Tag Archives: healthy eating choices

Healthier Eating Plans

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Late night snacking is an element which can ruin your diet. If your time is structured, you will be less likely to think about food. The question is why are so many people tempted to snack late at night?

The first reason is boredom. When the mind isn’t stimulated, it tends to seek pleasure; and eating is a very pleasurable experience.  Here are tips for eating healthy which will prevent those unplanned snacks that can add unwanted calories.

Do not skip dinner. Skipping dinner will set you up for failure. The temptation to eat junk food or whatever is available will become overwhelming when you are very hungry. You can help your weight loss effort tremendously by simply not skipping meals.

Include a light dessert for your dinner. If you love sweets, any light dessert will do. Desserts which are less than 150 calories can easily be added to your diet to give your sweet tooth a real treat. When you are satisfied, you will be less tempted to snack later on at night.

Watch less television. Weight loss certainly won’t come by way of deceptive infomercials. You will also be surprised at how watching television can cause you to snack and generate “out of control” eating. When your mind is not working, boredom unsuspectingly creeps in. And boredom can cause you to want something pleasurable such as food. Further to that, TV commercials, with their tempting portrayals of food constantly coming at you, are notorious for triggering you to start eating again, especially treats which aren’t healthy.

Plan some fun projects. Take note of some projects that you always wanted to do. Using your spare time to do worthwhile chores can help to keep your mind off food. Projects can include helping your kids with homework, sewing, developing some business plans, playing some family games, 30 minutes on the treadmill or stationary bike.

It is hard to believe, but very true that fun and productive projects can help you lose weight in a very healthy way.

Plan your snacks. If you are the type of person that just cannot avoid snacking late at night, then plan 1 or 2 low calorie snacks. Plan something like some sugar free hot chocolate with some light whipped cream or 1/2 bag of light microwave popcorn at the time when you are most vulnerable to eating snacks. This way, you’ll consume only 70 to 100 calories, and do very little damage to your weight loss efforts.

 

John Rifkind is a contributing editor at FitnessHealthArticles.com. This article may be reproduced provided that its complete content, links and author byline are kept intact and unchanged. No additional links permitted. Hyperlinks and/or URLs must remain both human clickable and search engine spiderable.

Facts On Fast Food Nutrition

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Fast food is a convenient and fun way of eating. But can it be healthy eating?

Are too many ‘Happy Meals’ one of the reasons more kids today are overweight?

The increase in families substituting a family meal with a trip to McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, etc. is very likely one of the causes for the increase in overweight kids, but it’s not the only cause. Other factors also play a role, including an increased time watching TV and playing video games and a decreased time in physical activity as well as unhealthy food choices.

The choice you make when eating fast food can also determine how healthy or ‘unhealthy’ it will be.

How can you make fast food healthier?

One of the easiest ways to make fast food healthier is to be careful of your portion sizes and understand how many calories and how much fat you add to a meal when you ‘super-size’ your order. It might seem like better ‘value’ to go with the special or large meal sizes, but you must also think about what the extra calories will cost you later as your child tries to burn them off in order to lose weight.

Healthier Eating Choices

Further to choosing smaller portion sizes, checking the menus at your favorite fast food restaurants will likely help you to find other low calorie, low fat alternatives to traditional fast foods which are really healthy. This could include a salad, baked potato, or grilled chicken salad.

With other sorts of fast food, such as pizza, choose a thin crust cheese pizza and try to avoid adding lots of cheese or extra meat toppings.

It can also help your child to be healthier if you avoid ‘fast food’ at more traditional restaurants that you visit. It unfortunately seems like almost every restaurant, whether Italian, Chinese, Mexican, etc. has a kids’ menu with high fat and high calorie foods, like chicken nuggets, french fries, etc.

Instead of always relying on the kid’s menu, why not consider getting a half order or child plate of a more traditional and healthier item at the same restaurant?

 

John Rifkind is a contributing editor at FitnessHealthArticles.com. This article may be reproduced provided that its complete content, links and author byline are kept intact and unchanged. No additional links permitted. Hyperlinks and/or URLs must remain both human clickable and search engine spiderable.