Meal option number two : 17 grapes(60), 1 vanilla Yogurt(fat free)(80),  1/4 Cup Fat free Cottage Cheese(45), 3/4 Cup canned peaches(75)  1 slice whole grain toast(80)(no butter),      1 cup water,  Total Calories=340

Crazy the difference, but interesting how much more food is in the meal number two.  Now, not everyone eats the same.  In fact, picture number two is a picture of MY lunch.  I don't expect you to eat exactly that way.  I never want to limit your creativity and taste! This is why I am going to share with you the first step in helping your body go through the adjustment of changing your diet.  You can still see some changes in your diet by eating foods you love and being healthy.  Here is the secret... Eat your fruits and veggies first!  Seriously!  It will help your body to feel full and you will be less likely to eat too much of the higher calorie foods you so much enjoy.

Did you know that we should eat at least 5-7 servings of fruits and veggies a day to get the proper nutrition you need?  Now a serving of fruit is about the size of a small apple, while a serving of vegetables is 1 cup raw and 1/2 cup cooked.  Try planning to eat a couple servings with each meal.

Okay, now that you have read all of this, you are ready for your challenge for the week...  Your challenge is to eat at least 5 servings of fruits or veggies each day this week and to eat them first in your meal.  You know which fruits and veggies you enjoy most, so I will give you the liberty to pick the ones you love most, but you have to eat at least five servings per day to complete the challenge.  In addition to this, try to eat these servings either raw, steamed or baked(not fried or sauteed(so no french fries!)).  Also, smoothies don't count(WHAT???  I know... let me explain).  Don't get me wrong, smoothies are great and are packed with so much nutrients, but remember we are trying to monitor our energy intake.  So, the reason for no smoothies is because smoothies can often trick our brains to think that we haven't eaten very much when really we had a whole banana, orange and apple in one sitting.  Our brain also likes it more when we chew our food instead of drinking it.  And we want our brain to give us that psychological pat on the back remember??!  Try it for the week.  See how you feel.  If you are missing your smoothies too much, try adding more veggies in them like carrots and spinach.  Vegetables have fewer calories then fruits and so they can keep the energy content down.  Now this doesn't mean 5 servings of Fruits AND veggies, but they are addititive such as: 3 servings fruit, 2 servings veggies etc... and FYI, Veggies do usually have fewer calories...

Well Good luck everyone!   Below are some helpful tips to make this an easy transition:

• Keep track of how many servings you ate in a day in a day planner or calender.  Then you can see your success and progress and you can notate if you feel any difference in your hunger or not.
• Keep the fruits and veggies more visible( ex: on the counter in a bowl or on the most visible shelf in the fridge)
• Measure out serving sized veggies into snack baggies to take with you for a snack
• Using plastic storage containers can really help transport and store salads and other wet veggies(like tomatoes or cut up cucumbers)
• Remember to eat your colors!  each color signifies that there are different nutrients in each fruit or veggie and eating a variety can help your body stop its cravings.
• Have a friend do it with you so that you can keep each other on track!

When you have done a week, DON'T STOP THERE!...You are doing so good. One week is just the first step.  After two weeks of 5 servings, we want to move up to 7 servings a day of Fruits and veggies. So keep on going.  Remember, we don't do diets, we do life style changes.

Have fun with this!  You are taking a step in a life-changing adventure!  Be sure to check back for our next challenge!