Losing weight is easy, right? Just eat less and exercise more! If only it were that simple. Sadly, it's not, as you only have so much time in the day to exercise, and certainly just the thought of looking up the caloric input of everything you consume can be daunting, to say the least. It seems that the best you can do is to get the exercise you can manage to squeeze in, and just do your best to be efficient and smart when planning meals. Here are some good tips for getting the most out of your meals:
1. Adjust your focus. Because counting calories is so much work, forget it. That's right – forget it! Instead of putting a focus on how much you're consuming (and like many, also on how many calories you're burning), shift your focus to how much colour, freshness and variety you can put into the food you're eating. This is certainly a challenge in and of itself, so spend your energy here instead. You'll find that you're making all kinds of new recipes, replete with fresh and tasty ingredients. And eating healthier will become that much more enjoyable! Try starting with a variety of greens, reds, yellows, and whatever other colours you can throw in!
2. Get wet. Drinking lots of water helps in many ways, including satisfying cravings, flushing out your system of unwanted byproducts of exercise (and life), and even energizing your muscles by keeping their electrolyte/fluid balance in check. And make sure that you eat lots of fruit and vegetables as well, which themselves contain a lot of water. Start out by getting your own water bottle that you carry everywhere with you (but wash out daily). Keep it full, and keep draining it throughout the day. Soon it will be like second nature.
3. Speaking of fruits and vegetables... That's right, eat 'em! In fact, aim for 7-9 servings of fruits and veggies each day. A serving, by the way, is about one of your own handfuls, so it's not an impossible amount to achieve. And because they contain so much water, eating more of these nutritional-powerhouses will make you feel fuller for longer. Try making them the center of your diet – make at least half your plate veg, and for snacks and desserts, have fruit as the main element.
4. Eat hungry. This isn't always easy, but try to eat when you're hungry, not just when you think you should be eating. This is tough when you have a strict exercise plan, because you need energy to get you through a workout and energy to refuel after. But overall you might be taking in more than you really need, as your body is built to survive on less than you might think. If you're not hungry, avoid eating a while longer. And when you do eat, try to eat enough to just satisfy you until hunger comes again.
5. Eat whatever you want. Don't believe it? It's true! If you follow the above advice, you can eat whatever you'd like, without having to check an app first to make sure that it's okay. And above all, enjoy your food – chew it slowly and taste it. Try to eat with others and talk about what you're eating so that you're aware of what you're actually consuming. And when you do eat by yourself, don't multi-task – it can make you feel like you haven't eaten anything. Next time you eat, try to focus only on your food, chewing slowly, savoring every bite. After only a few bites, you'll be amazed at the difference a little attention can make.
6. Be an omnivore. I know that many of my patients will scoff at this, but a little meat is okay, unless you're a true animal rights activist. However, our society does indeed consume much more meat than we really need to. 50,000 years ago when the human race stopped evolving, how much meat do you think we were getting? Not much, for sure. So look to eggs and a little dairy for vitamin B-12, and otherwise try to eat vegetarian the rest of the time. Other meat once or twice a week is fine, but daily is unnecessary, and can add a lot of unnecessary calories to your diet. Try to get your protein instead from beans, legumes, nuts, and whole grains. Just make sure that you get a good variety, as they're not complete proteins on their own.
Above all, trust your instincts, and learn to listen to your body. If you're craving something sweet, you probably instinctively want some fruit. All of these refined sugars didn't exist 50,000 years ago right? So then your genes aren't really built to crave them. No matter what the food industry wants you to believe.
Remember, natural is always best!
By Richard Lobbenberg, Acupuncturist and TCM Practitioner
