Avoid Empty Calories
Dieting is hard. But avoiding "empty" calories helps you reach a healthy weight without feeling like you're dieting. If your trying to lose weight and you're trying to stick to 1600 or 1800 calories, make those calories count.
Your body needs a certain amount of energy each day. Energy comes from food in the form of calories. Calories let you function and keep doing your daily activities. But after your body meets its needs, it stores extra calories as fat. Most of us get plenty of calories in our diet—often too many.
Foods with empty calories have lots of calories but very few nutrients like vitamins and minerals. "Convenience foods," like packaged snacks, chips, and sodas, are common sources of empty calories. Nutrient-rich foods, on the other hand, have a lot more nutrients in relation to their calories. A few examples are vegetables, peanuts, fruit, and fish, chicken, and lean meat.
It's true that you can get calories from anything you eat but if those calories are not giving you the vitamins and minerals your body needs your body will begin working slower. You will get tired faster and get sick more often. You'll start to add body fat because not all the food you eat can be processed by your digestive system so it get stored in fat cells. If your body can't use the food your eating because the food can't be processed than it's immediately stored in fat cells. It's the job of your Liver to process and enrich your blood with the nutrients in your food and if your eating the wrong foods your Liver will become saturated with fat and Liver functions will slow down and that's when your blood becomes contaminated with fatty particals that can form blood clots.
To lose weight and fat simply eat whole foods. Fresh, all natural foods that came straight from the cow or chicken, straight off the tree or out of the ground. Don't drink calories or eat food with a label that came out of a factory or processing plant.
Starving yourself is not the way to lose weight. Eat as much as you want but only eat real food.
Tips for avoiding empty calories
Instead of this:
Sugar-sweetened drinks like soda,
energy drinks,
and sweetened coffee drinks
Choose this:
Water, no-sugar-added fruit juices, tea or coffee, tomato juice, and other vegetable juices
Fat-free or 1% milk and other low-fat dairy products
Low-fat ground beef, turkey breast, and skinless chicken
Fruits, low-fat yogurt, and treats made with less sugar
Breads made with whole grains: whole wheat, rye, and sprouted wheat (They have lots of fiber.)
Low-fat or yogurt-based salad dressings
Tips for making the most of the calories you eat
Choose foods that have lots of nutrients. Look for foods that are high in:
Fiber. It's found in beans and peas. It's also in fruits, vegetables, nuts, and whole grains.
Potassium. It's in potatoes and bananas as well as other fruits, vegetables, and milk products.
Calcium. It's in milk and milk products (including yogurt and cheese). It's also in certain leafy green vegetables (broccoli, spinach, kale), beans and peas, and some nuts.
Vitamin D. You can find it in egg yolks, liver, saltwater fish, and vitamin D-fortified dairy products.
Magnesium. Sources include nuts, whole grains, dark green vegetables, seafood, and cocoa.
Your body needs a certain amount of energy each day. Energy comes from food in the form of calories. Calories let you function and keep doing your daily activities. But after your body meets its needs, it stores extra calories as fat. Most of us get plenty of calories in our diet—often too many.
Foods with empty calories have lots of calories but very few nutrients like vitamins and minerals. "Convenience foods," like packaged snacks, chips, and sodas, are common sources of empty calories. Nutrient-rich foods, on the other hand, have a lot more nutrients in relation to their calories. A few examples are vegetables, peanuts, fruit, and fish, chicken, and lean meat.
It's true that you can get calories from anything you eat but if those calories are not giving you the vitamins and minerals your body needs your body will begin working slower. You will get tired faster and get sick more often. You'll start to add body fat because not all the food you eat can be processed by your digestive system so it get stored in fat cells. If your body can't use the food your eating because the food can't be processed than it's immediately stored in fat cells. It's the job of your Liver to process and enrich your blood with the nutrients in your food and if your eating the wrong foods your Liver will become saturated with fat and Liver functions will slow down and that's when your blood becomes contaminated with fatty particals that can form blood clots.
To lose weight and fat simply eat whole foods. Fresh, all natural foods that came straight from the cow or chicken, straight off the tree or out of the ground. Don't drink calories or eat food with a label that came out of a factory or processing plant.
Starving yourself is not the way to lose weight. Eat as much as you want but only eat real food.
Tips for avoiding empty calories
Instead of this:
Sugar-sweetened drinks like soda,
energy drinks,
and sweetened coffee drinks
Choose this:
Water, no-sugar-added fruit juices, tea or coffee, tomato juice, and other vegetable juices
Fat-free or 1% milk and other low-fat dairy products
Low-fat ground beef, turkey breast, and skinless chicken
Fruits, low-fat yogurt, and treats made with less sugar
Breads made with whole grains: whole wheat, rye, and sprouted wheat (They have lots of fiber.)
Low-fat or yogurt-based salad dressings
Tips for making the most of the calories you eat
Choose foods that have lots of nutrients. Look for foods that are high in:
Fiber. It's found in beans and peas. It's also in fruits, vegetables, nuts, and whole grains.
Potassium. It's in potatoes and bananas as well as other fruits, vegetables, and milk products.
Calcium. It's in milk and milk products (including yogurt and cheese). It's also in certain leafy green vegetables (broccoli, spinach, kale), beans and peas, and some nuts.
Vitamin D. You can find it in egg yolks, liver, saltwater fish, and vitamin D-fortified dairy products.
Magnesium. Sources include nuts, whole grains, dark green vegetables, seafood, and cocoa.
If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books.
There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.
My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page.
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