What you eat on your diet can make or break when you are trying to lose weight. Not only does your food need to taste good, but it should be satisfying, filling and low in calories. That can be a big order to fill within your dieting plan.
Of course, one of the first things you need to do is pick a diet plan that suits you. Before beginning any weight loss program, examine the foods that you are allowed to eat and make sure that you like most of the foods listed on it. You will definitely not stick to your diet if the menus consist mainly of fish dishes and you don't happen to like fish. There may be other diet plans that are more suited to your individual tastes.
Within the diet plan that you choose, you will be making various food choices on a daily or meal-to-meal basis. Within those food choices, you can also decide the best preparation methods of the foods you eat to provide maximum effects (best methods to provide lowest calories) and best taste.
Here are a few tips on how you can use the food choices you make to the best of your advantage:
1. Grill your vegetables and fruits. The grilling makes the fruit 'carmelize' and taste sweeter. And grilling your vegetables gives flavor without all the added fat that can be included when cooking in butter or oil. After grilling just use salt and pepper to season them for great taste.
2. Use only half a bun when eating a hamburger or hotdog. You will still get the same taste, but will be cutting back on the extra calories.
3. Instead of buying sweetened cereals, use the plainer unsweetened versions. They are much lower in calories and you will find you don't really need the extra sugar for great taste. If you really find you want to sweeten up your cereal, add fruit like bananas or apples to it.
4. Flavor your food with spices instead of sauces or gravies. Experiment with various spices that can add a ton of flavor to your food. How about adding chili powder to your chicken to spice it up, or dried jerk seasoning on your pork chop?
5. If you are eating in a restaurant, choose your meal from the appetizer section instead of the main menu. Often restaurants serve over-sized portions that can really pile up the calories. The appetizers are more realistic sized portions for your diet.
6. Never go to the grocery store hungry. Eat before you shop and you won't be tempted to buy those calorie rich snacks and other foods that may make you go off your diet.
7. Keep low calorie snacks on hand and ready for when you really 'want' a little extra snack. Have cut up carrot and celery sticks in the fridge, or how about radishes for a bit more spice? Keep fruit to nibble on when you feel peckish.
8. Beware of so-called advertised low-fat products. Be ware that low-fat does not always mean low calories. Read the food labels on the products you buy to be sure.
9. Use skim milk or 1% milk over whole milk. If you use 1% milk, you probably won't even notice the difference.
10. Don't eat late at night. Late night snacking can be the bane of all dieters. That is typically when the chips or cookies come out-but that is the worst time to eat them. Your body does not have time to work off the extra calories because you are probably watching T.V. or not in motion (while sleeping) at that time. Try to do all your snacking (and eat healthier ones) earlier in the evening when you still have time to exercise off the extra calories.
Those are only a few tips on how to make healthier and more diet friendly food choices. What you eat and making little improvements on what you eat can make a big difference in your weight loss efforts.
