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Healthy Food Choices to Lose Weight

Healthy food choices are the critical part to lose weight. Many people think that if you want to lose weight all you have to do is reduce the amount of food you eat. While this may be true to some extent, it’s more important to remember that the types of foods you eat can make a huge difference in your weight loss program. You have to eat healthy to lose weight. In other words, you must learn how to make healthy food choices to get the right nutrition in the right amounts.

The truth about weight loss is this: you can lose weight only if you burn more calories than you consume. You can do this by eating less, exercising more, or doing both. Health experts recommend a combination of a healthy diet and exercise to lose weight. A good weight loss plan allows you to eat healthy to lose weight.

Make a Lifestyle Change

Many people become overweight as a result of making the wrong food choices. Sad to say, this is because our way of life makes it easier to snack on doughnuts and cookies instead of fresh fruits. The refined carbohydrates in cakes, white bread, cookies, candies and biscuits quickly add pounds to the waistline and belly. The taste buds of the typical American are attuned to fried foods, chips, and junk food. Clearly, a conscious effort must be exerted to get people on the right track when it comes to making healthier food choices.

Healthy Food Choices to Lose Weight

Health Food Choices

People who want to lose weight often go on all sorts of diets, hoping that they will eventually find one that will help them shed fat and keep the extra pounds off permanently. It’s time people realize that fad diets do not work for long-term weight loss. You have to make a lifestyle change and learn to eat healthy if you want to lose extra weight and keep it from coming back.

Healthy Food Choices for Weight Loss

People have to eat but making the wrong food choices can lead to obesity or weight problems and illness. If you want to lose weight, eat the following healthy foods:

  • Fruits
  • Vegetables
  • Lean meats
  • Fish
  • Whole grain cereals
  • Nuts and seeds
  • Milk products
  • Eggs

A healthy diet for weight loss should also include plenty of water.

How to Eat Healthy to Lose Weight

The smartest way to lose weight is to choose healthy foods that you already have in your normal daily diet. Make this the starting point for your new and healthy eating habits. Eating familiar foods helps dispel the idea that you are on a diet. This is very important if you are trying to lose weight because being on a diet implies that it will end some day. When you stop your diet, you may gain back the weight you lost.

By changing your eating habits and learning to eat healthy, you’ll be able to lose weight and keep it off for good. Reduce your consumption of refined carbohydrates and watch what you add to your food. Avoid creamy sauces, high-calorie salad dressings, and deep fried foods. Keep in mind that it’s possible to make healthy food choices even at a fast food restaurant.


Healthy Food Choices to Lose Weight

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General Weight Loss Tips

Weekly Weigh-Ins Start Today

 

teaplease Weekly Weigh Ins Start Today

Caramel and vanilla Bigelow tea to the rescue! This is exactly what I needed last night. And my favorite quilt too.

Around 10:30 I was starving. That’s what happens when I eat dinner at 4:30. Six hours later, I’m getting close to bedtime, but my stomach is growling. I settled on two graham crackers, eaten pretty slowly. They tasted really sweet to me, and I think it’s because I haven’t been eating real sweets lately. I can remember thinking in a not too distant past that they weren’t sweet and adding peanut butter. I also had a clementine and more water before bed.

weeklyweighin2 12 121 Weekly Weigh Ins Start Today

So here it is! I’m reintroducing weekly weigh-ins to the blog.  I need the structure of a weekly weigh-in and the accountability of posting it publicly. I’ve been losing and regaining the same weight for way too long now and I’m just way over that. I’m so over being fat. Not that I was ever for it, I’m just done justifying it and making excuses.  Done convincing myself that I don’t look that fat. That I can pull it off.  Done convincing myself that I eat well for a fat person. And all of the millions of other rationalizations I’ve come up with to make being this big okay. Done. Done. Done. You can follow these updates on the left-hand sidebar.

turkeysandwich Weekly Weigh Ins Start Today

This morning I had a turkey sandwich. Nitrate/filler/antibiotic-free turkey with organic mixed greens on oatmeal bread.

Weigh-in: Is it obnoxious or helpful to mention when my food is local/organic/nitrate etc. free? I don’t always mention it and I’m not at all trying to say bacon is health food because I’ve found a healthier alternative. Eating this way is important to me and I like to share when I make that choice. I’m not perfect, just always trying to be a little better. What do you think?

Today I’m going to do another resistance band workout and do some jabs and punching for exercise. I imagine it will be a good two weeks (if not longer) before my knee is fully recovered. I’m seriously thinking about making a morning trip to the indoor pool with Josh on Valentine’s Day.

51TBH6Q4ZPL. SL500 AA300  Weekly Weigh Ins Start Today

And now I’m hungry again. Time for lunch, what are you having?

 

Fun and Interesting Stuff:

California Chef Forages a Feast (I would love to learn how to do this without poisoning myself)

Peanut Butter Qunioa Cookies (going to try these this week!)

This dress is making me crave warmer weather (and brown leather sandals!)

Guess what? Me and my mom are going to BlogHer this year in NYC. Are you going!?

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General Weight Loss Tips

Dole Health Summit: Part Two: Real Fruit Bites and More

Lunch at Dole: whipped ginger sweet potatoes, salmon with fresh tomatoes, vegetables lasagna, roasted squash, salad and chocolate covered pineapple

One thing that stood out to me during the Dole Health Summit was how proud the employees are of their health and habits. Before I went to the Dole Health Summit I kind of expected that there would be fresh produce available, but I was not expecting it to be so delicious and thoughtfully prepared.

Throughout my life I’ve believed that health food and good food were on two different teams. It never occured to me that they could be one in the same. When I thought of health food, I thought of “diet food” and to me it was boring, raw, cold, and uninteresting. I grew up in the 90’s where people were told not to eat fat, so I doused my iceburg lettuce in fat-free ranch dressing. We were told to eat cottage cheese, fat-free frozen yogurt, diet soda, and celery sticks to be healthy.

Onyx Restaurant at Four Seasons: ginger salad with miso soup

If I’m being totally honest, the concept of healthy can equal delicious is new to me. I use the term healthy loosely, because it seems that we all, scientists included, have our own idea of what healthy eating looks like.

But Dole managed to merge the two worlds effortlessly. You’d never know that health food wasn’t delicious and you’d never feel deprived or cheated eating this way.  Good, delicious, thoughtful and interesting food. I want more of that in my life, the merging of healthy and delicious foods.

Onyx: risotto with mushrooms

I realize that this may sound strange to those reading who already “get” it, but for me, it’s been a very long journey to this point. You see, it wasn’t until my mid-20’s that I had fresh blueberries, cherries, salmon, black beans, avocados, asparagus, dark leafy greens, or roasted vegetables. Blueberries were made into muffins. Cherries came from a jar in syrup. Salmon was from a can. Beans were brown or green and swimming with bacon. And vegetables were cooked in the microwave.

Dinner at Onyx, Four Seasons Hotel

I’ve since taught myself to enjoy interesting and new flavors. I prefer tea and coffee unsweetened. I rarely drink soda or diet soda. I’m not afraid to try new foods. I want to continue challenging my to change my definition of what good food is. Good food can be a local burger or butternut squash roasted to perfection with garlic, olive oil and chili powder. It can be coconut curry with chicken and vegetables. Good food, or delicious food, doesn’t have to be saturated in fat, salt or sugar to taste good. And I say these things as a reminder for myself, because I sometimes forget how good fruit and vegetables can be.

basil mango sorbet with dark chocolate and mint

Even the Dole employee cafeteria offered a healthy array of food choices. We had the opportunity to eat breakfast there our first morning. You could choose from whole wheat pancakes, to breakfast burritos with made-to-order omelets, homemade salsa, and avacado, or lox with cream cheese, bran muffins or fresh fruit.

In the Dole test kitchen we had the opportunity to try out new products and old favorites. For me, you can’t go wrong with frozen banana soft serve. Oh the miracles of the internet for bringing this amazing concoction into our lives.

We tried the salad kits which were filled with things like dried cherries, blue cheese and nuts. Not to mention the Real Fruit Bites. I really enjoyed these a lot (maybe too much!). I liked that you could taste the oatmeal in them. Apple was my favorite, and pineapple takes second. Josh really liked these too and I was sad to find out he raided my goodie bag and ate most of my packets.

Next was a new product that I haven’t seen yet…

Dole Shakers. Basically they are frozen fruit and yogurt, similar to dippin’ dots. You add fruit juice to them and shake for an on-the-go smoothie. I really liked the taste of these and enjoyed the thick texture. Some of the other bloggers noted that they took on the flavor of whatever juice you use, I didn’t mind that though. I thought they were refreshing and could imagine using these in a pinch or while traveling. I also think they might be good with unsweetened vanilla almond milk to cut down the sugar.

What are you favorite healthy, yet delicious recipes?

Click Here to read Dole Health Summit: Part One

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