I just came across an article on the Cooking Light website titled 'Eat More Fruits and Vegetables.' It shows you different ways to incorporate additional fruits and veggies into your diet so you're getting your 5 servings a day.
They provide some great, no-brainer ideas like...
~ If you eat oatmeal, cereal or yogurt for breakfast,add a serving of fresh or frozen berries.
~ Making a homemade soup? Double the amount of veggies the recipe calls for!
~ Add shredded carrots or zucchini when making meatloaf or burgers. (PS - Don't tell the kids or hubby! They won't know if you don't tell! :-)
~ Pack pre-cut fruit and veggies into snack-size bags for perfectly-portioned munchies.
If you'd like to read the article in it's entirety, here you go...
Nutrition 101 - Eat More Vegetables and Fruit - Photos - CookingLight.com
Hope you all are having a productive week so far! Give yourself a pat on the back for a great 1st 2 weeks! Way to go everyone!
~Cheryl
Love it Cheryl! You can also puree the veggies into things. Then you are getting all the good stuff with less of the taste. :) I just had yogurt with blueberries and cottage cheese. Yummy! :)
ReplyDeleteLadies,
ReplyDeleteThere's often that dreaded point when you are trying to create healthy habits and you start to slack off. To avoid facing defeat, read this week's tip.
Healthy Lifestyle Tip: Diet Mistakes Can Influence Weight
Simple diet mistakes can derail your best efforts to fit back into that favorite pair of jeans. If the scale seems stuck, there's a chance you could be making one of these nine common weight loss blunders.
Relying on Crash Diets
Determined to lose 5 pounds as fast as possible, you turn to a crash diet. Perhaps your plan calls for nothing but grapefruit or cabbage soup each day. You slash your daily calories to fewer than 1,000 and sure enough, the pounds disappear. However, when you eat so few calories, you train your metabolism to slow down. Once the diet is over, you have a body that burns calories more slowly and gains weight more quickly than ever before!
Skipping Breakfast
Skipping breakfast seems like a simple way to cut calories, but the result can be insatiable hunger the rest of the day. This may lead to unplanned snacking at the office or eating a super-size portion at lunch, making calorie counts soar. However, a breakfast high in protein and fiber can reduce hunger throughout the day. In fact, studies show people who eat breakfast every morning are more likely to maintain a healthy weight.
Losing Track of Your Snacks
Maybe you count calories meticulously at every meal, but what about all those nibbles between meals? There's the bag of chips at your desk, the little slice of cake at the office party, or a quick ice cream. All of this mindless snacking adds up and could sabotage an otherwise well-planned diet. If you're serious about counting calories, you may want to use a notebook or a web based application to keep track of each bite.
Not Snacking at All
While mindless snacking can increase the size of your waistline, thoughtful snacking can do just the opposite. People who eat several small meals and snacks a day are more likely to control hunger and lose weight. Snacking helps keep your metabolism in high gear, especially if the snacks are protein-rich. Nuts are a good high-protein choice and research suggests people who snack on nuts tend to be slimmer than those who don't.
Loading Up on Low-Fat
Low-fat products can play an important role in your diet. Just remember that low fat isn't the same as low-calorie and it's not a license to take second and third helpings. If you pile your plate with low-fat cake, you may end up eating more calories than if you had a smaller slice of regular cake. The best way to know how much fat, sugar, and calories you're getting is to check the nutritional label.
Sipping Too Many Calories
ReplyDeleteWhen counting calories, many of us tend to overlook what's in our drinks. This is a big mistake when you consider that some fancy coffees and alcoholic beverages have more than 500 calories. Even the calories in fruit juice and soft drinks can add up quickly. What's worse is that liquid calories don't curb hunger. You're not going to eat any less after a high-calorie drink.
Drinking Too Little Water
This is one of the simplest diet blunders to fix. Water is essential for burning calories. If you let yourself get dehydrated, your metabolism drags – and that means slower weight loss. Research suggests adults who drink eight or more glasses of water per day burn more calories than those who drink less, so try adding a glass of water to every meal and snack
Setting Unrealistic Goals
Telling yourself you'll lose 5 pounds during your first week of dieting is probably setting yourself up for failure. If you know you won't be able to do it, you may never start your diet in the first place. If you do diet and lose 2 or 3 pounds in a week, instead of celebrating, you may feel discouraged that you didn't reach your goal. A realistic goal is vital to successful dieting.
Avoiding Exercise
When you don't exercise, you place the entire burden of weight loss on your diet. If you become more active, you can eat more of the things you like – and still lose weight. The key is finding an exercise you enjoy.
Source: webmd.com