Eating Secrets to Help You Lose Weight

1. Don t hide the fruit and vegetables in the bottom crisper drawers of your refrigerator. You may forget about them when it s time for a snack. Always keep fresh fruit visible and at the ready in a fruit bowl on the kitchen table, on top of your desk or cut up and portioned out in containers in your refrigerator. For fruits, consider apple slices, orange slices and grapes portioned into baggies or small containers for grab and go convenience. Do .....

Always Include Protein

2. Make sure you eat some protein with every meal it s the most satiating nutrient. If you eat oatmeal for breakfast, be sure to add some protein to it to make it more balanced and filling. A tablespoon of natural peanut butter or a scoop of protein powder will do the trick. .....

Be Prepared

3. Planning ahead and being prepared is most important when you re working on eating healthy foods in the correct portions. Deciding your weekly menu and shopping in advance will arm you for success. Prepare your meals and snacks for the week on Sunday, and portion them out in your refrigerator in containers. You can hard boil six or seven eggs and keep them in the refrigerator for breakfasts or snacks. Or cook up a large batch of steel cut long coo .....

Portion Control Is in Your Hands

4. Don t want to measure everything? All it takes is one hand to make sure you are eating the correct portions. When planning or creating any meal, portion out a palm size amount of meat, tofu or other protein; at least two handfuls of vegetables; no more than one handful of fruit; and a thumb size portion of fats. .....

Know Your ANDI Scores

5. Eat foods (fruits and vegetables) with high Aggregate Nutrient Density Index (ANDI) scores. The five most nutrient dense veggies are kale, watercress, collard greens, bok choy and spinach. The five most nutrient dense fruits are strawberries, blackberries, plums, raspberries and blueberries. When you eat foods that are highest in nutrients, you are putting the highest quality fuel into your body. .....

Track Your Eating

6. Logging your meals in a journal or on an app such as MyPlate on your computer or mobile phone is a great way to stay on top of what you re eating. This is also a helpful tool for cutting down on calories consumed if you re trying to lose weight. .....

Eliminate Temptations

7. Go through your refrigerator and pantry and round up all of the indulgent snacks. If you have opened packages or containers, toss them out. It may seem wasteful, and it can feel painful to throw away food that you spent money on, but that doesn t mean you should keep this food in your home and let it literally weigh down your body. Most cities have food pantries and food banks that are willing to accept unopened canned goods and some dry goods. D .....

Eat Until 80 Percent Full

8. The Japanese have a great expression concerning healthy eating habits: Hara hachi bu, which means eat until 80 percent full. Try eating your next meal until you re 80 percent full. Take slower bites, chew carefully and make sure you spend at least 20 minutes eating and enjoying your food slowly. Since it takes between 20 to 30 minutes for the brain to realize you re full, eating this way will help you to consume less. .....

Ask Yourself This Question

9. Tape this message to your refrigerator or kitchen cupboard so you ll see it every time you open the door: Is It Worth It? .....

Avocado Awesomeness

10. Eat half an avocado every day. A recent study found that eating avocados daily is associated with higher levels of HDL (the good cholesterol), a lower body weight and a smaller waist circumference. .....

Daily Challenge Fill Half of Your Plate With Veggies

11. Getting your daily recommended seven servings of fruits and vegetables each day can seem challenging, but if you make sure every snack and meal includes at least one to two servings, you ll be there by the end of the day. Try filling at least half of your plate with vegetables during lunch and dinner. This will help cut calories without leaving you feeling hungry. .....

Spice Things Up

12. Add spices, salsa or chili pepper to your food for a flavor boost that can speed up your metabolism and help you feel satisfied faster. .....

Calorie Cutting Pasta Swaps

13. If you re eating pasta, swap out one cup of your portion of pasta for one cup of vegetables. This will increase the nutrition in your meal and help to fill you up with fewer calories. If you do this for every pasta meal, you could lose a dress or pants size in a year. You can also try cooking up some spaghetti squash and substituting it for your pasta with the same sauce. .....

All Natural Snack Packs

14. Half of an apple sliced and smeared with peanut butter or almond butter makes a healthy, satisfying snack. Also consider trying this snack: 10 to 12 baby carrots dipped into one to two tablespoons of peanut butter or almond butter. .....

Make Dairy Free Banana Ice Cream for Dessert

15. Slice up some brown bananas and put them in a bowl in your freezer covered with plastic wrap. When they are frozen (after about 12 hours), toss them into your blender or food processor and blend until creamy. If the mixture is not getting creamy after a few minutes of mixing, you can add in a tablespoon of almond milk. When you are done, you will have delicious ice cream, and you will not believe it is just made from bananas. If you eat one servi .....

Strawberry Substitute

16. Eat half of a cup of strawberries instead of a half of a cup of strawberry ice cream for dessert. You ll save yourself 118 calories and seven grams of fat. .....

Check the Online Menu

17. When you re planning to eat out at a restaurant, check the menu online ahead of time and make sure there is something healthy for you to choose. When you decide on a sensible plate to order, commit to it and don t let the server convince you to add on additional appetizers or desserts. .....

Add a Twist to Your H2O

18. Add flavor to your water to help keep you drinking it all day long. Squeeze a lemon or lime into your water bottle, or try sliced cucumbers or even berries like some spas do. .....

Hunger Masquerading as Thirst

19. If you are feeling hungry between meals, try having a glass of water. The hunger could be thirst in disguise. .....

Go Nuts

20. Keep a small container of raw almonds in your car, on your desk or in your bag. Eat 10 to 12 for a snack to curb cravings and they ll keep you full until your next meal. .....

Smaller Plates Smaller Waistline

21. Eat lunch and dinner on smaller appetizer plates. Seeing a fuller plate can trick your brain into thinking that you are eating more, making you feel full faster. .....

Abs Are Made in the Kitchen

22. Have you ever heard this phrase? When it comes to seeing ab definition, it s true. Diet is crucial when it comes to the six pack. You can t out train a bad diet. .....

Dont Drink Your Calories

23. If you re trying to lose weight, don t drink your calories. Avoid juices, sugary sodas and alcoholic beverages. Instead, drink water and unsweetened tea (hot or iced). .....

What Do Labels and Fables Have in Common

24. Just because a box, bag or bottle says organic, gluten free, whole grain or natural doesn t mean that its contents are healthy. Read the nutritional label carefully and pay special attention to the ingredients before you buy. .....

Avoid Emotional Eating Get Up and Take a Walk

25. Boredom, anger or stress can all drive people to eat too much or eat less healthy foods. If you re feeling any of these emotions, stop and ask yourself, Am I really hungry, or am I looking for an emotional fix? A short walk outside might help. .....

Bowl Is Better Than Box

26. Never eat straight out of the bag or box: It will practically guarantee mindless overeating. Instead, measure out a serving size of whatever you re snacking on almonds, peanut butter, popcorn or other snacks and put it into a bowl. .....

Stick to the Perimeter

27. When you re grocery shopping, remember that the outer edges of the store contain 90 percent of the healthy whole foods (i.e., fresh fruits and vegetables, healthy meats and proteins and protein packed eggs and dairy). .....

Avoid Alcohol

28. Alcoholic beverages contain a lot of calories, and getting a little buzzed might weaken your resolve to eat healthy. If you are trying to lose weight, eliminate alcohol from your diet or limit your intake to two drinks per week. If you do decide to keep alcohol in your diet, be sure to drink a glass of water between each alcoholic drink. This will slow down your pace of drinking and keep you hydrated. .....

Schedule workouts

29. Penciling in workouts into your daily planner, the same way you do dinner with friends or that important business meeting, will help hold you accountable. It ll also force you to choose a specific time to get your sweat on, making it more likely you ll stick to it. .....

Dont let traveling derail your efforts

30. Being away from your normal routine doesn t mean your healthy efforts need fall to the wayside. Jog a few miles on the hotel gym s treadmill, scope out a local barre studio and pop in for a class, take a walking tour of the city, rent a bike and explore, or even do a quick workout exercises in your hotel room.Try these resistance band exercises; they make for a quick workout, and a band takes up little space in your bag, making it perfect when y .....

Crank up the music

31. It s been scientifically proven that listening to upbeat music during exercise helps you work harder and enjoy both the workout and the music more. Add your favorite fast paced jams to a playlist and get moving. .....

Drink plenty of water

32. Often we think we re hungry when our bodies are actually just begging for water. It s important to drink enough water throughout the day also keeps fat toxins moving out of the body and keeps your metabolism running optimally. And it s calorie free, too! .....

Eat grapefruit

33. New research is revealing that consuming grapefruit benefits weight loss in a a major way. The key may be an enzyme called AMP activated protein kinase (AMPK) that is found in Grapefruit. AMPK s helps your body utilize sugar which results in boosting your metabolism resulting in. Nootkatone a component found in grapefruit has been shown to significantly increase fat burning (AMPK) activity. Consider grapefruit as vitamin C rich snack, add grapef .....

Drink Green Tea

34. Drinking herbal teas such as matcha green tea, white tea, black tea and rooibos tea can amp up your metabolism. According to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition green tea is more effective than other teas like oolong at promoting weight loss because of it s high levels of catechins. So if you want to lose weight fast I recommend drinking 1 3 cups of green tea daily. .....

Get your fill of fiber

35. Foods high in fiber will help you feel fuller longer and help reduce sugar cravings. Also, fiber has been proven to balance blood sugar, lower cholesterol, and more, but chances are you re not consuming enough fiber. The average person only gets 15 20g of fiber of day when they should be getting 30 40 grams of fiber daily. Not sure if your favorite foods stack up? Check out my top 10 high fiber foods. .....

Go crazy for coconuts

36. The coconut is one of the best weight loss foods in the world today if consumed as part of a low carb diet. Coconut contains MCFA s that your body can easily burn as fuel for energy. Switch out the other oils in your home for coconut oil, add coconut milk into your morning smoothie, use coconut flakes to crust chicken tenders and drink coconut water to stay hydrated during your next workout. .....