Hard and Fast Rules on Nutrition!

August 27th, 2010 | Posted in Diet tips | No Comments » | Share this article

We all know getting fit and healthy is all about watching what you eat and getting your butt into the gym but there is a lot of contradicting information out there that leaves us more confused about what we should eat than ever before! There are a few basic hard and fast rules about what foods to avoid and what to eat more of and I am here to help you to understand some of the basics…

Never eat saturated fatty foods!

Some foods are bad for us but have some good qualities too but foods that contain high levels of saturated fats are simply bad for us! There is nothing nutritional in these foods and the following fats have no benefits in our diets and should be avoided at all costs: Chicken fat, pure lard, cottonseed oil, vegetable shortening, coconut oil and palm oil. Heart disease and raised cholesterol levels are often caused by these fats and oils and with so many good fats available (soy bean oil, olive oil, canola oil) you can cut the above bad fats out with ease!

Slow down on the obvious fats!

So, cheese being fatty is not new news to us and there is no need to cut out all the tasty foods from your diet – simply cut down! There are some healthy low-fat substitute foods out there such as milk that can be consumed as semi skimmed or skimmed rather than full fat. Beef and pork should be substituted for fish or chicken and pastries and packet lunch meats should simply be left well alone!

Leave room to mess up!

Simply never eating butter or cheese again is not a viable option for most and if you go all out to cut out every bad food out there you will likely get bored and de-motivated very quickly! Leave yourself space to mess up and set aside one day every month to treat yourself to the foods that you love but your body doesn’t need so you quell your cravings and do minimal damage to your diet.

A few hard rules!

Count the amount of fat listed on food labels rather than the amount of calories, eat fruit rather than candy, grill, broil, stir-fry or steam your food, use brown foods instead of white (rice, pasta, bread), eat raw rather than cooked and finally use your common sense! If you want to go out for a meal without worrying about every bit of food you eat then simply think before you order. Swap creamy pasta dishes for a pasta dish with a tomato sauce or have a grilled chicken breast rather than a steak so you still get to enjoy your meal without being super-obsessive or super-destructive!