One
of the biggest changes you can make when it comes to losing weight in a safe
and sane way, is centered around the way you make personal choices. As a matter
of fact, the issue of making changes in your life is almost completely about
choice. Learning how to make healthy choices instead of keeping on with the options
and choices that have led you to the overweight place you are right now.
There
is nothing wrong with the choices you have made up to this point, and in fact
many people are quite comfortable with their level of health and weight. But if
you are not happy with the way you feel or the way you look, and you wan t to
change, then learning how to make different choices is a good first step.
When
we were growing up, the habits of the people around you, like your parents and
your siblings, became your choices in life as well. No blame there, they were
only doing the best they could with what they knew how to do. Sometimes, those were
the only choices that were available at the time. It’s not like when you are a
small child that you are going to tell your Mom that the food she is giving you
is not healthy for you. You are pretty much just going to eat it.
Of
course, there are always some kids who throw tantrums at mealtimes, but for the
most part, you learn to eat what you are given to eat. As a result of this
choice on the part of somebody else, you learned that these choices were the
correct ones. If those choices included lots of good healthy food, then you probably
grew up with a healthy body weight.
But
if the food you were provided as a child was high fat, or high calorie or all
carbohydrates, then you learned that those were the correct food choice to
make. But now maybe those choices don’t serve you so much anymore.
Time
to try out a new set of food choices that can help you in your quest for losing
weight. So here are some new options that you can try to help you release some
of that extra weight.
New
Choice #1
Include
some sources of protein with your meals that are NOT beef or pork. Beef and
pork are not the horrible bogeymen that they have been made out to be by lots
of dieting gurus. But they are usually higher in hard to digest fat than
choices like chicken, fish, peanuts or cottage cheese.
Your
body goes through different steps to metabolize and release the nutrients in
each of those foods. What happens is that the energy and nutrients like amino
acids help your body perform well. So you want to eat sources of protein that
burn cleanly in your body and have fewer calories.
New
Choice #2
At
least once a week, try having a meatless lunch and dinner. These two meals
don’t have to be on the same day, but they certainly can be. A lot of people have grown up with the idea
that if it doesn’t have meat in it, it’s not a meal. And that is just not true.
A
meal does not have to include meat and in many parts of the world, meat is
served at only one meal and sometimes no meals during the day. Sometimes as
little as once a week. Now that doesn’t mean those people are healthier than
you, but if you are looking for an easy kind of choice to make in your eating
habits, this could be one to try.
There
is no reason why you can’t have a meal with whole grains, fruits, vegetables
and legumes. Legumes are things like beans and split peas. Legumes have a fair
amount of protein in them. And if you don’t have things like pork and beans,
but instead make your meal of chili beans without meat or something like split
pea soup with no ham, you will fell very full. You will get a good nutritious
meal and you will have eaten way less calories of fat than you would if you had
meat.
These
choices are actually pretty easy to make in your life, and if you really want
to lose weight in a non-suffering way, try a couple of these changes and you
will be quite pleasantly surprised with the results.
