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A few years back, Cosmopolitan magazine asked our senior dietitian to create a working Pinay diet. I have lost my copy of the diet, but I remember the message: With the proper food choices, you can eat more, more often, and lose weight!
If you put food choices side by side, a typical convenient fast-food diet and a more balanced and healthy diet, the latter group will be bursting with more food and colors. It is exciting to note that by making better food choices, you can lose about two-and-a-half pounds a week, without exercise. How much more if the added energy from a balanced diet is combined with a sport or exercise?
A Typical Busy Day
Most people I know, myself included, find it difficult to have a decent breakfast. It should be the most important meal of the day and the heaviest because it breaks a fast (foodless for six to eight hours). If you start your day with the right fuel, you will be more energetic, more productive, more creative, and in a better mood. But the reality is, most of us have to be content with grabbing a cup of coffee (about 45 calories) before driving to work. By lunchtime, you are famished and eager to binge. Let’s say you go for a fried chicken leg or breast with the skin (about 270 calories) and a slice-and-a-half of a thick crust pizza with all the possible toppings (920 calories) plus an eight-ounce glass of soda (125 calories). Since that doesn’t seem like a lot, you succumb to another cup of coffee and a brownie (more or less 300 calories).You’re tired and restless by mid-afternoon. You snack on a small bag of chips (155 calories) and iced tea (125 calories). Eager to go home to catch your favorite cable TV series, you go to a drive-thru, order a bundled meal of cheeseburger, small fries, and small soda (total of 770 calories). Yes, that doesn’t seem much either, and it doesn’t even include the beer (160 calories) and sisig (500 calories) if you are a guy, and iced coffee concoction and pastry (easily almost 1,000 calories combined) if you are a gal.
Grand total calories for the day are 2,710, and these don’t even include the
Eat Right
Now see what happens with a slight tweak in your diet. Your schedule is harder to fix, and you can’t make major changes (such as preparing a heavy breakfast), so let’s just add a
I like cutting mine in portions, which I can pop into my mouth while at the wheel. In the office, I grab a merienda of arroz caldo (roughly 200 calories) and a small banana (45 calories), downed with a cold glass of water. For lunch, I have a cup of rice (200 calories, whether white or brown though the latter is packed with nutrients), a medium tilapia (170 if fried, less if steamed), a cup of vegetables (normally sautéed, 77 calories) and a slice of watermelon (40 calories). You can indulge in one turon (fried banana roll, 116 calories) and a glass of refreshing buko juice (about 60) for afternoon merienda. For dinner, you may have a cup of rice, a cup of vegetables sautéed with meat (118 calories). You can cap that with a slice of mango (40 calories) and coffee. Grand total intake for the day is 1,386 calories.
Here’s The Catch
This may be a very simple way of making you realize what you are missing out on, but more often than not, it is the magic wand of simple strategies that turns dreams into realities. A lot of people who want to look skinny, like models and celebrities, are most likely afraid of food. Out of sight, out of mind. But food is meant to be enjoyed, and it’s important for our well-being. A misconception is if you want to lose weight, you have to starve. On the contrary, it is better if you eat more of the right type of food, more frequently. It is best to eat five times a day, which means eating every three to four hours of your waking time. With an eating pattern like this, you know that your body will have more energy from a consistent supply of necessary fuel. Your metabolism will also receive a boost. The difference between the two eating plans is 1,324 calories a day. In a week, that adds up to 9,268. With a very simple strategy, you will lose more than two pounds a week!
Go ahead, enjoy life and eat well!
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Post me a note at mylene@goldsgym.com.ph or mylenedayrit@yahoo.com.
