Eating healthy food and losing weight

One big plus for eating healthy food is that you – without sticking to a fad diet – will be losing weight. Not in a rush, more slowly but surely.
A great help for getting there is taking a look at the Food Pyramid. It will remind you to keep your fat intake low, and encourage you to try more fruits, vegetables and meat, all in moderation. Instead of limiting you to a one food a day diet or other such nonsense, the Food Pyramid helps you to eat a variety of foods, including meats, cheeses, vegetables, fruits, beans, rice, cereal- basically all the components needed not only to lose weight, but to maintain overall good health.

The Food Pyramid

The Food Pyramid is an easy way to see what foods you should eat in moderation and which you can have in your staple diet. At the top you find the things you should consume in moderation or just as occasional treats, the further you come to the base you see the foods you should eat on a regular basis if you want to be eating healthy food. Combine this with regular exercise and you be losing weight in no time.
There are different models of the Food Pyramid out there, which have slight differences. Here you see the very recent one from the Harvard School of Public Health:

The healty eating Food Pyramid

This Food Pyramid goes a step further then all the others I have seen by incorporating Daily exercise and weight control as the very base of your healthy eating plan.
Exercise and weight control are linked through the simple rule of energy balance:
Weight change = calories in – calories out.
If you burn more calories than you take in each day and your body will access stored energy in fat cells. Eat more than you burn, though, and you end up adding fat and pounds. Therefore regular exercise can help you control your weight, and it is key part of any weight-loss effort.

Snack suggestions

If  you want to start losing weight by eating healthy food, a good way to get into the good habits is changing one bite at a time – starting with your snacks. Here are some ideas how to enjoy healthy snacks throughout the day:

• Enjoy a fresh fruit smoothie by blending fresh fruit and/or yoghurt with reduced fat milk
• Have a handful of fresh fruit and vegetables, dried fruit or unsalted nuts as a great snack
• For a healthy, filling snack take some wholegrain bread or toast with a healthy spread such as avocado or low-fat cream cheese
• Have some low fat yoghurt with fresh fruit
• Fruits such as oranges and grapes make delicious frozen snacks

Have a look at the Food Pyramid, make sure you have lots from the base, moderate from the middle and less from the top section and you will be on the right track to enjoy losing weight by eating healthy food
More info also here: Australian Better Health Initiative

Stay tuned for more information and ideas about healthy eating, wellness, fitness and nutrition!