Hey, What About The Food?

You don't need specially prepared diet food, complicated eating plans, or a personal cook to follow these simple rules. But you should do more research to figure out exactly how you'll incorporate these rules into your daily life. Ok, here are the ingredients for healthy eating:

1. Learn how many calories you need per day. This varies based on your current weight, height, and amount of weight you want to lose.

2. Eat at least 5 small (that's right, small) meals daily. For example, breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, evening snack, and dinner. Never let yourself get too hungry. Intense hunger leads straight to binge eating.

3. Learn to control your portions. Eating from small plates is desirable because it helps keep portions reasonable. This method works because most people automatically fill their plates with food - no matter the size of the plate. Small plates equal small portions - unless you go back for thirds and fourths!

4. Eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables daily. This isn't too hard to do, especially if you keep fresh fruit and vegetables handy for snacking purposes.

5. Pay attention to food labels. Learn to read food labels so you'll always know what you're getting. The label will tell you what's in your food, and you can decide if it's worth putting in your body.

6. Keep healthy snacks at your job. The candy in the office vending machine sure looks scrumptious when you're hungry. Save your money and your health by bringing your own snacks.

7. Drink lots of water. Ok, drinking water isn't really about eating, but it belongs on the list. Why? Because it's important to keep your body hydrated. A dehydrated body isn't a healthy body. Water helps your body digest food, and it helps keep your body parts chugging along. Try to drink at least 64 ounces of water per day (that's 8 glasses of 8 ounces).