Saturday, June 8, 2013

Bad eating habits? Banish them with these simple changes!

You could cut over ten pounds of pure body fat from your monthly intake which is 36,000 calories, simply by lessening a lot of your bad eating habits!
Polish up your portion sizes
Research has shown that portion sizes are increasing year on year. According to the researchers at the University of North Carolina, not only are we serving ourselves bigger meals, but restaurants, fast food chains and supermarkets are also gradually increasing the size of portions too!
How to change?
Begin cutting back by swapping you usual dinner plate for a much smaller plate, or it has been proven that the best way to lose weight by portion control is using a diet plate.
If your eating out, order a starter instead of a main and if you can’t go without having dessert, try sharing one, rather than eating it all yourself. However if you feeling good, skip dessert and opt for herbal tea or fresh coffee instead.
Sort out your sandwiches
Many people eat sandwiches throughout the day, especially at work as they make a tasty, quick convenient lunch, however all that butter, cheese, high-fat spread and mayonnaise can soon add up to a really high-calorie meal.
How to change?
Steer clear of fillings mixed with mayonnaise which include fillings such as tuna or coronation chicken and opt for turkey, ham, chicken or smoked salmon instead. You can lower the fat content of grated cheese sandwiches by replacing half the cheese with a grated apple or even carrot; you can also cut calories by using just one slice of bread and have an open topped sandwich. Alternatively to a baguette, you could have a pitta or a small wholemeal roll. Finally, keep your sandwiches moist by adding plenty of fresh salad and sliced tomatoes, also chutney’s instead of mayonnaise, sliced pineapple to ham sandwiches, grapes to chicken sandwiches and cranberry sauce to turkey rolls.
De-clutter your salads
A salad may seem like a healthy, low-calorie option, however if they are littered with deep fried croutons, high fat cheeses and oily dressings, your innocent looking salad could contain more calories than a McDonalds Big Mac.
How to change?
Add chopped celery instead of croutons and this allows you to keep the crunch but without the calories, also swap blue cheeses for cottage cheese and cheddar cheese for smaller amounts of mozzarella. You can add extra flavour to your salad in the form of sliced pears, sliced apples or extra sweet vine ripened tomatoes. Finally, you can save over 100 calories by using a little balsamic vinegar instead of the usual oily dressings.
Clean up your carbs
Have you found yourself becoming ‘carb crazy’ over the winter months? Well don’t worry – you are not alone! Researchers believe that cravings for high-carbohydrate foods such as potatoes, bread, pasta, rice and cereals could be due to a drop in the levels of serotonin in the brain brought about by the decreased levels of natural sunlight. Eating carb-rich foods replaces some of the serotonin levels helping us to feel happier and more relaxed. However there is a problem which is that you may find yourself eating large amounts of fat too in the form of butter, cheese, creamy sauces and oils if you are not careful.
How to change?
You can save over 210 calories per portion if you swap chip shop chips for oven chips, save approximately 200 calories if you swap creamy pasta sauces for tomato based ones, save approximately 165 calories by eating jacket potatoes with cottage cheese instead of grated cheddar and save up to 325 calories per serving by swapping high-fat curries with rice for low-fat versions.

0 comments:

Post a Comment