Salt and vinegar chips are so mouth savory and delicious. Doritos sweet and spicy are so addictive. Fries and better yet, fries with gravy, warm in the mouth and full of wonderful flavour. Cheesecake so rich and smooth, you need to grab a glass of milk or water. Cookies....chewy cookies....yummmmy....the list of foods and sentiments that are attached to them can go on and on. Are these the thoughts you have? Come on...you can admit it. You are feeling those things and so are millions of others, as well...present company included.
Too bad that such yummy foods can be so yucky when it comes to the side effects. Yes, SIDE EFFECTS!!! What does that mean?
Well, let's think about it for a moment. Eat enough of these delicious foods and the side effects will include increased calorie intake, increase body fat %, decrease in energy levels, chances of emotional ups and downs....and this is not including the damage it does to your body internally. It's as if there should be fine print on these items where sold or when seeing a commercial about these products...LOL... like we see on TV for adds on different types of medicine...that low voice should pop up near the end that talks super super super fast mentioning all the side effects and risks of the product after they just spent 30 sec before that talking about how great and effective there product is.
But the reality is, we all know the negative effects of eating too much of these types of foods. I'm not talking about the once in a while moments when at get-togethers and you're munching on those chips...I'm talking about the, almost, daily intake of the 'bad' foods.Many of us do it...3 pm comes crawling along with that mid-afternoon energy crash that has us snacking on pretty much anything tasty around. Most, don't plan snacks before hand so end up buying what's in the vending machine or convenient store...
Then one day, we look in the mirror or get on the scale and, for some reason, are shocked and disappointed with what we see. Our favorite jeans seem to have shrunk in the wash....a year and a half after we bought them...now this I know we've ALL felt at some point or another. And this is when we hit a crossroad. We hit these crossroads many times during our lives...the crossroad happens seconds after the 'shock' we feel when we see what we don't want to be seeing...we either take the decision to take action. Start planning workouts and meals or we decide to be upset about the situation and feel sorry for ourselves...and do nothing but wallow when thinking about it...then let it go. A few months after we may hit this situation again...same reaction...this is when we end up gaining 50 lbs that just seemed to creep up at us...like out of no where.
OK...let's go back to 'reaction 1'...planning workouts and meals. "A goal without a plan is just a wish"...I love that quote. No idea where it came from but remembered the words after hearing them. Looking at your calender, plan your physical activity....some simple tips are given in the previous blog article.
Then there is your meals...this doesn't have to be hard nor time consuming but some time is required to carry through the plan. During the week most of us work....so pre-cooking your meats is recommended. Keep 2 or 3 days worth in your fridge and freeze the rest until later in the week. Unfreeze portions as the week progresses the night before...when cooking rice, pasta, etc...make extra to have enough for the next day's lunch and maybe supper, too.This takes max 15 min...same goes for salads, fruits and veggy snacks. One thing's for sure, you will have a few tupperwares with you during the day, full of healthy snacks and meals...and it would have taken you less than 20 min to prepare the night before...day after day follow this pattern and before you know it you'll be dropping pounds.
Keep your food as clean and fresh as possible. Have some carbs in at least 3 of your meals...whole grain as much as possible. Lots of fruits and veggies. Have some nuts, as well...some dairy, too....these are all necessary for a complete diet...but portion size is CRUCIAL...you do not need to feel FULL to end your meal...proper portion sizes will leave you satisfied but never full...you should be able to get up and do some physical activity about half an hour after the meal if you wanted to.
Ok, then what happens when you're not crazy about fruits and veggies....or how about meat...well, if you can, find ways of cooking these foods that entice your taste buds...various spices and such...try legumes, such as fava beans...fruits and veggies....there's got to be some that you like...and whatever you do like, buy lots of it....better the same few fruits and veggies than nothing at all.
Remember...."A goal without a plan is just a wish"....so lets work on a plan........................
Rowaida
No comments:
Post a Comment