You know how you hear people say how important our diet is and what a big part it plays in our health and weight loss goals? Well I never knew how much it does till I really watched what I eat.
Since I took on the GLOW Program earlier this year, I have learnt a lot about making healthier diet choices.
My peers around me are always asking me “Are you on yet another diet program?” And I’m happy to tell them that this is my new lifestyle. Not just another diet program.
Here are 5 tips that I have for you when making healthier diet choices:
1) Eating 3 balanced meals each day.
I used to skip breakfast thinking the less I eat, the better it is. Skipping breakfast seems like a simple way to cut calories but it really isn’t. If you skip a meal, you are making the body think you are “starving” and the body will be “motivated” to store fat instead of burn fat. Having regular meals will help to keep your blood sugar and energy levels stable throughout the day.
That’s my breakfast of wholewheat flakes, non-fat yoghurt and fresh kiwi! Check out this other one I made with DHC Collagen Beauty Drink, fresh berries and granola!
Eating healthy balanced meals will speed up your metabolism and help you burn more calories.
Always have a small serving of carbs, 1 serving of protein and 2 servings of vegetables. An example meal would be a tuna wrap, or brown rice, cooked veg & a side of chicken.
If you need to snack, get loaded on low-GI, high fiber wholegrain bars that’s easily available in the market. I am sick of counting calories, so just get any brand that doesn’t have chocolate or dried fruits in it and it’ll be fine. :)
2) Eat Lean Protein
After meeting Rachel, the nutritionist for GLOW, she changed my perspective on protein entirely. I learnt through her that all red meat and pork has very high fat content and are generally best avoided if you are looking to lose weight. I’m not running a boot camp here so I’ll tell you that you don’t have to give up on it completely. Just avoid it as much as possible.
I used to always choose BEEF or PORK when I dine out because those are harder to cook than chicken or fish. Now, I go out of my way to ask for chicken or fish for my protein. If you must, choose lean cuts of pork and beef.
3) Drink plenty of plain water & other calorie-free beverages
You must cut down on sugared drinks. Check out this chart I did before. Many of us tend to overlook what’s in our drinks, worst of all, sugared drinks don’t curb hunger! Always go for plain water. Even if you don’t like it, you’ll get used to it soon, or drink some green tea. :)
Also, whenever I feel a little peckish at odd hours of the day, I will drink some water to see if it’s thirst or hunger.
4) Take Diet Vacations
Because making healtiher food choices is a lifestyle for me, I take mini diet vacations to break the monotony and indulge in the foods I like from time to time. Check out this previous post I did on Diet Vacations.
5) Eat Fresh Foods & Avoid Processed Foods!
I started avoiding processed foods as much as possible (it’s always very possible when you eat out). When you stop, and you start again on processed food, you will realise that it’s not that attractive afterall. I noticed that since stopping potato chips for 2 months, I indulged once and felt real horrid after. Not because I ate bad food but because it’s very unhealthy.
Same goes for fast-food! I try to eat as much raw & whole food as is possible, and food that’s not fried (deep-fry, pan-fry, all kinds of fry).
Just a tip here, thinly shredded raw cabbage is actually very yummy. Try it!
In fact, I just came back from a craze of a eating vacation in Bangkok, a food haven no less. I feel quite fat and sick now! Going to detox. :)
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I hope you found this post useful. Check out my other posts on weightloss and diet tips here.