Making healthier food choices

Question
Hi, I am writing an article for one of my classes about how to eat healthier and incorporate foods in their meals. I was wondering if you could give me some basic nutritional rules that people should be aware of when it comes to their food choices. Any maybe if you have any guidelines for people to follow when making food choices.

Thanks for your help!

Answer
Hi Samantha. Happy to help.

The first and main thing people can do is get a general understanding of nutrition. There is so much conflicting information that people get confused and don't know how to eat right. So in turn this makes eating right and or losing weight hard.
If people get a good grasp of proper nutrition, what a calorie really is and how different foods react in the body, then it can be much easier to plan meals.
Overall though they have to have the desire to eat well. From advising people in nutrition the one thing I've learned is that unless they really want to do right then nothing will work. People can educate and encourage you but you have to want it.

Basic nutrition rules...

Eat all three macronutrients, protein, carbs, and fat. They are all necessary. Contrary to what you read in magazines, see on TV or hear second hand neither fat or carbs are evil.
Understand the difference between bad/good fats and complex/simple carbohydrates. Its not rocket science and anyone can learn it in 5 minutes.

Eat every three to four hours to keep your metabolism working. skipping meals or not eating at all shuts down your metabolism.

Eat breakfast every day within 30 minutes of waking up. Breakfast should include a good source of protein like eggs or Greek yogurt and a complex carb like oatmeal.

Very important, plan all your meals. If you plans your meals a day or even week in advance you avoid missing meals or making bad choices.

Avoid processed carbohydrates and refined sugar. This is stuff like white bread, white rice, white flour, sugar (anything ingredient ending in "ose". these are all empty calories that shoot your blood sugar sky high which in turn causes increase in insulin and can lead to fat gain and metabolic disorders like diabetes.

Fad diets DO NOT work and will always fail and can even be dangerous. A diet should be what you eat day to day, not a quick fix to drop weight.

Don't deprive yourself of the foods you like. Sure eating burgers and desserts are not good for you. However it is ok to eat these things in moderation once a week. One day of crappy eating will not pack on unwanted weight. A cheat meal can be healthy for a variety of reasons.

Finally be very careful when eating out. Restaurants will usually pack in 3 or more times the amount of salt, sugar and calories as opposed to making it your self.
And be careful of supposed healthy options at fast food places. Some salads at fast food places can have more fat and calories than a cheeseburger or small french fry.

The very best way to to try to make good choices that you'll enjoy. If a certain healthy food makes you sick just looking at it then how do you expect to incorporate it into your life?Eating right does not have to be bland and taste horrid.
You can even train your self to eat better. After a while you will actually find it easier to eat the right stuff and likely get sick eating a lot of the junk. I speak that from experience on that.

So hopefully this helps your report. If you need more info let me know and let me know how it turns out.

Also check out my site at www.bestfitnessnow.com and look at the nutrition section. There is a lot more information there.  

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