The Rules of Healthy Eating

A lot of people miss breakfast, eat a skimpy lunch and end up ravenous at the end of the day. Because they are so hungry they eat while they are making dinner; eat dinner too fast; still feel hungry and either deprive themselves, or continue to snack through the evening. Disgusted with themselves, they console themselves with sweet foods or alcohol, which again adds more calories.

Dieting is the pits.... reduced food intake just sets up the desire to binge as soon as the diet is over. After weeks of deprivation, chocolate, candy and junk food are too desirable. So if you want to lose weight what do you do?

The Solution: Learn about Healthy Eating

To prevent weight gain, the solution is do not overeat. To prevent overeating, it is essential to modify your basic eating behaviors. 

Aside from the discomfort of the common 'on again off again' pattern of overeating and weight gain, there are health many risks. You have only to be really ill, to learn how valuable it is to be healthy.

During the weight gain period, there is an increased risk of cardiovascular disease because you are carrying around an overweight body. Dieting means a risking insufficiencies of calcium and other essentials minerals and vitamins you need for optimum health. In addition, weigh gain and weight loss have a negative impact on your mood and well-being.

Five Rules for Healthy Eating

First Rule: Shop for health: If you buy it: You WILL eat it.

Don't buy or order junk food then you cannot eat it. Buy the most delectable fruits and vegetables and eat plenty of them. Ounce for ounce they are less expensive than candy.

Avoid manufactured foods: buy fresh. Anything prepackaged in plastic, cans, or layers of paper wrappings is manufactured and probably has more sugar, salt and fat than you can afford to eat. Please note: high blood pressure can be affected by a high salt intake. Buy fresh vegetables, fruit, meat and fish. Eat only a little [less than 4 ounces] of pasta, potatoes, rice or bread. Buy only breads with 2 or 3 grams of fiber per slice and don't add margarine, butter or preserves.

Second Rule: Eat ONLY when you are sitting at a table.

This means no snacking while you prepare food, no eating between meals, and no eating after dinner is over. The one exception is a piece of fruit midway between breakfast and lunch and a second fruit halfway between lunch and dinner.

At work, no eating at your desk...go to the lunchroom or outside in fine weather.

Third Rule: No TV or reading while you are eating.

You need to be aware of what you are eating and how you are eating it. Remember when you were so hungry, you ate so fast the meal just vanished or, you were busy watching television and you ate the whole meal without being conscious of it. That is a trance state. If you eat with someone, remember, no talking with food in your mouth.

Fourth Rule: Put no more than a heaped teaspoonful of food into your mouth at any one time and empty your mouth before reloading your fork or spoon.

This slows the pace of eating and allows enough space in your mouth to properly mix the food with saliva. This starts the process of good digestion. Still eat too fast, use a teaspoon or a child's fork and eat off a small plate not a big one.

Fifth Rule: Chew each mouthful at least 20-25 times.

This breaks the food down into small particles for efficient digestion - and yes, the rule applies to soft foods too. It also slows the pace of your eating.

When you take time to eat, your stomach has the ten minutes it needs to signal to the brain: "I have food in me." Your brain then switches off the, "I am hungry" mechanism. This process takes about 10-15 minutes.

A fast eater can shovel in a lot of food before the switch is triggered so faster eaters may eat too much. Next time you are in a restaurant, try watching 10 overweight people and 10 people normal weight people eat. You will generally find that overweight people eat the same meal in much less time than the thinner people.

Don't forget:

Size matters: if your heart has to service 300 lbs that is twice the work of servicing 150lbs plus it has to use more pressure to do the additional pumping... Overeat causes many health problems...