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To refine your eating habits, try these ideas:
Pay attention to the glycemic index: The glycemic index indicates how a food changes the body's blood-sugar level. When lots of glucose enters the bloodstream at one time, your blood-sugar level increases quickly. Whenever glucose enters the blood, the body releases insulin. The more glucose that enters, the more insulin is released. Eating foods that will release a lot of glucose into the blood stream quickly causes a quick rise in your blood-sugar level, and is usually followed by a quick drop in blood-sugar, which causes you to feel hungry. The higher the glycemic index of a food, the faster that food's glucose will enter the blood stream. Also a higher insulin level tells the body to store fat, so even if the large plate of pasta you just ate contains no fat, it can raise your blood-sugar level to a point where your body will store your meal as fat anyway, and then cause you to be hungry again. It is a good idea to try and eat foods that are lower of the glycemic index to prevent this. Foods that are rich in fiber are generally lower on the scale since fiber slows down the foods absorption into the blood. Foods lower on the scale are apples, pears, and white pasta. Foods that are higher on the scale tend to contain less fiber like white bread, carrots and bananas. So think about this next time you are making your food choices. (Though if you are eating a well-balanced meal, containing foods from most of the food groups, the glycemic index factor doesn't affect you as much as it would if you were eating an all bread and grain meal such as pasta for example)
Watch the ratio of fats, proteins and carbohydrates that you eat during the day: Somewhere around 50% of your daily calories should come from carbohydrates, 30% from protein and 20% from fat.
So for example, if your meal was 1 cup of skim milk (90 calories, 8.8 g of protein, .5 g of fat and 13 g of carbs) and 1 egg (70 calories, 6 g of protein, 5 g of fat, and 0 carbs), we get:
total calories = 90 + 70 = 160
total protein = 8.8 + 6 = 14.8
total fat = 0.5 + 5 = 5.5
total carbs = 13 + 0 = 13
Now multiply the total protein and carbs by 4 since each gram of protein or carbs contains 4 calories and multiply the total fat by 9 since each gram of fat contains 9 calories. And we get:
protein calories: 14.8 * 4 = 59.2
fat calories = 5.5 * 9 = 49.5
carb calories = 13 * 4 = 52
So 59.2/160 = 37% of calories from protein, 49.5/160 = 30% of calories from fat, and 52/160 = 32 calories from carbs. So this particular meal doesn't quite meet the standards of 30% protein, 20% fat and 50% carbs.
Eating Out:
When you prepare your own meals, you can control the way a food is prepared. You know that the chicken you made wasn't fried in oil and then
covered in mayonnaise and high fat cheese. However, when you eat out, it's a
different story. As you get to the restaurant, you plan on eating healthy, but after looking at the menu you decide that there is no hope. At some restaurants, every item on the menu is covered in oil, even the salad since it comes pre-made with lots of oily salad dressing all over it. Try to avoid these restaurants, fortunately they're aren't too many, and people are usually willing to go somewhere else if you have a suggestion. If you get stuck at one of these restaurants though, eat only a small portion of the meal, and then try to grab something healthy later on. Don't get sucked into eating a high fat meal you didn't plan on. Most restaurants have salads with dressing on the side, a grilled chicken sandwich (ask them to hold the mayo, butter etc.) and ask for salad instead of fries, and fruit salad for dessert. Make sure the item isn't fried, ask them to hold the cheeses and condiments, and stay away from pasta that are usually cooked in oil. Avoid dessert, or stick with the fruit salad, and you should walk out feeling proud of the way you ate.
Don't be afraid to ask how your food will be prepared when eating out. If you don't like something, ask them to make it differently for you.
Eating and Exercising:
No matter what physical activity you will be doing, make sure to give yourself time between when you eat, when you exercise and when you eat again. You don't want to be hungry when you work out and you do want to satisfy your hunger when you are done exercising, but eating too much can cause you to feel sick. When you exercise, the body rushes blood to the working muscles. When you eat, blood is sent to the digestive system. There is no enough blood in the body to supply working muscles and the digestive system at the same time, so give yourself some time between the two.
Try to avoid eating for at least 45 minutes before you start exercising.
Insulin, Carbohydrates and Fat;
When you eat foods that are high in carbohydrates, insulin is sent into the bloodstream to lower your blood-sugar level. When your bloodsugar level drops below a certain point you start to feel tired. So eating a meal that is essentially made up of carbohydrates (especially if it has a high glycemic index) before a workout will cause you to fatigue much more quickly than if you ate a more balanced meal. Putting a lot of glucose into the bloodstream all at once (caused by eating a meal high in carbs) also does not allow the body to put all of the energy you just ate to good use (unless you are trying to store energy for future famine). Once the body has used up all of the glucose it needs, the insulin that was released will take the excess sugar from the bloodstream and store it in your fat cells. So just because there was virtually no fat in your high carbohydrate meal does not mean that it won't be stored as fat in your body.
So a few hours ago, you ate a high carbohydrate meal and now you are feeling tired and hungry. This is because your body let all of the carbs into the blood stream at a quick rate. The body didn't need to use all of these carbs for energy right away, so it stored them as fat for future use. Even though your body just stored all those carbs as fat a few hours ago, it is hungry now since the brain has no access to that stored fat, so you eat again. The best way to prevent this cycle is to eat small balanced meals 4-5 times a day. Since the meal is balanced with carbs, fat, and protein, the body is better able to work to use all of the energy you just gave it without storing much as fat.
Food that is has no fat in it can still be stored as fat in the body
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Eating Basics
Use the The Canadian Food Guide To Healthy Eating.
Just follow these simple eating guidelines everyday:
5-12 servings of grains
(1 serving = 1 slice of bread, or 30g of cold cereal, or 1/2 a pita, bagel or bun, or 1 cup of cooked noodles or rice)
5-10 servings of fruits and vegetables
(1 serving = 1 medium fruit of vegetable, 1 cup of salad, 1/2 cup of juice)
2-4 servings of milk products (for adults)
(1 serving = 1 cup of milk, 50g of cheese, 2 slices of processed cheese, 3/4 cup yogurt)
2-3 servings of meat and alternatives
(1 serving = 1-2 eggs, 75 g of chicken (size of a deck of cards), fish or meat, 2tbsp of peanut butter, 1/3 cup of tofu)
Eat a variety of foods everyday, including fruits and vegetables, milk products, whole grains, and meat or meat alternatives to stay healthy and energetic. Avoid foods that are high in sugar, or that are cooked or fried in oil.
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Find out why fad diets don't work
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