Eat More, Weigh Less?
How to manage your weight without being hungry
Have you tried to lose weight by cutting down the amount of food you eat? Do you still feel hungry and not satisfied after eating? Or have you avoided trying to lose weight because you're afraid of feeling hungry all the time? If so, you are not alone. Many people throw in the towel on weight loss because they feel deprived and hungry when they eat less. But there is another way. Aim for a slow, steady weight loss by decreasing calorie intake while maintaining an adequate nutrient intake and increasing physical activity. You can cut calories without eating less nutritious food. The key is to satisfy your nutritional intake without consuming a large amount of calories.
If I cut calories, won't I be hungry?
Research shows that people get full by the amount of food they eat, not the number of calories they take in. You can cut calories in your favorite foods by lowering the amount of fat and or increasing the amount of fiber-rich ingredients, such as vegetables or fruit.
Fruits and veggies: keep it simple!
Most fruits and veggies are low-calorie and will fill you up, but your preparation methods can alter that. Breading and frying, and using high-fat creams or butter with vegetables and fruit will add extra calories. Try steaming vegetables and using spices and low-fat sauces for flavor.
make healthier food choices?
• Focus on fruits. Eat a variety of fruits - fresh (Best), frozen, or dried - rather than fruit juice for most of your fruit choices. For a 2,000-calorie diet, you will need 2 cups of fruit each day. An example of 2 cups is 1 small banana, 1 large orange, and 1/4 cup of dried apricots or peaches.
• Vary your veggies. Eat more:
• dark green veggies, such as broccoli, kale, and other dark leafy greens
• orange veggies, such as carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, and winter squash
• beans and peas, such as pinto beans, kidney beans, black beans, garbanzo beans, split peas, and lentils
• Make half your grains whole. Eat at least 3 ounces of whole-grain cereals, breads, crackers, rice, or pasta each day. One ounce is about 1 slice of bread, 1 cup of breakfast cereal, or 1/2 cup of cooked rice or pasta. Look to see that grains such as wheat, rice, oats, or corn are referred to as "whole" in the list of ingredients.
• Go lean with protein. Choose lean poultry. Bake it, broil it, or grill it. Vary your protein choices with more fish, beans, peas, nuts, and seeds.
• Limit saturated fats. Get less than 10 percent of your calories from saturated fatty acids. Most fats should come from sources of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids, such as fish, nuts, and vegetable oils. When choosing and preparing meat, poultry, dry beans, and milk or milk products, make choices that are lean, low-fat, or fat-free.
• Limit salt (Unprocessed Sea Salt best). Get less than 2,300 mg of sodium (about 1 teaspoon of salt) each day.
