Why is it that whenever I hear a friend moaning about their increased weight they always add ”The trouble is I love my food”. I know how they feel, I love food too, but there is no rule that says we can only love food that has a high fat content and is loaded with calories.
If we draw up a list of all the foods we enjoy and put the low calorie foods together and then the higher calorie foods and so on, we should be able to balance the food we eat so that we keep the calories down.
About a third of the food we eat should be fruit and vegetables, there is such a variety of both available in the shops now that this should not be a chore. Many of us get into a habit of eating the same things all the time, but if we try something new once in a while it can make things more interesting.
Another third of what we eat should be carbohydrates, this of course includes a wide range of grains and cereal crops but by and large we stick to the same ones over and over again. Sadly most of us also have the habit of eating too many refined products such as white rice and flour because we find the wholemeal varieties too different to what we are used to. One way round this is to use mixtures of white and wholemeal to start with and gradually increase the proportion of wholemeal.
Around a quarter of what we eat should be proteins including meat, fish, poultry, eggs, cheese and pulses. Most of us need to slightly increase the fish and poultry and decrease the red meat . There is such a variety of fish available that many of us have never even tried, perhaps now is a good time to start so that we can still love our food just perhaps a bigger variety and a better balance.
If we draw up a list of all the foods we enjoy and put the low calorie foods together and then the higher calorie foods and so on, we should be able to balance the food we eat so that we keep the calories down.
About a third of the food we eat should be fruit and vegetables, there is such a variety of both available in the shops now that this should not be a chore. Many of us get into a habit of eating the same things all the time, but if we try something new once in a while it can make things more interesting.
Another third of what we eat should be carbohydrates, this of course includes a wide range of grains and cereal crops but by and large we stick to the same ones over and over again. Sadly most of us also have the habit of eating too many refined products such as white rice and flour because we find the wholemeal varieties too different to what we are used to. One way round this is to use mixtures of white and wholemeal to start with and gradually increase the proportion of wholemeal.
Around a quarter of what we eat should be proteins including meat, fish, poultry, eggs, cheese and pulses. Most of us need to slightly increase the fish and poultry and decrease the red meat . There is such a variety of fish available that many of us have never even tried, perhaps now is a good time to start so that we can still love our food just perhaps a bigger variety and a better balance.
