Healthy Diet Answers:

Want Fries With That Mister ?

Yes, my healthy diet has at times suffered at the hands of fast food, I admit it – I am addicted to fast food – it makes me feel good, it makes us all feel good, that’s why its everywhere and thats why the fast food chains make millions.

I’d purchased and eaten the new MacDonalds veggie burger, I did feel very proud of myself that I’d gone for the healthy diet alternative, only to hear from my friend (who had also eaten there), that it still would have been full of trans fatty acids and the high GI buns are metabolism slowing, and goodness knows what else. Sigh.

Lets face it these days, to a lay person, having a healthy diet these days could mean anything from getting that veggie burger at MacDonalds to doing the full detox diet, and there is nothing worse than that sinking feeling that you really shouldn’t have eaten that salad because it had just a little too much dressing on it.

So what’s the answer, what really is a healthy diet and how do we integrate our fast paced lives with the healthy diet ideal, choosing fast food that is good for us ?

Well, first what is a healthy diet ?

A healthy diet for the general population is generally that deemed to be a balanced diet – but what’s that. In real life, a diet that matches your lifestyle and how active you are, will be right for your needs, which is what nutritionists and doctors will tell you.

When people want to lose weight and burn fat, this is generally the advent of their search for a healthy diet, and the aim of the game becomes consuming less calories than they expend.

For the most part, doctors recommend for weight loss, that a healthy diet consists of at least 1200 calories a day. You can read more about this particular diet here. Any less calories in your diet and you will be essentially just putting yourself on a starvation diet and a roller-coaster ride to yo-yo dieting.

So the 1200 calorie diet is generally accepted as the minimum amount of calories that an adult needs to consume – the micronutrients and macronutrients that make up these calories is a whole different story. 50 – 60% of these calories should be carbohydrates, protein intakes should be around 10 – 20% and fat should make up about 20 - 30% of your diet, making sure to steer clear of trans fatty acids and notch up the essential fatty acids like omega 3.

So that’s a ideal healthy diet. It sounds pretty simple doesn’t it. Not.

Eating healthily when you're out.

Let’s face it, no one’s going to go to a restaurant with friends and tell the restaurant that they can’t eat that rice because its white rice and it’ll send my blood sugar levels sky high and release insulin into my body, can I have Basmati instead ? – well, maybe just the hardcore diet enthusiasts.

Eating out is a fact of life and we all like doing it, to deprive ourselves of the experience will work for a while, but sooner or later, we all just go back to the old habits. So instead of depriving ourselves altogether, its probably better to alter the habit and look more closely into fast food nutrition. Which fast food will promote good nutrition, and which fast food is doing more harm than good.

Top four rules for healthy eating !

I am going to give you my four most important principles for choosing food when you’re at a restaurant or fast food outlet:

1. This is where it gets interesting, because really it’s not just the actual food that matters, it’s the way it has been cooked. Generally pop-corn is considered to be an unhealthy snack, and yes, most times it is. But consider if you shopped around a bit and found a brand that was not cooked in oil or butter, but cooked in water or air-popped. What-if instead of being smothered in butter or colorings, they dipped it in flavor-some spices for taste ? What then – then you’d have yourself a healthy snack with no added fats or sugars. Little things like this can make a world of difference.

2. It’s surprising that not many people actually realize this, but many people actually eat when in fact they are thirsty. Making sure that you’re getting enough water will curb your appetite. The water will hydrate your body, cleanse it of toxins and increase your metabolism – burning more calories. In other words, when you’re out, have a water bottle close by – you’d be surprised what a difference it makes.

3. Generally the more processed a food is, the more likely that it will be absorbed into your body very quickly and will not give you sustained energy bursts. If this is so, then try not to buy it, the reason I say this, is because you could find another food with just as many calories or less but you will feel fuller for longer and have sustained levels of energy.

There are of course, exceptions to this rule of processed foods. Some processed foods, are comparable to their fresh counterparts, because they have had vitamins, minerals, fiber etc. added to them to compensate for whatever was taken out in the processing of the food.

4. There is nothing more satisfying than knowing that the food you’ve just eaten is healthy. It’s even confidence building to know that you have a healthy diet. Eating lots of fruit and vegetables that can be eaten raw gives your body a shot of micronutrients. They don’t have to be vegetables, it could be a crunchy apple.

Step back from the fries !

So step back from those fries, and consider that there are plenty of satisfying, tasty and healthy alternatives when snacking or dining out. Instituting these healthy diet principles will mean that your social life and weight loss goals are not an either / or situation.

Sources:

Elizabeth A Bell and Barbara J Rolls Energy density of foods affects energy intake across multiple levels of fat content in lean and obese women Am J Clin Nutr 73: 1010-1018. Abstract

Prentice AM, Jebb SA. Fast foods, energy density and obesity: a possible mechanistic link. Obes Rev. 2003 Nov;4(4):187-94. Abstract

Weil, A., (2000) Eating Well for Optimum Health p. 77-78

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