If you’re anything like me at this time of year, you get excited about the spring and also a little panicky about trying to slip back into a bathing suit for summer. Don’t distress or let the calendar scare you. Summer is a good three months away, and a perfect amount of time to get back in shape if you’ve spent the winter months packing on a little weight for warmth.
For starters, remember that getting in shape takes brainpower, motivation and a pretty sturdy determination to be healthier. If that sounds like a lot, don’t fret. Start small. Building endurance for a healthier you takes time and patience. The three areas you need to focus on are nutrition, fitness and mind. We’ll address all three—but first, nutrition.
What to Eat?
These are simple truths: burn an equal amount of calories as you take in to maintain your weight, or burn more calories than you eat to lose weight. Easy, right? And yet most people find this excruciatingly difficult. That’s why healthy food and great nutrition are so important. The value of healthy eating is not only in the nutrition it gives your body and mind, but healthy foods generally contain fewer calories.
So, what foods are the most nutritious? There are lots. But here are a few quick recommendations that not only help keep you strong and healthy, but also aid in energy, weight loss and endurance so that getting in shape isn’t such a struggle.
- Eat your veggies!They are the healthiest low-calorie, high-volume foods on the planet. Not to mention they’re good for you. Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., CNS, has written The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth, one of my favorite books. If you want to know which is better for you, a tomato or a string bean, this book has it.
- Eat a diet rich in omega-3s. There’s no question anymore as to the health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids. Women who added omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids to their low-calorie diets lost more body-fat and inches off their hips.1 The rewards your body, mind, skin, hair, nails, etc. reap are incalculable. Besides, I couldn’t work where I do without mentioning the awesome power of omega-3s. I am a believer.
- Eat less junk and stay away from bad fats. Plain and simple. Bad food slows you down, good food increases energy. Keep potato chips, sodas, cookies, crackers, etc. out of the house. Don’t bring them home. This way, if you need a candy-bar fix, you’ll have to run to the store. And hopefully, the thought of getting your shoes, coat, hat, gloves and scarf on, warming up the car and driving who knows where to buy a chocolate bar will deter you from leaving the comfort of your home where you can have a blueberry parfait instead. Junk food is poison. It has no nutritional value whatsoever. Try to limit it to three times a week.
- Add fiber to your diet. Fiber gets things moving. It works wonders for your digestive tract. And it’s a basic addition to any healthy diet. You need roughly 20 -30 grams of fiber every day to see benefits. And I strongly suggest “soluble” and “insoluble” fiber such as the kind found in psyllium seed husks, kelp, oats, wheat, barley, rye and fruit pectins, which are all excellent sources of soluble and insoluble fiber.
- Make better choices. You know what they are. If you’re out to lunch, choose something from the salad bar at the local grocery store instead of going to a fast-food drive-thru. If you want a late-night snack make it a bowl of cut-up apples mixed with dates and pistachios instead of a bag of cheese doodles. Have green tea instead of a soda. Better choices mean fewer calories and a healthier you.
Coming up next week: Rethinking Motivation. One of the biggest impediments to getting in shape is loss of motivation and how to change the way we think about food and exercise.
1. “The influence of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and very low calorie diet during a short-term weight reducing regimen on weight loss and serum fatty acid composition in severely obese women.”Physiol Res 2006;55:63-72. http://www.biomed.cas.cz/physiolres/pdf/55/55_63.pdf
