The bottom line is that if you are overweight or have a lot of belly fat something needs to change. Your health may be heading down a path you are not aware of and will not like.
If you are showing signs of weight gain and especially belly fat then you probably need to change a few things in your overall lifestyle which means you need to change more than just your food. You cannot “Diet” for a few months and get results to be long lasting, besides in most cases you rarely get any results at all. For so many people it’s not just their food intake that is doing the weight gain. It could be hormones, stress, thyroid, toxins etc. etc., but most people can certainly use some cleaning up in their daily food habits as well.
First thing to do is think about what your desired result is and then form the plan of how to get there. How do you need to change in order to become whom you would like to be? Whether it is for health reasons or physical reasons it is all about you. You need to discover what you need to change with your food and your lifestyle and then actually do it.
Take a look at many different factors to see where you could use improvement in your life.
Energy level
Stress
Emotions
Physical pain
Weight and body structure.
Inflammation
Areas that we can change that can have an impact on our overall health and life include:
Sleep
Hormone levels
Thyroid & Autoimmune issues
Stress levels and how you are dealing with them
How you spend your social and relaxation time
What you eat, when you eat & how you eat
What you drink, when you drink and how you drink.
Combining a healthy diet with an active lifestyle can help a person get into better shape and lose some of the excess weight. That in a nutshell is true but how to get there can be so confusing. We need to realize that when we are talking about food there are many different types to consider. There are the “HEALTHY” foods which consist of fresh foods , healthy raised foods both plant and animal, and then there are the “PACKAGED AND PROCESSES FOODS AND FAST AND CONVENIENT FOODS” The problem with the packaged, processed, Fast and Convenient foods is that the ratio of chemicals and bad fats etc. far outweigh the nutrient dense ingredients they can give your body. Only the natural and nutrient dense foods can give you that.
Try to stay away from sugar. They are one of the hardest substances to get off and they are literally one of the worst things for your health. Sugar is one of the key components to many, many diseases and illnesses. It creates challenges and obstacles for your mitochondria (the factories in your cells) to have to deal with. Eventually you develop different kinds of health issues and then it is either so hard to fix or in some cases people end up dying from the disease that the sugar was a driving force of creating in them. If you want a sweet taste grab a real, unprocessed piece of fruit.
Foods should bring you comfort and delight just as much as it needs to bring you nutrients and water. The problem is as a society we have learned to run to food as a comfort for our emotions so instead of enjoying our food just as a pleasant meal we try to fill voids in our lives with putting food in our mouth. We will look at the difference of those two ways in more detail in another blog, but for now take a moment to really look at your food preferences and ask yourself why you eat those things. Is your desire for the sugar or other tastes purely for instant satisfaction or do you only eat when your hunger hormones tell you they are ready to take in more food? When you eat you truly enjoy your food and when the meal is done you are done, you don’t think about food again until the next meal. There is a big difference between those statements.
Being aware of the foods you are going to eat and why is another huge area you can empower yourself with. You are in control of what you eat changing habits can and will benefit your life.
Counting calories is not the only useful approach to weight loss. A weight loss program is more successful when a person adapts it to their individual requirements and lifestyle.
A person should plan their meals according to their daily life. So maybe consider:
What type of daily life you would like your new lifestyle to have
Draw it out, what do you look like? How do you feel? Why do you feel that way?
Now think. In order to get there how much weight do you need to lose
What is your activity level going to need to be in order to get there?
Can you do it on your own? Your fitness and your eating?
Do you have any health concerns you need to pay attention to in your diet
Do you have any personal, cultural, or religious dietary requirements you need to add into your new lifestyle?
How much available time do you want to spend on food preparation and shopping
What is your level of cooking? Do you like to cook and create in the kitchen?
Are there other members in your household that will be able to follow the new way of eating or will you have to cook double or triple meals?
Schedule your time to plan. During this time, you will need to think about the types of meals you are going to create for each day, the products you will need to put on your grocery list & the time it will take you each day to make that meal.
Are you going to cook your meals daily as you go through the week or are you going to do all of your meal prep one day and create your meals for the week? Make sure you complete your task either way so you are good for the week and your plan is solid. It is better to put your plan somewhere in the kitchen so you can see it when you are starting to think about preparing your current meal. It is better to prep any foods that you will need quickly in advance so you don’t compromise yourself during stressful times.
Here are some tips and guidelines to help get you started onto a new path.
1)Planning meals and sticking to your grocery list for those meals is a key player for successful weight loss.
2)Counting calories can be useful but you must also look at what the food is made with as well. 100 calorie snacks are only good if they are nutritious and not full of artificial chemicals and sweeteners
3)Use portion control to help make sure you are not eating too much of a good thing.
4)Keep your meals high in fresh vegetables and good quality meats or beans and enough good fats to fuel your body properly.
In most cases it is best to have 3 complete meals a day and no snacking unless you have blood sugar issues What you are putting on your plate for those meals is also really important, meaning your plate should have more vegetables than anything else. Vegetables are for the most part low in calories (no sauces) and very nutrient dense which is win-win for someone who is looking to get healthy and lose excess weight.
Which means
Your meals should include the following: Please refer to the chart for the amount of a portion. You will also see there is no processed or packaged foods in this meal plan
Breakfast: 1 portion of fruit, 1 Vegetable portion, 1 portion of Protein, 1 portion of grain.
Lunch: 1 portion of vegetable, 1 portion of fat, 1 portion of protein, 1 portion of fruit
Supper: 1 portion of vegetables, 1 portion of protein, 1 portion of fat
If you need to snack: use simple foods like nuts, fruit, cheese
Remember: Most people eat too much in their evening meal at it ends up getting stored as fat. Fuel your body first thing in the morning so you have energy for your day and you can work it off as you go.
Vegetable portion 6oz
Protein portion- Meat- 4oz or Eggs 2 or Beans 6oz or Dairy 8oz
Fruit portion 6oz
Fats portion 2oz
Online resources are available, and they can help a person plan their meals, but each plan’s nutrient content can vary greatly. You need to make sure you are getting enough vitamins, fiber, protein, fat and of course fruits and vegetables.
If you need more information or would like to work on a personalized plan together please contact us at info@casaromawellness.com We can help you work out a personalized plan for optimal meals and support your healthy lifestyle along the way.
We can help you in so many ways
If you are looking to clean up your eating but don’t really know where to begin.
You think you are already eating really well but the weight is still not coming
You have heard you should eat a lot of fiber but do you even know what fiber is.
You want to eat healthy but don’t really have the time to cook complicated
And so many more ways, Contact us today!
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