 |
Barriers to Healthy Diets -- Removing them is not as hard as you think
Barriers to healthy diets are placed into four broad categories: External Barriers
Psychological Barriers
Physical Barriers
Dieting BarriersThis article examines only the most difficult barriers in each category. Let's remove the barriers to healthy diets...but first, "What is a Healthy Diet?"
What is a Healthy Diet?
A healthy diet provides the recommended daily allowance for vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Any diet that fails to meet the minimum daily allowance for any nutrient is unhealthy. Of course, providing the daily allowance for all nutrients is next to impossible given the poor nutritional value of today's diets.
We eat on average 1.5 meals a day (not even close to the suggested 5-6 meals). The one meal we manage to eat is usually late in the evening, high in calories, high in fat, and is missing Group I Foods (fresh vegetables and fruit).
The majority of young men between the ages of 20-25 eat only 2 servings of fruit and 1 serving of fresh vegetables throughout the week! The next generation is nutritionally starved.
A healthy diet is quite simple and easy to follow. Here are the steps to eating a healthy diet:
Eat 5-6 meals a day.
Every meal should have a serving of lean protein, complex carbohydrate, and unlimited amounts of Group I Foods.
Eat approximately 40-50% protein, 30-40% complex carbohydrates, and 30% fat everyday. Limit sugars, saturated fats, and trans-fatty-acids.
Maintain a slightly negative energy balance or perfectly balance it. How do you accomplish this? Read the next few steps!
Calculate your energy output everyday. Energy output is the Resting Metabolic Rate plus the number of calories burned through physical activity.
Subtract your energy output from your energy input -- the number of calories you eat a day. The result is the remaining total energy and it determines your energy balance.
If the result is a positive number, you have a Positive Energy Balance. Simply, cut back on the amount you eat.
If the result is negative, you have a Negative Energy Balance. Increase the amount you eat.
Make adjustments to energy input (the number of calories you eat a day) so that you'll remain with a slightly negative energy balance.
Some weight loss experts advocate a strong negative energy balance at baseline. In theory, this makes sense but in practice it's associated with weight regain.
I believe that energy should be balanced or slightly negative at baseline. The closer to a balanced energy state, the better the chance for avoiding weight regain and maintaining your ideal weight for a longer period of time.
Do not cut back, slow down, or stop exercising. If adjustments need to be made, it's better to make dietary changes than to make changes to your exercise plan.A healthy diet is simple to follow. Eat fewer calories, exercise, and make dietary adjustments as needed. No pills, supplements, acupuncture, magnets, or magic minerals are needed. Just a calculator.
Removing External Barriers to Healthy Diets
Two difficult external barriers are peer pressure and time. Our friends and family influence our lives more than we like to admit. They affect our decisions, choices, moods, behavior, and weight.
During medical school, I worked in a weight loss clinic to make some money. I will never forget the level of influence a spouse or friend could have on a patient. Several times, I saw first hand someone, other than the patient, make the dieting decisions.
At this level of influence, our peer groups can make a big impact on eating a healthy diet. Just keep this influence thing in mind. OR, should I say, "Keep it in mind only if you have TIME."
Time is another rarely acknowledged external barrier to healthy diets. We live in world that seems to lose time. The normal 24 hour day feels more like 15 hours. All we do is rush from one event or appointment to the next. Eating a healthy diet is next to impossible.
Please, slow down. Who knows, by slowing down we might actually pay attention to the important things in our lives. I find that the more I rush the less I get done. And what I do finish, really isn't all that important.
Be serious about eating a healthy diet and slow down.
Removing Dieting Barriers to Healthy Diets
About two to three decades ago, while watching repeats on TV, Americans changed their diets and started eating lots of fat and processed foods. We have suffered ever since.
Eating lots of fat created a macronutrient imbalance and has clogged our arteries. Then we fell in love with processed foods. This love affair drained all of the vitamins and minerals from our bodies and resulted in a micronutrient deficiency.
Until we restore things to the pre-TV Dinner diet, we will continue to suffer heart attacks and weight gain.
It's really crazy...we stuff ourselves with heavy fat and then starve for vitamins and minerals.
Removing Physical Barriers to Healthy Diets
Physically, our lack of exercise is the greatest barrier to healthy diets. Start exercising! Walk. Jog. Swim. Lift weights. Sweat. Move. Breath. Live.
Removing Psychological Barriers to Healthy Diets
The mind can be tough to control, especially when it comes to hunger. But what can help is changing your food perspective. Where do you place food in your life? To help you through this important change in perspective, check out...Weight Loss Psychology
Conclusion
Watch the influences in your life, slow down, reduce fat, eat raw vegetables and fruit, exercise, and change your food perspective.
Once you've done all that, then you can focus on eating a healthy diet. I think we need to get back the 24 hour day, what do you think?
To Healthy Living!
Michael A. Smith, MD
Chief Medical Consultant
Diet Basics Website
Dr. Smith is the Chief Medical Consultant for the Diet Basics Website, a content rich weight loss website dedicated to all dieters. Visit his site and check out his Diet Basics News Blog and RSS Feed. Hundreds of E-Zines and Websites have already tapped into this incredible free source of weight loss information. Don't miss out!
MORE RESOURCES:
Oh Baby: OB GYN offers up weight loss secretSioux City Journal, IA - 13 hours agoCheat -- even a little -- and weight loss wouldn't happen. Try to cook daily "and you're probably going to fail." The secret: Make your meals ahead of time, ... |
The colour of weight lossNew Straits Times, Malaysia - 2 hours agoIt helps people maintain an exercise regime and achieve the targeted weight loss. “In US trials where people were put on 6mg of astaxanthin a day for 12 ... |
Three habits for holiday weight lossDaily Comet, LA - Dec 1, 2008Remember that calorie control is the most important component in weight loss, but if you want a license to cheat when you eat, you have to get off the sofa ... |
Weight loss revolution a lifestyle changeThe Saginaw News - MLive.com, MI - Dec 1, 2008By October 2005, Garth was back on TV announcing a 55-pound weight loss. She's since dropped almost 30 more for a total loss of 85 pounds from the 200 ... |
Weight-loss Boot Camp winnersMount Airy News, NC - 12 hours agoShe said she couldn’t be happier about her life-changing weight loss. “It’s just additive. Once you start seeing the weight come off, you want to do more ... |
Emmerdale actress in weight-loss opThe Press Association - 9 hours agoMany women up and down the land envy Emmerdale actress Lucy Pargeter's good looks and trim figure. But what percentage would swap places with the stunning ... |
2 Weight Loss Supplements RecalledKSBW, CA - 22 hours agoMonterey County public health officials issued a warning Monday to consumers about two weight loss supplements that are currently being recalled because ... |
Weight-Loss - Google News
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Low Fat versus Low Carb Diets
Diets, diets, diets..
Weight Loss : Keep It Simple
An increasing trend over the last few years has been for diet books to make things complex.I expect it's because each one vies with the other to come out with some brand new theory or other about why we gain weight and why their diet plan is the only one to help us lose it.
Developing Mental Toughness For Permanent Weight Loss
Losing weight and keeping it off is much more than eating right and exercising hard. In order to lose weight and keep it off, especially in today's stressful society, you must be mentally tough.
The Pros and Cons of Fad Dieting
It is very tempting to try that fad diet that you have found in the latest magazine, it promises the world with fantastic fat losses without doing a thing, just takea couple of fat burning pills follow the diet and then bang! a brand new you in a couple of weeks.The sad fact is they don't work, they just provide more suffering in your efforts to lose weight, the only thing you lose is your hard earned money.
How Dance Dance Revolution is Getting Kids Off the Couch
Are you concerned about the lack of exercise your child is getting?Would you like to see them up and moving instead of sitting around so much?Dance Dance revolution is the lastest dance craze that is a fun and addictive way to help your child get get up and move without realizes they are even exercising.Our kids health and fitness is more important today than ever before since video games, tv and computers are turning our kids into couch potatoes.
The Right Diet Pill - Where Do You Begin?
The right diet pill should be carefully considered when deciding how much weight you are looking to lose. More importantly, it is necessary to consider how you will keep the weight off once your targeted weight is achieved.
How To Maintain Your Ideal Weight
The main reasons most people have difficulty maintaining their ideal weight are : ? Overeating? Lack of willpower? Eating fattening foods? Weight Loss products that help take weight off, but cannot maintain it? It's all just too hard - calorie counting, exercise, too tired, too busy? I don't look too bad do I?All too often, people succeed in losing weight, only to put it all back on again once the diet is over. Yo-yoing is a familiar story amongst dieters.
Weight Loss For Beginners
Getting into a weight loss program or any type of dieting is intimidating for a beginner. Better health is something that we should all work towards, and be bold about.
Weight Loss Superfecta
If you are a fan of horse racing, you are familiar with the exotic bet called the Superfecta. It requires that you pick the first four horses to cross the finish line.
How Does Phentermine Work? Learn How To Stop Neurotransmitter Depletion
Why has Phentermine stopped helping me lose weight?Many people are experiencing the same problem you face right now. We're all in the same boat when it comes to being frustrated about Phentermine tolerance.
The Solution to Healthy Weight Loss
The overweight and obesity epidemic is a worldwide problem.There are no official statistics for spending on dietproducts, but estimates vary from $40 to $100 billion in theUS alone, much of that on scams and fad diets that promisethe impossible.
Prejudice and Obesity - Have You Been a Victim?
It's a sad comment on human nature that prejudice and obesity go hand in hand. Ask any person who has battled with obesity and they'll be able to reel off a list of examples.
The Type Of Food and Nutrition That Can Help You Lose Weight Fast
The following are diet tips that can help you shape up and lose weight:1. Try and adopt a vegetarian diet.
An Incredible New Weight Loss Product - Your Brain!
I would like to introduce you to an incredible new weight loss product: Your brain?
I discovered this technique for weight loss many, many years ago from a great New Thought teacher. When I posted it on a business forum last year, a member publicly thanked me for her weight loss a short time later.
What is Back to Normal After Gastric Bypass Surgery?
It is common for new WLS patients to ask, "How soon after surgery will I get back to normal?" This is understandable. We've spent a lifetime dieting for the short-term - the 30-day diet, the six-week program, the lose-ten-pounds-over-the-weekend diet.
The Key To Losing Weight And Keeping It Off
Do you want to lose weight? Of course you do, otherwise youwouldn't be reading this. Let me ask you another question.
The Seven Secrets of Weight Loss
When embarking on a weight loss program people will almost always focus on just one or two of the seven necessary components needed to achieve their goal. In order to maximize ones weight loss results they must combine all seven components.
Gastric Bypass Surgery - Is It Right For You?
When we hear all the success stories of the gastric bypass, it sounds so easy. One pricey operation and the pounds just fly off! Right? Not quite.
Ultimate Weight Loss: Fight Fat and Win
As if you needed another reason to hit the snooze button, recent study concluded that your odds of being overweight are 24% lower for each additional hour you sleep. That's great and all, but what are those of us who work 50 hours a week on top of training and watching reruns on TV supposed to do with such findings?Now there are different ways you can lose weight while you sleep.
The Culprit of Obesity in Children - Inactivity
It was bad enough hearing almost daily that obesity in adults is a growing problem, now our children are the focal point. Yes, moms and dads, the research is in.
|
