Month: December 2014

One of the most important things to keep in mind when you’re evaluating healthy eating plans is moderation. It’s very unlikely that any eating plan that’s truly healthy will go to any extremes. It should stress moderation in all things, not just in the balance of food eaten but in the amounts, too.

For instance, some diets that are marketed as healthy eating plans make claims that should alert you to their problems. A diet that says you can eat unlimited amounts of almost anything probably isn’t really all that healthy. One extreme example is a low-carbohydrate diet. Many low-carb diets can be healthy for certain people. But a few of the low-carb diets entice people to try them by talking about how you can eat all your favorite foods.

These supposedly healthy eating plans claim you can eat cheeseburgers, steaks, cheesecakes and a variety of other foods. And often they’ll say that you can eat all you want of these foods and still lose weight. They’re operating on the assumption that you’ll eat one or two cheeseburgers (without bread, of course), be full and stop. But they do make the claim that you can eat all of them, essentially all the fat, you want and still lose weight.

That should be a signal to you that something’s wrong. No diet that allows all the fat you want to eat can be truly healthy. And if it allows unlimited amounts of saturated fat in particular, it’s probably unhealthy. Other healthy eating plans you’ll see advertised go the opposite direction and limit the amount of fat you can eat down to almost none, while allowing almost any kind of bread, pasta, and other foods like low-fat cookies and desserts that contain a lot of simple carbohydrates and sugar.

While low-fat cookies or cakes might be a nice treat on a low-fat diet now and then, they certainly can’t be eaten all the time. That would make the sugar content of the diet decidedly unhealthy. But that ability to eat low-fat sweet treats is often what’s used to convince people to follow the diet, because they can still have sugar and desserts.

When you’re judging healthy eating plans, checking what’s allowed on the diet is important. But checking what isn’t allowed is important, too. Moderation works both ways. A diet that tells you that you must give up coffee completely or never again eat any kind of bread is taking that limitation to the extreme. And if you like coffee or bread and still intend to have them at least now and then, each time you do you’ll feel like you’re cheating. No one wants to have bad feelings about what they’re eating or drinking.

Choosing from among the diets out there can be daunting. Choose a plan that doesn’t necessarily forbid you from eating anything, and doesn’t allow unlimited amounts of anything, either. Choose from among the more moderate healthy eating plans, and you’re more likely to find the healthiest one for you.

You know the drill: you’ve got some special event coming up, whether it be a wedding or an anniversary party or a work-related event, and you realize you need to lose just a little weight so you can get into your favorite dress or your best business suit. Or maybe a trip to the beach is on the agenda, and you want to be able to fit into that teeny new bikini or those cool new board shorts. Well, you might be surprised to know that you can actually lose pounds in a week, just in time to be ready for that big event or so that you can look your best on the beach.

First, remember that you shouldn’t modify your diet or embark on a diet or exercise plan without consulting your doctor or medical professional. Changes in your daily diet or adding strenuous exercise can be problematic, therefore expert advice is necessary to ensure that you approach your plan to lose pounds in a week in a healthy and safe manner.

If you maintain a healthy diet but still find that you need to lose pounds in a week, you should look carefully at your daily food intake and the amount of exercise you get. You may be able to cut back on your daily calories by a reasonable amount, perhaps ten percent, and in that way you can force your body to burn some of your stored fat. Decreasing your daily intake of calories too drastically can put your body into starvation mode, and you’ll find that you actually don’t lose any additional weight because your body believes that food supplies are scarce. Therefore, you may discover that you begin to store up fat for future use — and that means you won’t be able to lose pounds in a week as you hoped.

Additionally, you may be able to burn more fat by increasing the amount of exercise you get. Again, a reasonable increase — perhaps ten percent more activity — is all that you should expect to take on. Dramatically increasing your exercise without proper preparation can be dangerous to your body and your overall well-being. If you intend to lose pounds in a week you should take great care to ensure that you don’t stress your body’s limits through unreasonably harsh or strenuous exercise. You may find that the added stress ends up doing more harm than good.

Despite what you might think, it is possible to lose pounds in a week. In order to get the best result, you should carefully examine your diet and exercise routine, and consult with a qualified medical professional. Together you can plan a short-term program of diet and exercise that will help you reach your goal in a healthy and safe fashion.