Ok, onto the post. These are a few ways that I've found to lower the calories I consume each day just to lead a healthier lifestyle and like most females out there I want to be a little slimmer. These ideas are meant to be minor changes in your diet and I've found they're pretty easy to implement and keep to, especially if you just add a few at a time. I think minor changes are always more effective since it's not a completely different change from the norm so you don't suddenly bounce back to an unhealthier diet since the new one isn't all that different.
*I realise that I talk about calories quite a bit but sometimes its more important to check the fat percentage than the calories since it's healthier to eat more calories that are nutrients than less calories that are all fat
- Drink more water - people tend to forget about the calories they drink when trying to cut back so this is one of the easiest ways to lower your daily calorie consumption; alcohol, fizzy drinks and even fruit juice are all quite high calorie - there are about 228 calories in a large glass of red wine, the equivalent to 6 sugar cubes in a can of coca-cola (138 calories) and 88 calories in a glass of orange juice although those are 'good for you' sugars, also, I'd like to point out that diet fizzy drinks although only less than 1 calorie they are packed full of chemicals and other things that are probably not too great for you so you're probably better off drinking zero calorie water
- Eat more vegetables - I like this one because it makes cooking meals a lot easier, vegetables are mainly water so they are very low in calories, not to mention all the vitamins and minerals that are essential for a healthier diet, in fact, raw celery is actually negative calories because more energy is needed to chew and digest it than can be absorbed from it; the simple way to implement this is just to increase the amount of vegetables in each meal and eat your vegetables first - this way you fill up on veg and meat and feel too full to eat that much carbs
- Have greek yoghurt for a snack instead - biscuits, chocolate and crisps are tempting snack ideas but I can never just eat a few then I just feel either guilty or a bit sick if I eat too much, it's better to eat a dessert after lunch to satiate the sugar craving than continuously snack on biscuits since they are so high in calorie, also greek yoghurt is more filling and healthier there are so many health benefits that you could look up
- Eat less cheese - this is a bit more specific than the previous points but cheese is actually quite high in fat and is usually eaten in conjunction with other proteins so it's not an essential part of any meal, I tend to use it to add some flavour to an otherwise boring meal so sprinkling less would lower the calories and fat in a meal, also choosing a stronger cheese may give you more cheesy flavour whilst eating less cheese and switching to a lower fat cheese such as parmesan is another contribution - people tend to group all the cheeses as the same thing but each type has a different fat content just as it has a different taste, parmesan is one of the lowest fat cheeses and it has quite a strong flavour
- Don't eat 2-3 hours before bed - I like to put this restriction on myself since it helps me to ignore the craving to snack late in the evening when I'm not actually hungry, also, by not eating before sleeping for the night it forces your body to use up calories consumed in the day and fat stores during sleep as opposed to storing the leftover calories consumed in the day and using the energy from the snack - however, this doesn't apply to drinking water, for some reason people think that drinking water makes your face bloat in the morning, I don't think its true but either way a tiny bit of bloating is better than dehydrating since water is essential to the body and it helps wash away toxins in the body, I think salt consumption is a bigger contribution to bloating anyway
- Substitute salt for herbs and spices - this is a healthy diet tip more than lower calorie consumption but it's important nonetheless, I remember a few years ago there were a lot of government campaigns to make people aware of the health problems of too much salt in the diet - coronary heart disease is just the tip of the iceberg - so an easy way to eat less salt is to add herbs and spices when cooking instead of lots of salt, I also never add salt to my meal when I eat out - it's also been shown that some spices such as cinnamon can help regulate blood sugar and reduce cholesterol levels and cumin improves digestion and immunity, if you don't believe me just Google it; if you're not a big fan of these spices just add a pinch to your meal and you won't even taste it but you'll still get the health benefits
- Only eat when you are hungry - I don't know if it's just a teenager thing to snack when bored or if adults do it too but I find when I have a lot of time with nothing to do sometimes I'll go looking for food just to have something to do, I guess the easiest way to combat this would be to be organised and plan out what to do for the day, I don't mean a crazy time schedule for every minute of every day but have a list of things to accomplish for the week or a few activities that you can do if you have time such as going to the gym, reading a book, talking to that friend you keep forgetting about, tidying or organising a room or part of a room, food shopping, planning meals etc.
- Eat more low GI foods (wholemeals, mainly) - I realise that GI doesn't really make a lot of sense for most people, myself included but it's a relatively simple concept: high GI foods are quickly digested and the reneger is used up quickly so it causes a spike in the blood sugar, low GI food take longer to digest so are used up slower giving a gradual increase and decrease in the blood sugar - these are the slow release energy foods which claim to give a 'fuller for longer' feeling which makes sense to me; I was shown a graph similar to these in a biology exam I took recently and it really helped me to understand the differences, low GI foods are usually the wholemeal varieties since they are more fibrous so take longer to digest, 'white' carbs have the fibrous bit taken off during processing which is what makes it easier and quicker for the body to digest
- Eat vegetables for breakfast - it's the western culture to eat sweet things for breakfast but it's actually more beneficial to eat protein and veg this is because fruit and bread is slightly acidic which is not the best for your acidic stomach first thing, however veg is slightly alkaline which helps to neutralise stomach acid so it helps 'settle' your stomach, I don't know how to describe the feeling but I just feel better after eating veg but like most people since I'm not used to it I don't really want to eat veg or protein first thing - I guess an easy way to eat veg would be a green smoothie but the blender is too noisy in the morning for my parents, another thing would be to eat a bit of fruit first thing or a slice of wholemeal toast or some porridge then a couple of hours later eat something with veg and meat
- Eat more smaller meals - this is not the most practical thing and I struggle to do it but it has been shown to help burn fat, this is because you are keeping a relatively steady blood sugar level which keeps the metabolism at a steady relatively high rate which equates to the body using more energy, the easiest way to think about this would be to use the graph above and just think of the blood sugar level as the metabolism - you'll use more energy if you keep your metabolism at a steady high rate than if it keeps spiking when you eat your three meals infrequently
I've just realised that this post has become quite long and I've not even finished so I'll just leave it at that and maybe write a part 2 if it's highly requested :)
Feel free to comment with your tips and ideas for a healthier diet and if you think that any of these work.
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