Friday, May 25, 2012

The Nutrition Habit That Is Right For You

A lot of people are trying to find the most healthy nutrition habit that would work for them. The problem is, a nutrition plan that works great for one person may not work as great on someone else. However, when you have the right information, it's easy to design your plan for yourself.

Find out your daily calorie needs.


First, you need to know your daily calorie needs. The number is affected by your age, gender, weight, and exercise level. For example, a 25 years old sedentary female of average weight needs around 2000 calories per day, while a 40 year old active male of average weight needs around 2800 calories per day. There are a lot of automatic counters you can find in the web for this purpose. Just type in 'calorie requirements calculator' in your search box.

A balanced diet is important.


Next thing to do, is to balance out your meal. A balanced diet consists of 60-70% carbohydrate, 10-15% protein, and 20-25% fat. Yes, you read right. You need the carbs and fat. Carbohydrate should be your main source of energy. Protein is needed for cell formation and repair. Fat is there to provide you with a backup energy and it also breaks down into fatty acids which are essential for a lot of body function.

A balanced diet contains 60-70% carbohydrate, 10-15% protein, and 20-25% fat

Eat regularly.


Try to set a schedule for your meals and snack times so that you eat at the same time throughout the day. While you eat, pace yourself. Take your time and don't eat too quickly. If you savor the taste of food, you will fill up faster and you'll feel sated longer. This method also helps to reduce your cravings and prevent irregular peaks in blood sugar levels.

Thinking about weight loss?


If you want to lose any weight, you need to eat enough to fulfill your body metabolism. Reducing your calorie intake to an extreme degree will slow your metabolism rate and makes it harder for you to lose weight. It's better to increase your daily calorie requirement by exercise than to actually cut down the things you eat.

Stick to your plan.


Lastly, if you have found a nutrition plan that works for you, stick to it. Don't go straying off the plan by doing binge eating after going to the extreme and starve yourself for a period. The so-called yo-yo diets is never good for your health because you will regain weight over time and those extra pounds will consist only of fat.



Other articles in diet and nutrition:

  • Research has shown a variety of foods can boost your metabolism and help you lose unwanted pounds. Read more about foods to lose weight
  • The phrase fad diet, was originally used to refer any eating plans that promote short term weight loss. Fad diet plans typically don't result in long-term weight loss and they are usually not very healthy. Read more about the dangers of fad diet
  • The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) eating plan was originally designed to lower blood pressure, but it turns to be beneficial for other conditions like diabetes, stroke, and even several types of cancer. Read more about DASH eating plan