Things You'll Need:
- An open mind
- Shopping list
- Time to cook and plan meals
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Step 1
A full "kitchen cleaning" is a must! Get all sweets, white flour and foods high in sugar and trans fat out of the house. People love to use their kids as an excuse for not doing this. I'm not saying deprive your kids of treats, but with the child obesity problem in this country, don't you think teaching them good eating habits when they're young is the responsible thing to do? Remember that "diet" is not the word; lifestyle change is your goal.
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Step 2
You must accept that you have to eat within an hour of getting up in the morning (even if it's a handful of almonds) and that you have to get into the "five small meals a day" frame of mind. Chances are you skip meals and then stuff your face because you're hungry. The trick is NOT to get hungry.
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Step 3
Let's start with these bad words: trans fat, high fructose corn syrup, sucrose. Check all the labels in your house and get rid of them. You will not believe how many products have some form of fructose in their first three ingredients. It's sugar, sugar and more sugar.
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Step 4
Make a shopping list and make sure you have extra time in the market to educate yourself, instead of grabbing the same fattening comfort foods. Must-have items are cereal/oatmeal, almonds and peanut butter (ingredients should simply read "peanuts"). Go read the ingredients on the peanut butter in your pantry right now. How's that sugar content? Where is fructose or sucrose listed in the ingredients? If it's first, second or third, not good. Take a look at your BBQ sauce while you're at it!
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Step 5
Get low-fat milk, yogurt, 2 percent cheese, wheat bread, eggs, multigrain pasta and, of course, lean protein meats--NOT cold cuts. Watch those wheat breads; the label must say 100 percent whole wheat, and check for hidden fructose! Greens such as spinach, spring mix salad or romaine (iceberg has no nutritional value), green beans and beans in general are all wonderful!
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Step 6
Snacks are your key to boosting your metabolism. Try dried apricots, trail mix, sunflower seeds, apples, organic bars, low-fat cheese and smoothies. Keep checking those labels for those hidden sugars. Smoothies are a terrific in-between-meal snack! Pick up frozen blueberries or raspberries to make smoothies. Throw in whey protein, flaxseed, honey and even light ice cream for a sweet snack!
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Step 7
Now you've got the right tools. Next, the time and amount of times that you eat must change! If you wake up at 7 a.m., eat by 8 a.m. (even if it's a piece of wheat bread with peanut butter, or an apple, just kick-start your metabolism). Have a snack around 10 to 11 a.m., eat lunch at 1 p.m., snack at 4 p.m. and eat dinner at 7 p.m. If you crave a snack at 11 p.m., make SURE it's something on this page!
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Step 8
Exercise is vital to your success. It's really simple. You lose weight by burning more than you intake daily. Walk! You'll feel better about yourself. Add a walk a couple of days a week to your new eating lifestyle, and you will be heading down a great path to weight loss and good health!
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Step 9
CHEAT one FULL day a week! Seriously, stick to your new routine all week. If you're craving something bad, tell yourself, "I'll have it on..." then on Saturday or Sunday (not both) eat whatever you want. Stick with your time schedule on this cheat day, but if you want pancakes, go for it. Just do it all in one day! Eventually, you'll find yourself not even craving bad foods as much. Congrats on getting this far, and good luck on your healthier lifestyle change!
