Along with the answers to the questions when, how much and how to eat, it is crucial that we also know how to control our food intake. So here are some vital tips:
Every meal will have portions that are yummy but rich in fats.
To control your fat intake, increase the quantum of vegetables and salads on your plate
(but do not exceed the 60% limit I mentioned in my previous article).
A plan for healthy eating means knowing how much food is right for your family. If you feel the quantum of food cooked is more than what would be consumed,
put the extra food away in the freezer before you serve the meal.
That way you wouldn’t be tempted to finish whatever is on the table just because it is on the table.
Ideally, ready-to-eat snacks and plan for healthy eating don’t go hand-in-hand. So
if you need to buy ready-to-eat snacks buy single serving packs
and in any case, do not buy packages that contain more than three servings. If the pack size is more than one serving, eat no more than a third of it. If you’re confident that one-third won’t be enough, keep a lean 2-slice sandwich and a glass of water or small glass of fruit juice ready.
Ideally, plan for healthy eating and bargain hunting don’t go hand-in-hand either. Therefore, unless it really helps,
do not bargain hunt for food.
Getting more food for your money might seem like a good deal. “All you can eat for $29” or “30% more for the same price” or “Combo deals” looks like fabulous deal but know also that it encourages you to eat more than you actually need (and often times eat when you don’t really need to eat). Such deals might easily put a spanner in your plan for healthy eating.
Even when you know how to control your food intake, you still need to know how to comply with activity requirements, right? To do that,
we must know the relationship between the food we eat and the activity level.
My plan for healthy eating calls for balancing your food intake with your requirement for energy. For example, an average adult human requires approximately 1200 to 1500 calories to sustain through the day. This includes normal physical activity such as walking to and from the car, shopping at a superstore, moving around the house and office, thinking, working (non-strenuous), etc. There are several websites that help you calculate your calorie intake – choose one that helps you keep a record of what you have been eating and apply this formula: Calorie consumed – 1500. If you are doing any form of exercise, the website you have selected will also help you factor in how much calories you are burning via the exercise. Add that figure to the 1500 calories ordinarily required.
When you deduct calories required from calories consumed, if you are left with a positive balance then you obviously are consuming more calories than needed.
You therefore need to either reduce the food intake or increase the activity levels. Every plan for healthy eating needs to look at the food intake vis-à-vis the activity levels.
Check out the blog post What to do to lose weight if you think your balance has been positive for too long and you need to shed a few pounds 😉