That’s why it’s very essential that you do put forth some effort into creating the behavioural change that will help you move closer to shedding those pounds of fat that seem to cling to your body for dear life. Fortunately, with a few quick healthy eating tips, this doesn’t have to be quite so difficult.

Let’s have a quick look at what you need to know.

Eat Protein First

The very first diet tip to remember is to always eat your protein first. Protein is the one nutrient that will help to maintain your lean muscle mass, which is vital for keeping a high metabolism.

Protein also helps to speed up the entire recovery process from your workouts so by getting enough each day you can make sure that you keep coming back stronger than you were before.

Plus, protein is also one of the most satisfying food types so by eating it first throughout your meals, you’ll find you take in fewer calories overall.

Fill Your Plate With Half Produce

Second, another great way to immediately cut back on how many calories you’re consuming is to make sure that you fill your plate with at least half produce. Since produce does tend to have so few calories while also supplying plenty of dietary protein, it’s going to make sticking with a reduced calorie diet that much easier.

Try and find new recipes for salads to add to your meals as these are quick and simple to make and can easily be packed and taken to work for a lunch on the go.

Snack On Protein and Fats

When it comes to those snacks that you should be consuming throughout the day, always try and make them protein and fat based. Far too many of us are consuming simple carb-rich snacks such as granola bars, rice chips, cereal bars, and so on and even if they are reduced fat, they’re still going to really stimulate that appetite.

Instead, turn to protein and fat rich snacks. A perfect example would be a small piece of salmon over a cup of mixed greens. This contains protein, healthy fat, and fibre, all which will reduce hunger and maintain constant energy levels.

Reduce All Calorie-Containing Beverages

Finally, one place where calories often sneak into the diet of many people is through the beverages they consume. Remember that it’s very easy to take in a good 300-500 calories with those fancier ‘cocktail’ type fruit drinks, smoothies, or blended coffee’s, which is often the equivalent of an entire meal.

If you’re really serious about watching your weight, you must be serious about cutting these out. Instead stick to water, plain coffee, and herbal teas. These will not supply any calories and will help keep you hydrated.

So remember these healthy eating tips. None of them call for you to go to the extreme but all of them can have a significant influence on your results.

To help reduce cholesterol levels you should consider the following 5 foods or classes of foodstuffs which are known to be of benefit:

1. Foods containing a high proportion of fibre such as fresh fruit, vegetables, beans, legumes, pulses, and oatmeal. Fibre, especially soluble fibre, is good for helping the digestive process and for reducing the absorption of cholesterol into the bloodstream. Consuming 5-10 grams of fibre a day is the minimum to aim for. A cup and a half of cooked oatmeal provides about 6 grams of fibre. Mixing oat cereals with fruit and bran is a good way of adding variety whilst keeping up your daily fibre intake.

2. Oily fish, such as salmon, tuna, sardines, mackerel, halibut, and herring, have been shown to help cholesterol balance, as well as decrease blood pressure, and decrease risk of blood clots. At least two servings per week of oily fish are recommended because of their omega-3 fatty acid content. Omega-3 fatty acids are polyunsaturated fatty acids that help lower triglyceride levels whilst also elevating HDL cholesterol (the “good” cholesterol) levels. Baking or grilling fish is preferable to frying to avoid undue intake of unhealthy fats. Fish oil supplements are an alternative way of getting omega-3s but may be deficient in some other nutrients like selenium.

3. Walnuts, almonds and other nuts and seeds, can be good sources of omega-3 fatty acids and are generally good for you. According to the Food and Drug Administration, eating a handful of nuts a day (42.5 grams), such as hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans, almonds, or pistachio nuts, may reduce your risk of heart disease (so long as the nuts aren’t salted).

4. Olive oil is rich in mono-unsaturated fats, especially oleic acid, and two tablespoons (23 grams) a day may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. It is of course important that this should replace a similar amount of saturated fat in your diet, otherwise you may not get any benefit and are just adding calories. Regular intake can have favourable effects on cholesterol regulation and LDL cholesterol oxidation. The latter is thought to be particularly beneficial in reducing arterial plaque build-up. In addition to its anti-oxidant properties, olive oil is also anti-inflammatory, anti-thrombotic, and anti-hypertensive.

Olive oil also seems able to displace omega-6 fatty acids, while not having any impact on omega-3 fatty acids, helping to build a more healthy balance between the two. The less processed types of olive oil are thought to give maximum health benefits.

5. Sterols and Stanols are naturally occurring plant substances, that, when taken in fairly substantial amounts, are able to block uptake of cholesterol from the gut. They reduce total and LDL cholesterol but have little effect on HDL cholesterol and triglycerides.

Because they occur in plants, a vegetarian biased diet will provide the maximum benefit. Sterols and stanols are found in good amounts in rice bran, avocados, wheat germ, and extra virgin olive oil, and are also now added to various manufactured foods such as margarine and yoghurts. The effectiveness of sterols and stanols seems to vary widely from one individual to another, but a recent study of 72 people with slightly raised cholesterol, taking 2 gram a day of sterol in orange juice showed a reduction of LDL cholesterol by about 12% over a period of 8 weeks.

By eating healthily and choosing many foods that can help reduce cholesterol levels you can reduce your risk of developing artery and heart disease, as well as improving your health generally, and all without having to resort to drugs or medicines.

Water is required to maintain blood volume, and adequate amounts are necessary for proper kidney function. The kidneys are mainly responsible for flushing out toxins from the body, filtering them from the bloodstream. Without adequate water supply the kidney’s job is partly taken on by the liver, making it less able to carry out its function of fat metabolism as efficiently

The throughput of water in the body is the mechanism for removal of waste products, via the urine, the faeces, and sweat. Efficient throughput of water is essential to maintain health. This is most noticeable in the skin. Drinking plenty of water plumps up the skin, making it look smoother and more uniform. Lack of water exacerbates wrinkles. Part of the deep furrowed line appearance around the mouths of heavy smokers is due to the local drying out of the skin from the heat of the cigarettes and the smoke.

It is recommended that an average adult should drink at least 8 large glasses of water a day, and that someone who is overweight should drink another 8-ounce glass for every 25 pounds of excess weight. Most people don’t drink enough water, and it is therefore a good idea for most people to drink more.

Suddenly increasing your daily water intake may cause a corresponding increase in urinary output at least for a while. It takes time for the body to adjust, but it is beneficial to have the increased throughput which will help flush out toxins, and eventually lead to the body stabilising and consequently tending not to hold on to water. This may mean a reduction in certain areas like swollen ankles, for example.

There is a theory that drinking water cold, is more beneficial for losing weight, since it requires that the body uses energy to warm up the water to body temperature, and this seems to make sense. Drinking sufficient water during the day, at intervals is a good way to help feel full, and is well known as a way of reducing hunger.

Drinking water is a help in reducing your weight whilst keeping healthy. Other kinds of drinks may contribute to your daily intake, but beware less they contain other, less healthy ingredients such as sugar, caffeine, or artificial sweeteners.

The truth is that these sports drinks are not as healthy as one might suppose, since the manufacturers have tried to make them taste more appealing by adding in substantial amounts of either glucose or artificial sweeteners. Sports drinks will certainly help keep you hydrated, but then so will plain water.

If you regularly drink sports drinks you are consuming considerable amounts of “empty” calories which will do you no good at all if you are trying to lose weight. You may not even have realised that this is a source of calorie intake that should be taken into account if you are calorie counting as part of your diet.

A sudden surge of glucose into the blood after a sports drink causes a spike or upsurge in blood sugar concentration. Since it is a physiological necessity for us to keep blood sugar levels constant, the body’s compensatory insulin mechanism kicks in to bring the raised level down. This often over compensates, leading to a low blood level causing you to crave more sugar.

It is much better if sugars are absorbed more slowly by the body, allowing a more stable blood concentration. Too much stress on the insulin system by repeated stimulation of insulin, can eventually lead to type 2 diabetes where the body just can’t cope adequately any more.

Some sports drinks contain aspartame or other artificial sweeteners instead of sugar, but there still seems to be the problem that this does not overcome the body’s desire for sweetness, and, in addition, there is some concern over possible health risks from aspartame.

Some people enjoy the energy rush that comes from a sudden intake of glucose, but the downside is the rebound effect when blood sugar goes down because of the regulatory system, and this contributes to a lowered performance. This is why professional tennis players favour eating a banana and drinking water rather than glucose tablets or a sports drink during matches. Repeated sugar highs seem to become addictive and lead to cravings of more sweet foods, and so are counter productive when you are trying to lose weight.

To suppress your appetite and help yourself to eat less and lose weight, you should eat more of the foods that are filling yet contain few calories. These foods are mainly fruits and vegetables which are high in fibre so they help to stabilise blood sugar levels by controlling digestion and absorption in the gut. These foods are called low energy density foods because they do not contain large amounts of calories per serving, unlike say, a chocolate bar which is a high density food causing a rapid spike in blood sugar which is undesirable. An energy dense food may sound like a good thing but in fact these calories are “empty” calories, i.e. surplus to requirement and low in nutrient value.

A diet rich in fruit and vegetables can help in reducing appetite, but some foods that can be singled out are as follows:

Apples – Not only are these high in fibre and certain valuable nutrients like Quercetin, they take a while to eat as they need a lot of chewing. This is a good thing as it normally takes the brain about twenty minutes to realise that hunger is satiated when you are eating, so if you are eating more slowly you will consume less.

Celery – This is another food high in fibre and containing micro-nutrients which helps to satisfy hunger without calories.

Zucchini or courgettes – These are high in fibre and water like melon, but are useful in a diet as they can be sliced very thinly to look like ribbon pasta, cooked briefly and served with a tomato sauce making a tasty but low calorie meal.

Lentils – These are, unfortunately rarely given the recognition they deserve since they are a really good source of vegetable protein, fibre, (especially soluble fibre), folic acid, iron, and magnesium

Tofu – Tofu is another food not well known in Western culture, but useful for controlling appetite, since it contains a natural hormone peptide appetite suppressant. It is also high in protein, which incidentally may be why the Atkins diet works so well for many, since protein foods cause release of this hormone and help to make you feel full.

Flaxseeds – These are full of fibre and handy as a snack which is virtually carbohydrate free.

Pine nuts – These contain two natural appetite suppressants, and can be sprinkled on to salads or pasta.

Oatmeal – Real oatmeal, rather than the instant variety, is very high in fibre. It is ideal for breakfast, combined with fruit, nuts, and yoghurt, as it will keep you feeling full for a long while, and avoid the temptation of mid-morning snacking.

Salad – Salad is of course, good for you, and a salad before a main course provides fibre to slow glucose absorption and bulk out intestinal contents.

Soup – Soup is another underestimated food in terms of its weight loss value, especially thin broth or vegetable soups which are rich in fibre. If you have soup before a main course it can substantially reduce the amount you will eat overall. The cabbage soup diet is a slightly more extreme example of this principle.

Green Tea - Green tea is rich in nutrients and has been shown to help reduce appetite. Other green drinks like wheatgrass are becoming fashionable amongst health “gurus”.

Water - Drinking plenty of water during the day helps the feeling of fullness and reduces hunger. Water is essential to the proper function of the body, so that, simply, by drinking 8 glasses a day you are helping to control your appetite as well as helping your body stay healthy.

Eating a healthy diet and including low energy density, high fibre foods is arguably a much better way of controlling appetite than spending money on commercial products for the same purpose. Some of these products, such as the popular slimming aid Zotrim, and Hoodia Gordonii based products such as UniqueHoodia, are derived from natural sources and are OK, but others are synthesised and may well have side effects. You certainly don’t want to be taking pills long term, but you do want to keep eating a healthy diet.

The original Cookie Diet is attributed to Dr Siegal in Florida, and allows you six of his patented cookies a day plus a protein and vegetable meal, totalling a daily calorie intake of only about 1,000. Many critics have said that this calorie intake is inadequate but Dr Siegal has refuted this, maintaining that no harm has ever befallen a person because of a low carbohydrate diet. In this respect he would seem to be in accord with that other famous weight loss expert, Dr Atkins.

The basic idea was modified by Dr Sasson and promoted as the “Smart for Life” program with apparently a somewhat different recipe for the cookies, and with more emphasis being placed on the need for exercise, a healthy varied diet, and vitamin supplements.

The most recent version of the diet is known as the Hollywood Cookie Diet, which has had a lot of publicity and has been endorsed by several celebrities. The Hollywood Cookie Diet requires you to eat only four cookies a day plus a 500 calorie lean protein dinner. The cookies are available through the internet or from pharmacies without a prescription.

The exact make up of the special cookies is not entirely clear but it seems that they are made of relatively indigestible ingredients like oats, rice and bran, and are therefore high in fibre and low in carbohydrate.

Dr Siegal has maintained that the main reason that dieters fail is because of hunger, and that his cookies help to suppress the appetite to overcome this problem. One wonders if perhaps the same effect could be achieved by eating any kind of oatcake or cookie, rice cake, or light rye crisp-bread. All these foods help to suppress appetite somewhat because they are relatively high in fibre.

There would seem to be no magic ingredient in these cookies but certainly they may help you lose weight if you stick to the accompanying dietary recommendations. It may not be sensible to remain on this diet for too long since there could be a danger of missing out on valuable nutrients only really obtained in sufficient quantities from natural foods like fruit and vegetables. The amounts of these allowed on the diet are not large and a vitamin supplement should be considered whilst on the diet.

The degree of calorie restriction on this diet may be quite drastic for some and it is advisable to check with your doctor before embarking on such a diet.

At first glance, salads seem like a sure-fire recipe for success. But here’s the rub. Many people instantly turn those healthy weight loss salads into something that’s unhealthy. And they do it by pouring on creamy salad dressings, drowning their salad in oil, adding bacon, deli meats, fried chicken, fatty cheese and croutons. The lettuce and vegetables themselves are very healthy but the above mentioned additions are problem. The solution is to use lean meats, low calorie dressings, and limited cheese. Don’t fall for the trap of believing that since you’re eating a salad that it won’t matter if you include the high calorie, unhealthy foods.

Cereal bars are heavily marketed as a great weight loss food. But look closely at cereal bars before you decide to buy them. Many of them you will notice are loaded with sugar, corn syrup and caramel. The truth is, they’re nothing more than calorie laden bars in disguise. There are some good cereal bars on the market, just make sure you review the ingredients before you buy a box.

Walk through any supermarket, and you’ll see lots of foods touting “Fat Free” on the label. You might be inclined to buy that food, but wait. It may be unhealthy. The problem with many of these fat free foods is that while the fat is removed, they’re loaded with sugar. The sugar helps the food retain some flavour and it hooks you to keep buying that particular product. The key here is to look at the ingredients and see how much sugar the product in question contains.

I hear a lot of people brag about eating wraps. But many of them are short-changing themselves by making these wraps unhealthy. They do that by filling the wrap with creamy sauces, fatty meats, and lots of cheese. Sure, the concept of eating a wrap makes sense from a health and weight loss perspective but realise it loses its value once you insert these unhealthy foods.

This is by no means an exhaustive list but now that you’ve read this article you understand the concept of how people easily turn what they think are healthy foods into unhealthy foods.

The Good

The concept is simple. The negative calorie diet is based on the premise of ingesting less calories than it takes to burn them. Let’s say you horked down a delicious serving of chocolate cake weighing in at 500 calories. And let’s assume the energy your body uses to digest this magnificent piece of work was 150 calories. You’re left with 350 calories which will inevitably stake their claim on your thighs and buttocks. On the flip side of the coin let’s say you ate a single serving of broccoli and loved all 25 calories of it. Your body is going to use about 80 calories of energy to simply digest it, leaving you with a negative balance of 55 calories. Hence, the negative calorie diet phenomenon. If your body has to work harder to digest a meal, you are burning calories. The reported weight loss can be up to 2 pounds a day and you’ll never feel hungry again. Sounds wonderful doesn’t it?

The Bad

With a diet like this you are limited to very few foods. Granted, most of these foods are scrumptious fruits and vegetables rich with many vitamins and nutrients. But even still you aren’t really getting all your body needs to maintain a healthy lifestyle. You indulge in all the apples, strawberries, grapefruit and melon you can stand. And don’t leave out the celery, broccoli, cabbage, carrots and green beans! Stuff yourself until you can’t stuff anymore. But where is the calcium? Where is the protein? And what about the carbohydrates and healthy fats?

The Ugly

The belief that you are burning fat calories for energy is a farce. Your body naturally hoards fat. This is why exercise is vital to weight loss, and maintaining weight loss. Essentially you are tricking your body into thinking it is starving, no matter how full you feel. The fact of the matter is fat cells are the last resort of energy your body will look to burn.

Not to mention, this style of weight loss isn’t permanent. Oh! It might be drastic weight loss and tempting to jump on the fad diet band wagon, but eventually you are going to go back to eating the things you previously ate that forced you to turn to dieting in the first place.

The Final Answer

Weight loss should be looked upon as a lifestyle change and not dieting. The word “diet” alone comes with the thought of something that is temporary. Why would you temporarily want to lose weight? If you do choose the negative calorie diet, because of the daily intake deficiencies listed above, please consult your physician and definitely keep it short term. It’s perfectly normal to search for a quick fix to shed the weight, but the reality is that becoming overweight wasn’t an overnight process. So don’t expect to lose your excess weight overnight either.

The Two Types of Body Fat

In the human body we have visceral fat and subcutaneous fat. Visceral fat is located in the abdominal cavity and surrounds our vital organs. Too much of this fat can cause serious medical conditions such as hypertension, heart disease and increased risk of diabetes. However, visceral fat also acts as a shock absorber for trauma to the body. Subcutaneous fat is located just under the skin and also acts as a protective layer. Both fatty tissues serve as reserve energy storages and insulators. In addition, fat aids the body in absorbing essential nutrients and even lubricates the joints.

The Four Types of Dietary Fat

As a vital part of dietary intake we need to ingest a certain amount of fat. In our fat conscious society we have undoubtedly seen and heard the many recommendations for ingesting less and less fat for a healthier life. Basically there are four types of dietary fat:

Saturated Fat – This type is mainly found in foods such as meat and dairy products. You may have heard this type of fat referred to as “animal fat”. At room temperature saturated fat remains solid and is either white or cream colored. Fry up some ground beef take a look at the sludge formed in the bottom of the pan after it cools. Now imagine that same sludge fighting its way through your arteries. Saturated fat melts at 86 to 95F; the average body temperature is 97.9F.

Monounsaturated Fat – You’ll find this type of fat in the increasingly popular olive oil varieties, as well as canola, sunflower and nut oils. It is also present in peanut butter, avocados and certain types of nuts and seeds. This type of fat is in the middle of the road as far as the melting point is concerned and only turns solid when chilled. A particularly beneficial function of this type of fat is the ability to raise HDL (the good cholesterol) while decreasing LDL (the bad cholesterol).

Polyunsaturated Fat – The two mains types of this fat group are omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids. You’ll find this fat in a number of fish and vegetable oils. This is the healthiest of all the fats listed so far, so it would be prudent to replace the other types of fats with polyunsaturated fats as much as possible in your diet. Take special notice of the caloric intake when using this type of fat as it can be considerably high.

Trans Fat – Unlike the previously mentioned fats which are natural, this type of fat is man made and mainly found in processed foods. Fast food chains are notorious for using trans fats to deep fat fry their menu items.

As a general rule, the unsaturated fats are better from a health standpoint and trans fats should probably be avoided altogether. When you look at the nutritional value of any given fat-containing product you’ll find there is usually a combination of the fats listed above. The essential fatty acids containing omega 3 and 6 are commonly referred to as fat burning foods and can help in weight reduction. Now that you have a better understanding of good and bad fats, be sure to pay greater attention to food labels boasting “low-fat” and “reduced-fat” options.

And technically, drinking a couple of glasses of red wine a day could be considered good for your heart. Also, we all know what a killer stress is and a little bit of alcohol now and then can help diffuse built up stress. But the big problem is, alcohol isn’t much of a help when it comes to weight loss.

First of all, while engaging in some casual drinking, you may be sooner tempted to eat snacks and various food items that will pack on the pounds – especially if you’re out with friends. When you’re with a group of friends, all of whom are in a jovial mood, enjoying a few drinks, it’s hard to say “no” to pizza or similar high-calorie food items.

The second problem with alcohol is that the calories in alcohol are empty. What follows are some basic tips you might want to try when it comes to reducing your intake of the calories in alcohol:

Slimming Tip #1: You may want to give up alcohol for a week or even a couple of months till you hit your target weight.

Slimming Tip #2: Be forewarned that it’s so easy to abstain from alcohol all week and then go out on a Friday or Saturday night and binge. You will be tempted! So be prepared to deal with this reality. Keep in mind that one binge and you’ve undone days or even weeks of work.

Slimming Tip #3: If you will be drinking some alcohol, you may want to try a small 125ml glass of wine. This is the same principle of eating smaller food portions.

Slimming Tip #4: You can substitute alcoholic drinks with water or low-calorie soft drinks or fruit drinks.

When your body intakes alcohol, what happens is that the calories in alcohol are metabolised first before fat is burned and that’s not desirable when you’re on a weight loss program! What follows is a calories in alcohol chart to help you make better decisions.

Calories in Alcohol Chart