Introduction: You do not have to go cold-turkey when you decide to adopt a diet that is lower in fat and lower in calories. Slow and easy is the way to make a healthy diet a permanent one!
1. Gradually change your diet. Do not jump right in and change everything about your diet.
2. Changes in your diet that come about slowly and easily will ensure that you stick to that diet once you reach the healthy diet that will become a permanent part of your life.
a. Note the foods in your diet that have the highest amounts of saturated fats. Sometimes we are unaware of the quantity of saturated fats, and calories, are in the foods we have been eating for a quite a while.
b. Cut back on those foods high in saturated fats by HALF. Cutting the amount of high-fat, high-calorie serving in half will become a habit in time.
c. Start using fat-free or low-fat versions of the high-fat foods you used to eat. You can still have your favorite ranch dressing in a low-fat brand of ranch dressing. If you love that hamburger with mayonnaise, change to a hamburger with mustard.
d. Change just one meal at a time. You can eat the same breakfast you are used to, the same lunch you are used to, but change your evening meal to one that is lower in saturated fats. Once you have made your evening meal low in fat, then you can move on to making changes to your lunch.
e. You can modify your well-loved recipes by substituting ingredients with low-fat, sugar-free, and low-calorie ingredients. Low-fat cheeses, low-fat yogurts, skim milk and low-fat margarine can still make for a great-tasting recipe.
f. Cut back, gradually, on the amount of food you consume each day. Eventually, you will find your hunger satisfied even though you have eaten a smaller amount of food than usual.
g. Regular butter and margarine are fat-loaded. A wide variety of low-fat margarine products are available. If the taste of the low-fat versions do not satisfy your taste buds, then cut your use of regular butter and margarine in half. Eventually, that baked potato will taste as good with half the margarine you used to use on your potato.
h. There are some favorite foods that do not have low-fat, low-calorie substitutions. If you love avocados, then cut the amount you eat in half. If you adore sunflower seeds, eat a quarter handful rather than an entire handful.
i. You can enjoy high-fat foods, but on an occasional basis rather than on a regular basis. A treat eaten now and then gives you something to look forward to.
Tip: Use zero-calorie I Can't Believe It's Not Butter on air-popped popcorn, baked potatoes, toast and more.
Warning: Even if you mess up in your gradual change to a healthy diet, you can always start anew. Every mistake does not mean you have failed in your quest to achieve a healthier you!
Post a Comment