Healthy Food

healthy lifestyle

Once we do an individual body assessment and determine what your program goals are, I will design a nutrition program that is customized to help you achieve your desired results. In order to be successful in implementing a healthy lifestyle, you need to understand the basics of nutrition. Here is an overview of the foundational elements of food.

Healthy Food: Calories
When you consume food, your body is supplied with units of energy known as calories. If you want to lose weight, you must decrease your caloric intake as well as burn calories through exercise. Contrary to popular belief, you will not lose one pound for every 3,500 calories you save by dieting or exercising. Although many diet books say this, the truth is that not all calories are the same. The type of calories you eat, not just how many calories you eat, will determine whether or not you lose body fat.
Due to the way that the body metabolizes fat, calories from fat will cause you to gain more weight than calories from protein or calories from carbohydrates. In order to convert calories from fat into body fat, only 3% of the body’s energy is required. On the other hand, 25% of the body’s energy is required in order to convert calories from carbohydrates into body fat. So if you were to consume 100 calories from fat in one day, which is the amount of calories from fat in a tablespoon of butter, margarine, or oil, 97 of those calories would be stored as fat. If you were to consume 100 calories from a plain baked potato, only 75 of those calories would be stored as fat. You can lose weight without restricting yourself by following a low fat diet that consists of the proper foods.

Healthy Food: Fat
Decreasing dietary fat intake is important not only for your figure but also to prevent a number of serious diseases. According to the 1988 Surgeon General’s Report on Nutrition and Health, decreasing fat intake should be the country’s number one dietary priority. Diets high in fat are associated with cardiac disease, circulatory disease, breast cancer, and colon cancer. In fact, the National Cancer Institute says that one-third or more of cancers are related to food intake. Pretty much all major health organizations in the US agree that we must decrease fat intake and derive no more than 30% of our calories from fat.
The body requires some fat in the diet for maintenance purposes. In order to create antibodies to fight disease, we use fat. Fat also serves as a carrier for fat-soluble vitamins like Vitamins A, D, E, and K. Fat deposits also protect and cushion vital organs such as the kidney, heart, and liver. Fat insulates the body to protect it against temperature changes in the environment as well. Additionally, fat is what gives our body shape. Fat also aids digestion by slowing down the secretions of hydrochloric acid in our stomachs, which gives us that feeling of being full and satisfied after a meal.
So as you can see, fat is also an important part of our diet and should not be eliminated completely. However, if you are making a major effort to get rid of body fat, no more than 20% of the calories you consume should be from fat. The three types of dietary fat are saturated fat, monounsaturated fat, and polyunsaturated fat.

Carbohydrates
Found in both simple and complex forms, carbohydrates are stored in the body as glycogen. You burn the glycogen that is stored in your body every time you exercise. The longer and more frequently you exercise, the more glycogen you burn. Consuming complex carbohydrates is ideal because they cause a gradual release of energy. Whole grains are an example of complex carbohydrates. Nevertheless, I consider yams, sweet potatoes, rice, rutabagas, and turnips as preferable sources of complex carbohydrates.
Protein
Protein is a building block of the body. It is important to consume plenty of protein when you are trying to get rid of lots of body fat in order to prevent the loss of muscle tissue. An adequate supply of protein ensures that the body has enough energy. However, not all protein is the same. Each type of protein in food has a unique biological value, which determines how well the body uses and absorbs the protein. When you are limiting your protein intake, it is ideal to consume more high biological value (HBV) protein than low biological value (LBV) protein. Examples of foods with HBV protein are lean beef, egg whites, lentils, peas and beans.

Sodium
Water retention and high blood pressure are primarily caused by sodium. In order to prevent this, you must avoid salt as much as possible. MSG, meat tenderizers and soy sauce should be avoided because they are high in sodium. Canned, packaged, and processed foods are also high in sodium.
Sodium leads your body to retain water, which then surrounds fat cells. As a result, at least half of your excess weight is due to water retention. You must get rid of the water that surrounds your fat cells in order to access the fat cells and burn energy from them. Otherwise, the water protects the fat cells and prevents them from being burned. Your diet must be low in fat and sodium if you want to achieve your weight loss goals.

Healthy Food: Water
Drink at least eight glasses (100 ounces) of sodium-free water per day. Diet drinks are okay to have on occasion but don’t make them a part of your daily diet.
Insulin and the Glycemic Index
Insulin stops your body from using fat for energy. It is a hormone that causes the body to take glucose (sugar) from the blood and store it as glycogen (energy) in the liver and muscle. If you have high insulin levels, you will gain weight that comes mostly from fat. The customized nutrition plan I design for you will keep your insulin levels stable and as low as possible. When you have stable insulin levels, your body uses fat for energy and releases fatty acids. When your insulin levels are unstable, your body cannot lose fat because it is in fat-building mode.
In order to stabilize your insulin levels, you must eat low glycemic foods combined with protein every three hours. High glycemic foods can cause insulin levels in your body to rise and thus prevent your body from burning fat. Examples of high glycemic food include refined breads, white rice, breakfast cereals, rice cakes, and french fries. By following my individualized nutrition plan, your insulin levels will stabilize and your body will become a fat burning machine.

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