Nutrition For Health

Nutrition for health is essential for keeping your body in top shape and full of vitality. Eating the right foods alone won't get you into shape, but healthy nutrition will keep you there once you've shed the unwanted pounds and inches. Thus, if you have a weight problem already, if you're fat or obese, then the so-called "healthy" foods being promoted in the supermarkets and even in many health food stores, won't help you to lose weight in the first place.

First you've got to lose the flab. A sensible weight-loss diet is part of it, and taking regular exercise is the other.

Once you're done shedding your excess fat, you then have to keep your weight as it is. It’s called being on a maintenance diet or food plan. You cannot start gorging yourself with food again or you'll just get fat once more. You will need to change your eating habits permanently and change to an ongoing maintenance food plan... One that keeps you healthy, happy and functioning at the same weight all the time.

Here is where a good nutritionist or dietitian can really help you. However, if you really cannot afford to consult a health professional, then at least borrow a good library book on the subject and work out a healthy food plan for the next six months. Weigh and measure your body now -waist, chest, buttocks and thighs - and your body weight. If you can calculate your BMI (or Body Mass Index) then do so as well. Then weigh and record your weight at the beginning of every new month.

There will always be a slight variance in your weight from day to day, so don't sweat the small stuff. Only weigh yourself once a month, and be sure to make a note of it in your calendar or journal. That way you have a steady, useful record of your progress over time.

Be sure to measure your body again and weigh yourself at the end of the six month trial period. If you haven’t kept your weight steady, give or take three or four pounds (2 kilos) then get some help from somebody else. Don’t try to do it alone. Most of us do better when we’re in it with a close friend or a support group of some kind. Often your family or closest friends will not be much help to you -- especially if they have their own weight problems!

What makes a weight maintenance diet?