The two biggest paths to better health are eating better and exercising more.  Proper nutrition gives you the energy you need to make it thorough the day.  When you don’t eat regularly or eat unhealthy foods, it is very difficult to stay energetic.

The best diet is no diet.  Everything in moderation is the key.  Fads, such as Atkin’s and the South Beach Diet, should be avoided.  Will they work? Probably, in the short term.  But the jury is still out if they are actually healthy.  An even bigger reason to avoid them is that you will likely gain the weight back … plus more. 

Almost all fad diets are difficult to stay on for the long term because they are so restrictive.  It’s very easy for us to slip back into our old habits, so many people lose the weight and then go back to their regular diet. This “yo-yo” dieting is especially harmful to the body.  Also, when the weight comes back on, many people end up heavier than when they started.

The healthiest way to eat is to have five or six balanced meals per day.  That’s it. 

You might say: “Won’t six meals a day make me even fatter?”  The answer is no.  When you eat that often, you will not be as hungry, so your portions will be smaller.  When people only eat three meals a day, they tend to eat larger portions because they are so hungry at the time. 

Eating five to six meals does three things:
1. You will eat smaller portions and less overall for the day.
2. Your blood sugar levels will remain consistent, which helps keep energy levels up.
3. Your body finds digesting a smaller meal easier, so it is less taxing on your digestive system.

When you eat something every two and a half to three hours, you won’t be as hungry at each meal, so you won’t want to sit down to a huge meal. You most likely won’t even be a little hungry at the time.

These more frequent meals do not have to be the same size — in fact, three meals and two or three healthy snacks is the best combination.  A snack might consist of yogurt and a granola bar.  A meal might be a chicken breast, a potato, and a salad. 

When we don’t eat consistently, we change our metabolism.  This is especially true of people who skip breakfast.  Their metabolism goes into starvation mode and slows down — exactly the opposite of what you want.  You want to jump-start it in the morning and keep it going all day, keeping your energy levels consistent and keeping your body from storing food as fat.

Having consistent blood sugar levels is very important.  When our sugar levels have peaks and valleys, so will our energy levels.  When our blood sugar levels are low, we feel hungry.  This is our body’s way of telling us it needs food, and soon.  We then usually eat a huge meal, which is a big mistake.  When our sugar levels are consistent, our metabolism is constant and so are our energy levels.

A third positive aspect of five or six meals per day is that it’s easier on our digestive system.  When we eat a huge meal, we often have indigestion for hours afterwards, sometimes accompanied by gas and bloating.

When our metabolism is kept constant, we will generally eat less, have a lesser chance of food being stored as fat, and have increased energy levels.

The frequent eating program works with your body, not against it.  You aren’t starving it or shocking it.  It is easy to stick with and make a part of your life.  To lose weight, the total daily amount of calories can be lowered in combination with more exercise.  Don’t skip meals or you will get very hungry and overeat.  Your body wants and needs protein, carbohydrates, and fat and should not be denied.

Vitamins are an important part of our diet.  The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) is the absolute bare minimum you should consider taking.  Extra vitamins C, B, E, and Selenium, to name a few, have been shown to decrease the chances of getting certain diseases and disorders. 

Since it is difficult to get enough of them every single day, taking a vitamin supplement is usually a good idea.  The reason for supplements is to get the correct amounts to optimize our bodies — a much higher dosage for many vitamins than the minimum amounts which are needed to avoid vitamin deficiency diseases. 

Another common issue is boredom and overeating.  It is very easy to sit in front of the TV and unthinkingly put away hundreds of calories.  If you want a snack, take only an acceptable portion with you when you sit down to watch TV.

Eating is a common way to feel better and to combat boredom, depression, nervousness, or anxiety.   In these instances, you may not even be hungry.  Eating makes you temporarily feel better and you will do whatever it takes to get rid of your negative feelings. 

Instead, you need to recognize and treat the underlying issue.  Maybe you can’t do it on your own,  but the extra food you eat will not fix the problem either.  It will only lead to being overweight, which opens you up to even more problems.

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