Being a "good girl", you give yourself every day a word: at dinner to eat fish, in the snack - fruits, and for dinner prepare a green salad ... But the day in the end - again! - is formed in such a way that at lunch you are satisfied with a portion of pasta with a fat sauce, and in the evening you grimly pull out salad leaves and tomatoes from a purchased hamburger, scorning yourself for not being the same girl who always has fresh vegetables at home. Immediately forgive yourself! After all, if you understand, your eating habits are not so bad. To stay healthy and slim, it is not necessary to be perfect. To buy only useful products and to refuse from the spontaneous purchase of sweets, scientists from the University of Utah advise before eating out to eat a sandwich. Read the labels! Studies show that we consume up to 3-8 kg of sugar per year! Maltose, dextrose glucose), fructose - all this is also sugar. Even small changes in your diet, like replacing white bread with whole grain, and ordinary spaghetti - with macaroni from solid wheat varieties, can seriously affect the body. And we will help you with this, giving advice on sensible planning of your daily menu. In your desire to change the diet, be persistent, but do not make too demanding of yourself. Perhaps, it is impossible to exclude from your menu fatty meat and chocolates and will not work, especially if you are experiencing stress right now. But after all, any strict limitation, which includes a meager diet, for the body and in itself a shake-up. In response to it, he begins to "save", the metabolism slows down, and in the future it will be easier to re-gain excess weight, and getting rid of kilos is much more difficult. So out of the extreme. Our choice is the golden mean!
Whole-grain: fiber
Ideally, you eat carbohydrate food only if it is made from fiber-rich whole-grain flour, thereby trying to reduce the risk of heart disease. In the real world, at breakfast you really "keep loyalty" to grain and eat oatmeal, but at lunch and dinner you do not always follow this principle.
Golden mean
Reconsider your snack, replacing the usual drying and crackers for whole grains or popcorn. Most women require 5-6 servings of cereal per day (one serving - a small slice of bread, ½ cup boiled rice or pasta, 3 cup unsweetened popcorn). At the same time, not more than half of us receive them in the form of products from unrefined flour. And it's a pity, according to studies conducted at Harvard University, even two or three servings of whole grains a day reduce the risk of heart attacks or the development of diabetes by 30%. When choosing cereal products, be sure to read the label: whole flour should be the first in the list of ingredients.
Vegetables and fruit: vitamins
Ideally, you eat fruit or vegetables at each meal, so that you get the recommended dietary 9 servings per day. In the real world, you work so long that the pre-acquired herbs and berries have time to become air-conditioned, until you finally get ready to cook something from them. And the only fresh greens that are in your menu are salad leaves, sandwiched between slices of bread in a sandwich.
Golden mean
Add vegetables to lunch. Replace the familiar sandwich with chicken salad with greens and vegetables. Thus, you can easily get 4-5 servings of vegetables. This is your absolute minimum. Not "fulfilling this rate" for a long time, you run the risk of earning a deficiency of vital substances, for example, folic acid. In the study, women who increased consumption of fruits and vegetables from two to five servings per day, reduced the risk of heart disease by 28%. Portions are smaller than you think: each of them is 1 cup of fresh herbs or 1/2 cup of fresh fruit or vegetables. Mix 2 cups of spinach or arugula with 1/4 cup of beans, adding 1/2 cup of broccoli and tomatoes and 1/4 cup sliced carrots, and that's the amount you need. If you do not like salad, eat half a sandwich with chicken breast, a slice of avocado and tomato, and a plate of vegetable soup. And you again easily reach your goal, adding to the products mentioned a glass of 100% vegetable juice and one pear. If you jump on the market is not always possible, stock up on frozen fruits and vegetables. According to a study published in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, they can contain as many vitamins as fresh ones, if they were frozen mature: then they will have a maximum of useful substances.
Sweet: the source of empty calories
Ideally, you avoid cookies, sweets and chocolate, so as not to gain weight. In the real world, you are seriously upset, left for dinner without dessert.
Golden mean
You may well be pampered with something during a late dinner if you follow the two following rules. First, choose something useful, like dark chocolate, 1/4 cup nuts and dried fruits or a fitness bar. Secondly, the portion should remain small. Remember the rule of three pieces. The maximum pleasure from food you get, just biting off for the first and last time. Add one more, in between, and you will enjoy the dessert in the same measure as having bitten off it ten times. Still want something to chew? Women often crave sweets to experience the feeling of relaxation, which causes an increase in blood sugar levels. Keep this level stable, observing the diet and properly distributing food. Eat a banana in the snack before noon, and a sandwich with whole-grain bread - in the afternoon.
Semi-finished products: excess sodium and fat
Ideally, you decisively exclude from your diet any canned food and convenience foods, because they contain a lot of salt and fat. In the real world, you eat a can of soup at lunch, and in the evening - a frozen fast food dish, because you do not really want to cook at all. You can continue to use semi-finished products provided that they contain no more than 800 g of sodium and 3.5 g of saturated fat per serving (experts advise to limit their consumption of 2300 mg and 18 mg per day, respectively). A constant excess of salt in the diet can eventually cause an increase in blood pressure, and saturated fats - an increase in the level of bad cholesterol. However, manufacturers do not always take this into account. Still would! After all, salt and fat successfully "highlight" the slightly expressed taste of the dish. A cup of finished noodles with chicken, for example, can contain 1000 mg of sodium. Fortunately, not all semi-finished products are the same, and most importantly - carefully study the label. By the way, a small package can contain a double portion, and if you do "get it" off with it, you will get salt and fat in double volume. Fast food and many semi-finished products contain a large amount of fat and salt. In case you do not have time to cook, keep frozen vegetables and cut fruits in the fridge.
Red meat: saturated fat and cholesterol
Ideally, you do not eat red meat to save your heart. In the real world, having been on a diet for several days, you are rewarding yourself with a fat steak.
Golden mean
Do not give up on red meat completely. In the end, beef is one of the best sources of proteins, zinc, iron and B vitamins. However, you should be moderate: by constantly eating very large portions, you get too much clogging artery saturated fat and cholesterol. Indeed, a new study published in Archives of Internal Medicine found that those who ate 125 grams of red meat a day (small roast beef or steak) were 30% more likely to die mainly from heart disease in the 10 years that the experiment lasted. During the week, you can eat up to 540 grams of red meat or 6 portions of 90 grams. Do you think this is a lot? But this is not so, given that the average piece of beef that you will be served in a restaurant, will weigh 150 g. Always choose low-fat pieces: tenderloin or edge.
Dairy products: calcium
ideally, you get enough calcium, consuming at least three servings of dairy products with a lower fat content each day. In the real world, the maximum that you do is pour the cream into your morning coffee and ponder at the end of the day whether you can count a portion of cream ice cream for "milk."
Golden mean
Many women believe that they should eat yogurt or drink a glass of milk at each meal, otherwise they just do not gain 1000 mg of calcium a day. However, it is not. In fact, you can get an even larger dose of calcium with some vegetables, for example, with cabbage (179 mg of mineral per cup) or with pak choy salad (158 mg per cup). You absorb more than 50% of this substance from dark leafy vegetables, while from dairy products - about 32%. Start your day with a glass of unsweetened yogurt or low-calorie yogurt, at lunch, put a slice of Swiss cheese on a whole-grain bread, sprinkle pasta with pasta for dinner, eat a portion of lettuce for dinner, and pamper yourself with milk ice cream for dessert, and you will easily dial your daily rate calcium.
Products that should always be in your kitchen
No time to drop by the store? No problems! After all, in your refrigerator there are always some products useful for health and ready-to-eat foods.
Butter
Instead of just spreading it on bread, we'll make from it a protein-rich and incredibly tasty pasta sauce. To do this, add to 1/3 cup of oil for 3 tbsp. l. vinegar and soy sauce. Stir in pasta with chicken and green peas.
Tomatoes
Use them as marinade to meat. Tomato acid gives tenderness to protein products, and spices - a wonderful aroma. And you get 1 serving of vegetables. Welded the day before, can turn into a delicious, fiber-rich breakfast, if you separate a half cup, sprinkle it with soy milk, season with a small amount of cinnamon and brown sugar. Then a few minutes warm up in the saucepan and, putting it on a plate, sprinkle with pieces of banana or fresh berries. Rich in calcium and immunity-enhancing probiotics, it is always good for snacking. And if you mix it with dill, you will get a wonderful hot sauce for fish, chicken or baked potatoes.
Oily fish: omega-3 acids
Ideally, you eat each week two servings of fatty fish, useful for the heart, like salmon or salmon. In the real world, you rarely look in the fish department of the store, because red fish is by no means cheap, and after its preparation in the kitchen there is a specific smell for a long time! Every day, take medications with omega-3 acids. Healthy polyunsaturated fatty acids relieve inflammation, which can lead to heart disease, diabetes and even cancer.