If you did not read the last post I read, to summarize it these where the key things that I spoke about:
- how to calculate the amount of calories you should consume daily
- understanding the needs of our own bodies
- and the effects of not eating (slow down metabolism)
Those were the main topics that I discussed, If you would like to refer back to them feel free to do so.
Now to continue further on, I was about to discuss tips on how to make your metabolism faster and in that way being able to achieve and maintain a healthy weight.
First of all we must discuss all groups in the food pyramid briefly.
Refer to the diagram below:
As we can see this is a different pyramid than the one we are usually used to. Bread, cereals and grains do not constitute the most essential group in the pyramid as before.
3 bottom key elements are:
1) exercise (daily as minimum of 30 minutes)
2) maintaing weight control (keeping weight under sight, people who usually weigh themselves have a lot more control at keeping their weight constant)
3) portions (the amount of food we ingest is something we should always look at, it should be appropriate to our age and height)
- Vegetables (you can never eat too many of them)... or have you ever seen anyone get fat eating veggies?
- fruits (3 portions of fruit a day - try out different colors of fruit which contain different types of antioxidants)
- Good fats (such as olive oil, which is good cholesterol and is beneficial to the heart and other organs. Eating small amount of this daily is essential for a good health)
- breads and grains (compose carbohydrate department and are the fastest source of energy, but you should keep these limited though consuming different kinds everyday.
-Nuts are very healthy for you (they are filled with good cholesterol and are a great snack, eating them once in a while is okay but you must keep their intake on a limit... only eat one hand full a day at the most since even though it is good for you it is filled with calories but they do constitute a great snack option when on the run)
- Meats and fish (constitute the protein, should be carefully watched since even though they are essential the portion size is always something we should keep in mind at the moment of eating.
- Dairy (should be limited and in order to maintain a good lifestyle, buying the light products or 0% fat is probably a good way to minimize the fats obtained from this food category.
- Finally... SWEETS. (KEEP THEM TO A LIMIT) - you know why.
Now that we have analyzed the pyramid we can get to the tips on how to make your metabolism faster:
1) Eat 5 times a day (breakfast, snack, lunch,snack,dinner)
2) The fruit's vitamins are better absorbed and metabolized in the morning, trying to ingest them before anything else you eat.
3) Exercising is better during the morning hours since your body then keeps burning more throughout the day, if you exercise at night you might find it difficult to sleep. (at least 30 minutes a day)
It is important to note that exercising each day requires you to eat 300 calories more than what your usual intake is. This is because you need to make up for the lost energy in order to keep yourself up to speed throughout the day. (THIS WILL NOT MAKE YOU FAT)
4) Limiting complex carbohydrates and filling yourself with vegetables before eating your meals (this will make you feel more satisfied and therefore when it comes to eating the more caloric food you will be less hungry)
5) Eating whole grain things (cereals, bread, oats) - IMPORTANT!!! - the fact that it is whole grain does not mean that it has less calories!!!! THIS IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW since some people assume that since its whole grain it will contain less calories.
THE TRUTH is that whole grain things actually have more calories in them, but since they provide you with some of the nutritional aspect your body needs you feel full for longer. The fact that it is whole grain makes the digestion of food to be slower so the food is broken down slowly. This ensures that you will feel full for a longer period of time. This makes you avoid picking food at unnecessary times which leads to you trespassing the limit of your calorie intake at times.
6) Have a schedule! Make your body a routine and adjust to it that way your body will know when it is the time to eat, in the future you won't think about the time you eat since you will start getting hungry around those times.
7) SLEEP!!! sleep early and wake up early. MAKE A SCHEDULE FOR THIS TOO. (it is important to rest at least 8 hours every night. This will help you focus better, have better attention span and memory)
Sleep is very important since it helps your body recuperate the lost energy during the day.
8) Weigh yourself often (don't be scared) - it helps you have a record of your progress.
9) Keep a diary of what you eat and how much. (at the end of each day count out how many calories you ingested. If you were to gain weight you could always look back at the diary to see what you might have done wrong, then adjust your diet of the future weeks to try and lose off that weight gained (which should be very low since in fact you are weighing yourself regularly).
If you maintain and keep up all these 9 steps, watch what you eat and count the calories you consume daily so you have a diary of your progress.
