Healthy eating vs. diet plans
Sometimes you might ask yourself what’s the point of eating a balanced diet when the promises of weight-loss diets are so enticing. Eating a balanced diet instead of going on a restrictive weight-loss plan is, most importantly, just common sense.
In addition to being particularly bad for your mood, diets expose your body to significant deficiencies and, in the most serious cases, to health problems, especially in your kidneys and heart. Diet plans are often used as a last resort. They only change your eating habits temporarily and deprive your body of certain nutritional intakes. As soon as the diet is over, your bad eating habits take over again, causing you to gain back the weight you lost, and oftentimes more.
Low in calories, high in protein, food combining, based on meal substitutes… as soon as a diet tells you to replace one type of food with another, it deliberately keeps you from eating a balanced diet. When you deprive yourself, you affect your mood and temptation seems to be everywhere, while the urge to indulge in a forbidden food is high. Forget diets and respect your body’s needs with healthy eating. You’ll lose weight and keep it off without getting frustrated.
Rules to follow for healthy eating
Healthy eating doesn’t mean you have to exclude a certain food group; it’s all a matter of quality and quantity. You have to balance out your carbohydrate, fat and protein intake. Instead of eating prepared foods, frozen meals and refined products that are full of unhealthy fats and sugar, focus on natural foods, such as fruits and vegetables.
Eat just enough to fill up your stomach during your meals. Proteins found in unprocessed foods such as eggs, fish and all lean meats are great appetite suppressants. Of course, starchy foods do have their place in your diet, but focus on wholegrain products. Learn how to use the glycemic index to optimize your weight loss. The FizzUp Nutrition Guide can help you eliminate excess pounds with nutritional advice and recipes from sports nutritionist Anthony Berthou.
One foolproof weight-loss trick is cooking your own meals. Healthy eating means that you have to control what you put on your plate. For example, you can control the amount of fat and what actually goes into your meal.
Tips for hassle-free healthy eating
FizzUp gives you some extra tips to help you succeed in healthy eating without getting frustrated and sticking to your new balanced diet.
- Skipping meal isn’t such a good idea
Did you overeat recently and so in order to compensate, you were thinking about skipping a meal? You were about to make a mistake: when you deprive your body of a meal that it needs, you force it to compensate, so it then stores fat. Skipping a meal also means that you might experience food cravings. You may be tempted to snack on foods that aren’t good for your health or physique.
- Water is your best friend
Hydration is vital for anyone who’s physically active, but is also essential when you want to lose weight. Proper hydration and a healthy diet go hand in hand. Drinking 1.5 to 2 liters of water a day helps prevent water retention, which often makes you look bloated. It also helps you curb your food cravings. A big glass of cool water or a big cup of green tea are great for your physique.
- Stop saying no to snacks!
Do you leave the table feeling like you’re full, but then start feeling hungry again sooner than you should? You don’t have to say no to a small snack, thinking that it’s not a healthy thing to do. Knowing that it’s smart to avoid store-bought cookies and candy bars, there are filling and balanced snacks that really do taste good. Fruit, plain yogurt, raw vegetables or a slice of ham can tide you over until your next meal. What can you do to avoid consuming extra calories at the end of the day? Reduce the portion sizes of your three main meals and stay fueled with two healthy snacks, one in the morning and another in the afternoon. You’ll eat less, and not because you’re hungry.
FizzUp tip: Try our healthy smoothies as a snack. They give you the energy you need for your workout and help you finish the day without an empty stomach.
- Remember to have enjoy healthy eating
A healthy diet shouldn’t be based on deprivation. We created the FizzUp Nutrition Guide so that you can enjoy a good meal that’s still healthy and has all the nutritional value you need. Eating should always be something you enjoy, never a compromise. The recipes in the FizzUp Nutrition Guide are full of flavor, but combine balanced ingredients that are good for your health. Going out to eat? Don’t worry! Of course you can occasionally enjoy a meal with friends that wouldn’t necessarily be recommended by the FizzUp Nutrition Guide. Don’t obsess over counting calories. Simply consider cheat meals as an exception and turn your healthy diet into a habit.
You CAN eat a balanced diet without depriving yourself. Thanks to the great tips from the FizzUp Nutrition Guide, with a little bit of preparation, good decisions and some willpower, you can easily follow these rules over the long term! Depriving yourself for healthy eating is never a good idea!