For most of us “dieting” means eating less food less often, eating foods we don’t like (raw vegetables, fat-free cottage cheese, rice cakes, etc.), and going without foods we do like (pizza, chocolate, etc.). There’s one problem with this strategy — It doesn’t work! Here’s why: when you suddenly go on a “diet”, your body goes into starvation mode. Without going into boring details, your body actually stores more fat. While you may weigh less, you’re actually fatter than you were before you started your “diet.” When you finally do eat more normally, your body then stores those calories as fat as well (in anticipation of the next time you starve it) making you even fatter!
So, what to do? Here are a few suggestions:
1) Eat small meals more often (about every three or four hours) throughout the day. This will reduce or eliminate food cravings while keeping your energy level constant throughout the day.
2) Plan your meals. Know what you’re going to eat and when you’re going to eat it.
3) Prepare your meals. This goes along with step two. You can do this on a daily or weekly basis, whichever’s easier, and take your meals with you to work, on your errands, wherever. A great meal is a serving of protein with one or two servings of fruits and/or vegetables (for example chicken breast with grilled veggies).
4) Eat whole foods. A good technique for doing this is sticking to the outside of the grocery store where the fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy, and breads live while avoiding the processed foods in the aisles.
5) Drink lots of water. This keeps you both hydrated and satiated.
6) Don’t drink soda pop. The stuff is worse than sugar because it gets absorbed into the body more quickly than sugar itself, and, unless you’ve just had a hard workout, stores it as fat.
At Savoring Thyme, we can help with steps two, three and four. Our full personal chef service includes menu planning, grocery shopping, meal preparation, storage and cleanup. With this service your meals are ready to grab and go. If our full-service option isn’t right for you, we can do steps two and four for you with our grocery shopping and menu planning service. Either option is a great start to meeting your health and fitness goals.
For more information, please visit us a www.savoringthymechef.com . Good luck!