PajMon Information Blog

Posts Tagged ‘fat free cooking’

Dropping a few unwanted pounds is really a matter of common sense. For example, you can’t eat 1/2 of a grapefruit and a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast, then reward yourself with a greasy, fast-food burger for lunch. Sorry, but the breakfast doesn’t cancel out the burger. Healthier living is a mindset. So if losing a little flab is high on the list, consider these 10 common-sense approaches:

1. Fast food is a no-no. Anything processed should be avoided as much as possible. While you might think they taste good, food and drinks such as candy, ice cream, Coke, Pepsi, cake, etc. often contain hidden sugar and fat.

2. Be more active. Get the blood pumping. Dust off the bike, swim, take a stroll around the block — anything that will burn some calories and help to curb your appetite. If you’re not sure how much you can take, ask your doctor.

3. Be conscious of your fat and carb intake. Obviously, if both of these are high, you’re going to gain weight. You want to find the right balance based on your daily calorie intake. Cut back slightly on one until you see the results you want. You can’t cut both out completely. That’s not healthy either. You need to maintain certain fats in your diet to help break down others.

4. Cut out the fat. Read the labels. If you’re a meat-eater, choose low-fat varieties of fish, skinless chicken, reduced-fat ground turkey, etc. When I cook chicken, I use my kitchen shears and cut off all visible fat. A pain in the neck? Yes. But my health is worth the effort.

5. Scale back on the sweets. As I said earlier, a piece of cake or pie every so often certainly won’t do major damage. But if you have a sweet tooth, you have to discipline yourself to limit how much sugar you’re ingesting.

6. Be mindful of your alcohol consumption. Apart from the other obvious risks, most alcohols are sugar-heavy.

7. Eat smaller meals more often. This will tend to curb your appetite a little more. If you starve yourself all day, you tend to overeat at dinner. Not a good thing, especially when dinner is generally the highest-calorie meal of the day.

8. Occupy your time. Get yourself a hobby. If you have something that will divert your attention, you’ll have less time to think about food.

9. Switch to healthy foods. Eat raw fruits and vegetables as often as possible. Avoid fried and processed foods. Natural foods will provide you with the fat-burning qualities you need.

10. Be disciplined enough to push yourself away from the table. If you begin to eat a lower-fat diet, you’ll find that you’ll be less satisfied because you’re not ingesting as many of the things that made you full before. If you have to snack periodically, choose foods that are lower in fat and/or carbs.

It may be difficult to make the adjustment at first. But if you stick with it, you’ll see results. Just don’t do anything drastic at first. Slowly begin to tweak your diet and see what works best for you.