A Colorful Diet:
I want to talk a little about "colored foods" and the benefits that these foods have on our diet.
Colored foods are foods that have a tint of color to them. Examples of such foods are carrots, broccoli, sweet potatoes, yams, all forms of peppers and the like. Brightly colored foods are rich in vitamin C, sodium, potassium,magnesium, calcium and a bounty of trace minerals that help aid the bodies ability to repair itself and aid the immune systems' ability to ward off disease.
As discussed in previous blogs, the way to lose weight is to practice the art of portion control. Palm-size portions of meats, starches, vegetables and fruit are critical to the weight loss process.
Your plant choices should resemble a painting, a collage of bright colors. If you generally cook your foods, please make sure that you don't overcook them; foods that look like they were sitting in the sun too long (faded colors, wilted appearance) have no nutrient value whatsoever.
For those of you who don't cook, learn! There is nothing more enjoyable then preparing and eating something that you made. At my house, we have numerous cookbooks, but my personal favorite for learning the basics is the Joy of Cooking. It goes really into detail about foods, how to prepare them, and the various cooking methods that help maintain the flavor of the food you are making.
Snack Attacks:
Clients have been asking me if I snack between meals. Sometimes. I guess I'm like most people in the sense that, when I'm involved in something, I don't focus on eating. This approach has it's positives and negatives. Lately, however, I have been reading about the virtues of nuts as a healthy snack food. Nuts, when eaten in moderation, are a good food choice because they are rich in:
- Mono-saturated and poly-unsaturated oils
- Protein
- Fiber
Other forms of snacks can be power bars, trail mix, fruit. Anything that is small flavorful, colorful and nutritious is the best choice to help you maintain your blood sugar preventing food binging and excess calories that lead to weight gain.
Got ? blog me!
Abu Pigott
NEXT LEVEL Personal Fitness Systems
The real key to snacking (on anything) is measuring the amount before you dig in. A 1/4 C of nuts is a smaller amount than what my tastebuds lead me to believe. For me, it's almost easier not to snack at all versus trying to portion control it. Sometimes downing a glass of water will take the "edge" off of what feels like hunger.
ReplyDeleteYour right. But for some people regular small intakes of foods that are dense in nutrients are better than waiting for lunch or dinner. Although people might be more de-hydrated than hungry. It still may benefit us to have a few calories that can keep your blood sugars stable. Water will help emulsify and make your snack more bio-available to be absorped from your digestive system.
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