The general perception is that in order to lose weight, one must simply avoid all the “good” food. This is especially true when the food we choose to eat is packaged and brought in from far away places like China or India. Many of the food items we consider to be “good” are actually loaded with loads of hidden calories and little nutritional value at all.
Will this make me fat?
When we choose our food we ask it questions like, Do I want to make my fat healthier or do I want to use my fat? Do I want to add more sugar or are there more effective ways of lowering my cholesterol? Do I want my foodENT efficacious (that means yes)? Do I want my food given a chance to brown (that means healthy) or will it be trashing my body with preservatives and harmful chemicals? Do I want my food made with as many minerals and nutrients as possible? Do I want to add protein or low fat protein? Do I want lots of antioxidants? Do I want lots of vitamins? Do I want to add fiber and relax more and forget that the diet is taking up my time? Do I want to eat my calories? Do I want the calories of pasta, bread, soda, chocolate bar, hamburger or fries? Or do I want the calories of milk or cheese? Do I want the calories of cookies, crackers, jelly or syrups? Do I want the calories of tv dinners, whole meal pasta, vegetables, fruit? Are all of your favorite foods completely eliminated from your diet or are some of them coming back in some form? Are some of your favorite foods so bad that they must be eliminated completely or will you just not like the flavor of them anymore? Are others eliminating them because they are so much better and no one else is interested in eating them? Are they making healthy diet choices the way you want them to be? Are they giving you healthier options so that you can feel pleasantly reassured that you are making a healthy diet choice? Are they exciting you to eat more of the healthier choices so that you can spend your calories on something you really want? Are they toxin free? Are they really good and really tasty and interesting? Or are they bland and just tasteless? Do you really need them?
When your diet is balanced … you will automatically create a healthier balance
When your diet is balanced and you make healthy diet choices for your food, you will automatically create a healthier body. This is true whether you are talking about body fat levels, calorie percentages or various food classes. With a healthy diet, you reduce your risk of heart disease naturally and easily. You will enjoy improved skin, hair, nails, your mood will improve and you will sleep better at night. When you maintain your ideal weight, you greatly reduce your body fat. It becomes easier to reduce your body fat. This is important because when you have a high percentage of body fat, it is much more difficult to combat weight loss challenges. When you are already burning calories at the rate of 2 per hour, it is easy to lose weight and still maintain your ideal weight and shape. When you are burning fewer calories than you need to maintain your weight, you will find it more difficult to reduce your body fat. When your body fat is lower than the ideal, you will be ready to achieve your goals of hypo-allergenic living and one of the best ways to maintain low body fat is very gentle exercise. One of the most Gentle Exercise Options available is walking.
Your walking goal will greatly depend on the amount of time you have to devote to it. It is recommended that a good 10 miles be adopted as a weekly walk. Or you could walk an equivalent distance to match your age, assuming you are 21 years or older. Or carry out short ten-minute walks around the block or in the park. Or ten-minute walks yield better results.
The mile walk is the easiest to organize a walking schedule. You can increase the time spent on walking or include other forms of gentle exercise as well. Adding a few baby steps will also add to the benefits that walking offers. The gentle approach to exercise will not only help you reduce your weight, it will improve the general health of your body. It helps you maintain your fitness level and one benefit that walking has is it releases endorphins. Endorphins are referred to as our body’s “happy drug.” The reason for the health benefits has to do with the connective tissue health of our body. Regular walking can enhance proper flexibility, reduce stress and improve circulation.
You may walk outside on your favorite walking path. Or you can take your dog. If you do not normally take walks, it is silly to try to make one on your own. You can hire a professional for guidance or teach yourself the basics by visiting your neighborhood walking clinic.