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Finding time for 30 minutes of moderate, regular exercise, to stay healthy doesn’t seem too much to expect most days. Or does it? How can we squeeze another moment into our lives filled with demanding bosses, kid’s soccer practice and those forever reoccurring mealtimes? Making time for exercise is tougher that it sounds and is the most common cause of the sedentary and unhealthy lifestyle in many western nations.

We can’t all afford a personal trainer or to employ staff to organize our schedules around an exercise routine but there are many busy individuals who prioritize regular exercise and stay committed to this, regardless of life’s ups or downs, its peak times or quieter moments. This is how three people include and benefit from the exercise in their lives.

Jane a physiotherapist has a husband, three kids and a physiotherapy practice of her own. She has plenty to keep her busy so exercise must be something she enjoys for it to ‘get a guernsey’ in her schedule. She tried a gym membership but was unmotivated by the indoor setting and turned to outside activities instead. Exercise there means that her children can join her on bike rides and fun runs.

With no extended family living nearby and without a nanny Jane needs to schedule the delivery and collection of her kids to and from school, ballet, soccer and swimming. She and her husband share child care so that they both get a chance to exercise, even if its not always together. Time for regular exercise is prioritized in the same way as any of the other occasions that are part of their week. Both parents enjoys modeling a healthy lifestyle to their kids and Jane is fitter than she has ever been.

Rob is a flight attendant. On a succession of long distance plane flights he gained weight over two years. He wanted to regain his previously healthy body. Regular exercise seemed the way to do this but with irregular living arrangements in different parts of the world, Rob couldn’t join the soccer, tennis or basketball team.

He chose instead, individualized exercise and took up running and swimming. He used hotel gyms or walked around local parks. He doubled his aerobic capacity over time by establishing low running expectations and then exceeding these. He has reached his goal weight and if he hasn’t run for a while these days, he follows the C25K program ‘Couch to Five Kilometers with an alternating schedule of running and walking to regain his fitness.

Marco owns a popular restaurant. As a chef he contends with the double dilemma of a demanding work schedule and being surrounded by tempting food each day. Marco schedules lifting weights and running at the gym near his home three mornings a week en route to work. This is a more successful arrangement than the gym near his work as he could never get away from the restaurant to make gym sessions. Sometimes he books a personal trainer to challenge and motivate him. Marco doesn’t like exercising alone but he values time on the treadmill away from others and his cell phone.

None of these exercisers are exercise ‘nuts’ but they have each learned to accommodate it as an important part of their lives. Is then, the answer to the challenge of regular exercise and better health the capacity to settle for less than perfect lives?

Jane and her husband balance what was previously joint time with their family. Rob works out alone away from home when he’d prefer to play sport with friends and Marco gets up earlier than he’d like three times a week. Despite this, each person interviewed works, takes care of their families and stays healthy.

If they can settle for life a little less perfect life to accommodate exercise and a healthier future, can you?

Warm regards

Rowena French

For theteam@MightyDigitalDownloads.com

Transforming Lives, One Person at a Time

Contact: theteam@mightydigitaldownloads.com

Rowena French counts regular exercise as one her greatest achievements after many past failures. She power walks her neighborhood daily listening to downloaded podcats on her iPod! Want to learn more about the benefits of exercise for weight loss and healthy living? Read more about regular exercise and healthy eating on my website www.findweightlosstips.com

If you’ve ever wondered how to prepare meals that will help you lose weight and include some of the unhealthy foods that you crave, we can help. Weight loss and an occasional treat do belong in portion control eating and the healthy meals at the heart of your eating plan are easy to prepare, nutritious and very satisfying.

Fresh foods are always the healthiest to include in your menu. By providing a variety of different flavors and textures they make eating interesting. Herbs like parsley, some rosemary, oregano or basil add special tastes to a wide range of meals. They can be grown in the smallest apartments and easily included in menus. Investing the time to grow or buy ingredients like these will help you vary your meals and is well worth the effort.

Some ideas below are based upon foods from each of the main food groups. No foods types are omitted. Even those that don’t fit the ‘healthy food’ category should feature from time to time. You enjoy these foods and you should eat them occasionally in small portions. In this way portion control eating makes losing weight possible without feeling as if you are ‘going on another diet’.

To lose weight on a regular basis you need to eat foods we call ‘slimming sensations’. These foods are low in processed sugar and fat and provide your body with the necessary nutrients. As you continue to lose weight, feel confident enough to include an occasional (small) slice of your favorite cake or share dessert with a friend. Your weight loss will continue even with a small portion of something you love.

The way to include all foods in your menu as you lose weight is to make sure that you limit the amount you eat of these and the frequency of this. A small potion eaten infrequently is the answer! This is the key to making portion control eating an enjoyable eating experience instead of a boring diet. Make sure that most food you eat is healthy and filled with the necessary vitamins, minerals and fiber your body needs and low in sugar, salt and fat. Doing this will allow you the capacity to enjoy a small treat containing more salt, fat or processed sugar than you generally allow from time to time.

Portion control is not about ongoing deprivation that makes you crave the wrong foods more than you should. A small serve of something you really enjoy, as a special treat will not counter balance the value of all the vegetables, lean meat, fruits and cereals that you include in your menu. You’ll still come out ahead and feel better for it, more determined to work towards your weight loss goals.

The following suggestions are healthy food choices for a meal comprising food from each of the main food groups. A meal plan like this can be prepared quickly and easily at home or ordered when you dine out. You can even prepare or order a healthy meal like this and add a special treat without compromising your intake of important nutrients.

Appetizers

Fresh, steamed seafood such as shrimp cocktail

Eggs

Never fried, poached or boiled

Salads

Salads with low-cal dressing, lemon juice, vinegar, or vinaigrette

Breads

Crackers or whole grain rolls

Potatoes and Substitutes

Noodles – preferably whole wheat noodles

Fats

Olive oil, low-calorie salad dressing

Vegetables

Boiled, steamed or raw

Fish, Poultry, Meat

Broiled, grilled, roasted, baked, never fried poultry, fish, or seafood

Desserts

One scoop or ½ cup of ice cream or sorbet

Flavored coffee

Beverages

Seltzer water, low-fat milk, sugar free drinks

Coffee, tea

Planning a portion control meal like this revolves around a balanced proportion of foods from each food group. Your meal plan should include 50% vegetables and fruit, 25% grains and 25% proteins. To make healthy eating a part of your life forever while you still lose weight or maintain your weight loss, always include those less-than-healthy-foods that you really love, in small portions now and then.

Warm Regards

Rowena French

For The Team @MightyDigitalDownloads.com

Rowena French uses responsible portion control to successfully manage her own weight and her family’s health. Tired of dieting without success? Sign up to my free magazine to learn more about how to use portion control for healthy, permanent weight loss. If you haven’t already subscribed to my free product sample, watch my preview video for more information about the whole portion control package.

The answer is ‘Yes’ because eating at home or eating out, the guidelines are the same. You can continue to follow a portion control eating plan when you dine out because the choices you make about what you eat and how much you consume should remain the same. A balanced healthy meal is available to you when you dine out, provided you ask for it!

The obvious up side about eating in restaurants is that there is a wide selection of dishes available to you and some one else prepares your meal and even clears away dirty dishes! There are however some downsides for those managing their food portions. Restaurants often serve meals that are way too large. All-you-can-eat buffets are disastrous if you are unable to control and manage the portions you eat. Avoid this type of restaurant, at least in the beginning of your journey towards controlled eating.

Even if dining out provides some challenges to those just beginning to enjoy the benefits of portion control eating, restaurants do expect special requests from patrons with special dietary needs. You have these, so make sure you ask that they be accommodated. Ask your server to hold the sauce, substitute a salad for fries, or hold the bread. Some restaurants will allow you to order from the lunch or children’s menu, so don’t hesitate to ask.

When it comes to dessert, you have options that will see you keeping the integrity of your healthy eating without appearing that you are going without. Fresh fruit is a healthy alternative to a very rich caloric dessert so order this or just ask for a coffee.. If you crave a sweeter dessert make sure you eat only a small amount or share it with you partner or a friend.

As you dine out, consider these tips so that you can continue to lose weight:

• Only eat a main course
• Don’t fill your self with bread before the meal begins, one slice only
• Drink water before your meal and while you eat
• Restrict your alcohol, one glass can go a long way
• Make sure that you food is cooked healthily; baked, broiled, steamed or baked
• Skip fried foods, a couple of French fries only if you weaken
• Ask that sauces, sour cream or butter be served ‘on the side’ and use only a little
• Select food portion just as you do at home
• Request that no food is sautéed for you
• Fresh fruit for dessert
• Avoid any large meal regardless of the ‘value’
• Ask for the kid’s menu for adequate sized portions

Regardless of where you eat, take time to savor the flavors, textures, and aroma of your food. Enjoy eating this and allow sufficient time for your stomach to learn (from your brain) that you have eaten enough. Resist eating until you have over eaten because the damage will already have been done. As you begin to feel full, reduce your eating and then stop and push your plate to one side. This is an important step in the process of potion controlled eating and can be taken either privately at home or publicly in a restaurant.

Warm Regards

Rowena French

For The Team @MightyDigitalDownloads.com

Rowena French uses responsible portion control to successfully manage her own weight and her family’s health. Tired of dieting without success? Sign up to my free magazine to learn more about how to use portion control for healthy, permanent weight loss. If you haven’t already subscribed to my free product sample, watch my preview video for more information about the whole portion control package.

Thankfully portion control eating does not include depriving yourself of everything you enjoy eating! Overall you do need to consider what type of food you eat and how much of this is right for you in this eating plan. Regularly depriving yourself of foods you really enjoy will not help you to healthily reduce and manage your weight. In fact it is likely to undermine your efforts in the long run. So, this is how portion control can help you successfully lose weight and still eat chocolate!

Chocolate bars have expanded in size more than 10 times since they first became available. This reflects our increasing taste for chocolate and our increasing consumption of it. The implication of this for consumers of chocolate today is the need to decide how much of a chocolate bar is good to eat, instead of assuming that the entire bar is up for grabs! You can eat chocolate but in moderation. It’s not hard to determine a moderate serve of chocolate, so you can get a taste of something so rich and decadent!

Foods that fit into the same category and are rich in sugar include donuts, ice cream, cookies, desserts, creamy toppings. An occasional indulgence in these special treats is OK as long as it only happens occasionally and involves small sizes. A small piece of banana cake now and then or a small cone of honeycomb ice cream will not see your weight balloon or your health diminish. You can avoid by including ‘unhealthy’ food in a healthy way – in small portions and only sometimes.

You probably won’t lose weight after small treats like these but you probably wont gain any either. By restraining from overindulgence, and controlling the size of your food portions you will be able to maintain a healthy weight and eat most things you enjoy.

Eating these foods too frequently and in large servings is what leads to weight gain and health problems but eating them in moderation is acceptable. If you have a craving for a small muffin, then have one!

The secret is the number of muffins you eat. One is fine more than one slowly and insidiously becomes a problem. Don’t eat cookies or donuts from a package until there are none left. Avoid eating packaged foods like cookies or muffins if you are really hungry as you will always eat more than one.

One muffin won’t make you gain weight, but many muffins will do just that and you are certain to feel worse for it! An additional warning about eating packaged cookies and treats is that they generally contain the unhealthy transfats and saturated fats in the oils used to cook them. You need to steer very clear of these.

Sometimes chocolate may be the only food that will satisfy your ‘sweet craving’ but other treats can do the same thing. Consider sometimes fresh fruit or low-fat yogurt as an alternative as these are sweet without a high concentration of complex sugars. But when chocolate is the only food you really desire, then eat it, in small portions only. In this way, portion control eating accommodates an occasional treat as you keep focused on your healthy weight loss and weight management goals over the long term!

Warm regards

Rowena French

For the Team @MightyDigitalDownloads.com

Rowena French uses responsible portion control to successfully manage her own weight and her family’s health. Tired of dieting without success? Sign up to my free magazine to learn more about how to use portion control for healthy, permanent weight loss. If you haven’t already subscribed to my free product sample, watch my preview video for more information about the whole portion control package.

Reading food labels can overwhelm us, especially when we rely on them to help us make the right decisions about food that will help our weight loss program. We can however learn to interpret food labels as part of our portion control eating plan. If you know what information to look for on pre-packaged food you can chose wisely and avoid being mislead.

Make sure that you understand the information provided about the content and number of each serving in your package. Don’t be fooled by details of fat in one serve if you plan to eat more than one at each sitting. For example, if there are three servings in one pack and each contain 7gm of fat, be sure to realize that 2 servings will contain 14 gm fat and if you eat the whole package, you will consume a staggering 21gm all at once. When you are really clear about how much fat each serving contains you can decide how much you will eat and how you will remove and store any remaining servings. Getting a clear idea of the content of each serving requires a careful look followed by sensible action. This is how portion control eating works best!

Label-reading doesn’t have to become an obsession but doing this the right way will assist you to make good use valuable information pre-packaged foods. The guidelines below will help you to read these food labels. By doing this, you’ll make more informed decisions about the best foods for you and the portion size you should eat.

There are some things like salt and sugar that you will want to diminish in your diet. Others like fiber will need to be increased. The checklist below provides some simple guidelines for label reading.

Always count the servings per container and check the content of each of these

Note the calories

% daily values are 5% or less = low / 20% or more = high

Search for low percentages of saturated and transfats

Limit salt (often referred to as sodium)

Eat plenty of fiber and protein

Reduce your sugar intake

Food labels should indicate the amount of saturated fats and transfats. Look for those foods that contain a low percentage of both of these. Keep a close eye out for foods where the salt (sodium) content or the sugar (sometimes referred to as glucose) content is low. Food labels on foods containing healthy fats will show ’polyunsaturated fats’ or ‘monounsaturated fats’. Whatever the fats, minimize your total fats to between 20%-35% of your daily calories.

Plan your portion control diet with the help of food labels. Details of the fat, sugar, protein, fiber and salt in this food is crucial for your decisions about what to eat and how much. Use this information to allow yourself the pleasure of eating some of every type of food as you lose weight. Don’t eliminate whole sections of the food pyramid in a dramatic and unbalanced eating regime.

This balanced eating program is a breath of fresh air after so many fad diets that can’t provide your body the nutrition it needs as you lose weight. Add this advice on interpreting labels to your portion control checklist.

Warm Regards

Rowena French

For The Team @MightyDigitalDownloads.com

Rowena French uses responsible portion control to successfully manage her own weight and her family’s health. Tired of dieting without success? Sign up to my free magazine to learn more about how to use portion control for healthy, permanent weight loss. If you haven’t already subscribed to my free product sample, watch my preview video for more information about the whole portion control package.

1. Consider whether or not you really are hungry or perhaps something else instead of eating in response to your next set of hunger pangs? You may be anxious or depressed or stressed or even bored. Eating food may not be the best response for you. Taking a walk, reading a good book, calling a special friend, or some other activity satisfies your needs just as well, or better, than food!

If you take long enough to consider your hunger signals, you will find that your common sense will inform you whether or not you’re really hungry. Consider an alternative to the kitchen pantry or the nearest drive-through when stress or loneliness attack for greater satisfaction mainly because you are listening to your common sense and making better choices.

2. If hunger not other feelings are causing your hunger signals, when you do drive up to a fast-food restaurant, think about the size or portion of the food you’ll consume not just what type of food you’ll eat. This is the basis of portion control eating. Consider a child sized meal or order a salad and fruit with your burger instead of high-fat fries. A small hamburger and fries go a long way toward satisfying hunger.

Over eating is generally brought about by eating those extra large, super-size, portions on offer when your body doesn’t need them. Regular eating of portions that are too large causes you to feel tired and unhappy. It also causes blood sugar levels to rise quickly and fall sharply leaving you tired and zapping your energy shortly after you eat. Your common sense tells you to think about the size of your meal! Listen to yourself and you’ll make better choices! Common sense and an understanding of how much you need to eat through portion control is a vital tool for helping you manage your weight and your life.

It’s akin to self-control and the two are partners in how healthy or how poorly you eat. When you pair common sense and self-control, you have the power to overcome unhealthy eating habits and enjoy the foods you eat too. It’s all about thinking about what you should eat, how much you should eat, and realizing and stopping when you are full, or nearly full. And remember that it takes about 20 minutes after you eat to realize exactly how full you are.

On a visit to a McDonald’s restaurant in Thailand, Professor Steven Hawks from Brigham Young University had a revelation about the portion size of our food. ‘The portion size was about a third to what you get in the United States," he said. "My first reaction was 'What a rip off,' but then I started to see, 'Well, that was enough to be satisfied.'

To lose weight and control this weight loss over the long term, you do not need to restrict your food so much that there is little or no enjoyment in eating. Don’t feel guilty about what you eat, just manage how much you eat through portion control eating. This will see you stay within your nutritional plan to lose weight or maintain it. The occasional cake, cookie or cheeseburger is not what made you overweight to begin with. It’s the culmination of years of over-eating and indulging that created the problem. Those years of ignoring your common sense finally caught up with you in a big way.

The good news is that you can control what and how much your eat. Make a point of discovering the nutritional value of foods, understanding the importance of successful portion control, exercising self-control, and stepping into tomorrow with a healthy, positive attitude will make all of the difference!

Warm Regards

Rowena French

For The Team @MightyDigitalDownloads.com

Rowena French uses responsible portion control to successfully manage her own weight and her family’s health. Tired of dieting without success? Sign up to my free magazine to learn more about how to use portion control for healthy, permanent weight loss. If you haven’t already subscribed to my free product sample, watch my preview video for more information about the whole portion control package.

Have you ever wondered why hamburgers, French fries, fried chicken, pizza, and cheesecake are these so much worse for us now than they have been in past years? After all they have been around for a long time. Why do they appear to do more damage and why is the concept of food portion control becoming so important to us?

The answer to this question is related to the general health of our nation. The inclusion of these foods in our diet certainly is impacting on our lives. Obesity in the United States has just become a national epidemic in the past 20 years. Children are not exempt from this catastrophic obesity epidemic in our country. Childhood obesity continues to escalate in all socio-economic populations as children’s understanding of food portion sizes has been determined and controlled by large international food organizations. The marketing departments of these organizations increase the portion sizes of comparatively inexpensive food to increase their sales.

According to registered dietician, Dr Lisa Young, also an MSNBC reporting contributor, ‘When McDonald’s first opened, a soda was 7 ounces. Today, the child size is 12 ounces, a small is 16 ounces, and the large 32 ounces.’

So it’s not the inclusion of these foods in our diet today that is the real problem. Its how much of these foods we consume that’s at the heart of our health crisis. When you compare food portions 20 years ago with today’s extra generous super sized servings it helps to give some idea of the cause of the obesity epidemic in our country. Take a look at the change in caloric intake in foods today compared to 20 years ago below. You’ll be amazed at how different they are and understand how we need something as helpful as portion control to keep a today.

Food Portions Today Compared to 20 Years Ago

Information Source: The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)

So what can we make from these figures? The outcome is clear. The result is obvious. We are consistently and unwittingly consuming more food than we need. As we do this, we regularly stretch the size of our stomachs and condition our bodies to feel hungry when we should not feel this way. The more we eat like this the greater the likelihood that we will gain weight and the more calories we need to use to burn off excess and unwanted fat. Our desire for oversized food portions of have overpowered our good intentions to exercise more or get fitter.

How can we avoid becoming a victim of mega sized eating?

• Don’t be seduced by extra large size meals for only 39cents more! Decide how much food you need and only eat that much
• Find out what size portions of different foods is right for you so you can eat the correct amount of everything you enjoy without gaining weight
• Learn how portion control eating habits will help you do this as a way of life, and avoid overnight fad diets that generally don’t last much longer than that.

Reclaim Your Health. Start today.

You Can Do It!

Warm Regards

Rowena French

For The Team @MightyDigitalDownloads.com

Rowena French uses responsible portion control to successfully manage her own weight and her family’s health. Tired of dieting without success? Sign up to my free magazine to learn more about how to use portion control for healthy, permanent weight loss. If you haven’t already subscribed to my free product sample, watch my preview video for more information about the whole portion control package.

The short answer to this important question is ‘Yes’. The more important response is an explanation of ‘How’ and ‘Why’. Knowing about your body’s needs is important when planning a portion control menu that will help you achieve and maintain a healthy weight. There are four (4) main food groups that supply essential vitamins, minerals, and nutrients for your body:

1. Grain and Wheat

2. Dairy and Cheese

3. Vegetables and Fruit

4. Meat, Fish, and Alternatives

One common characteristic of most diets is that they limit or eliminate entire food groups from their menus because they are deemed unhealthy and unpopular at the time. Many diets restrict food groups and minimize the inclusion of nutrients, such as fats and protein, in the dietary plan. This is not the way portion control eating works. Your body requires a variety of essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals found in carbohydrates, proteins, fats, sugars, and water. The secret is knowing where to find these nutrients and how much of each your body needs. Armed with this information you will be well equipped to make sensible decisions about what and how much food you eat.

The inclusion of carbohydrates in any weight loss menu is important because foods containing carbohydrates have essential nutrients for the body and provide a much needed energy supply to the body. There are good and bad carbs. Highly processed carbohydrates typically raise blood sugar levels and eventually lead to that ‘crashing’ feeling you experience once they are processed through the body. Complex carbohydrates are good carbs. They pack the most nutritional value and promote appetite suppression. Brown rice and whole wheat flour are examples of good carbs. These foods are not only valuable sources of energy but an effective means of keeping your rumbling ‘hungry tummy’ quiet much longer.

To remain healthy, your body needs a regular intake of foods containing protein. We can’t afford to do without it because protein is another essential nutrient for the body and is used to create muscle mass, to support healthy cell creation and function, and to strengthen the immune system. Proteins are found primarily in meats, poultry, dairy products, and fish, beans and legumes. Protein is found predominantly in meat (lean is the best by far) and fish. A portion of these foods representing a third of your meal in your portion control meal provides your body with a healthy intake of protein.

Foods containing fats have been deemed unpopular across recent years. They have been reduced or completely excluded from many diet plans. Because fats are important to your diet however they are included in portion control menus, but they should be restricted to between 20 to 35% of your daily intake – targeting less than 30%. There are healthy fats and not-so-healthy fats so it’s important to know the difference. The best source of fats are from meats, oils, nuts, and dairy products. The most important information you need to know when including fats in your eating plan is the foods that contain healthy fats.

Foods containing a group of processed fats known as Transfats need to be avoided or eaten in small portions and only occasionally. They are basically healthy fats that have been hydrogenated to increase their shelf life and flavor. They are found in high percentages of cakes, cookies, and snack foods. Transfats are known to raise LDL (unhealthy cholesterol), levels in the body. High LDL levels can lead to serious heart disease.

Transfats do not contribute to weight loss or the development of a healthy body and their inclusion in your portion control eating plan should be considered carefully. The key is to significantly reduce the amount of saturated fats in your diet and to manage these is to watch the amount of fat you consume from meat and dairy. Make use of low-fat or fat-free choices. Remember it’s often at the store that you make the most important decisions about portion control meals.

Many foods contain fats that are good for your body and are referred to as healthy fats. These fats add to the condition of your skin and hair and need to appear on your menu regularly. Olive oil is a sensible and healthy choice for fats since it contains monounsaturated fat, which reduces the LDL levels in your body and, in turn, lowers your risk of heart disease. It is a healthier choice for fats, especially the lighter extra-virgin olive oil choices and recommended in portion control eating plans. In addition to olive oil, you should also consider canola, peanut, sunflower, and soybean oils. Many of these oils are now used in products such as mayonnaise to make them healthier for you

Portion control eating plans include foods from each of the four major food groups. These choices reflect an understanding of the right kind of foods within some of these categories. You can achieve and keep a healthy body weight through portion control, losing excess weight and most importantly keep it off. By including smaller portions of foods that are more calorific on your menu, you will discover how to make eating an enjoyable way of life rather than another grueling diet. By eating sensible portions of the right foods you will avoid feeling hungry and stay healthy by giving your body everything it needs.

Connie Diekman, Director of Nutrition at Washington University, St Louis has to more to say about how to get healthy and stay healthy using portion control here.

Warm Regards

Rowena French

For The Team @MightyDigitalDownloads.com

Rowena French uses responsible portion control to successfully manage her own weight and her family’s health. Tired of dieting without success? Sign up to my free magazine to learn more about how to use portion control for healthy, permanent weight loss. If you haven’t already subscribed to my free product sample, watch my preview video for more information about the whole portion control package.

Whenever you start a new diet you generally discover that at some stage you will need to abstain from at least one food group- which ever one is deemed to be the ‘bad guy’ at the time. The greatest ‘weight gain’ culprits over recent years have been carbohydrates and fats. Portion control eating does not subscribe to abstinence from carbs, fats nor any foods as a means of long term weight loss. Instead it promotes eating the right sized portions of these and all foods.

The benefit of eating carbohydrates as part a weight loss program can be confusing as there are some carbs that should be eaten and others that should not. Highly processed carbohydrates typically raise blood sugar levels and eventually lead to you feeling ‘down’ once they are processed through the body. Complex carbohydrates pack the most nutritional value and promote appetite suppression. Brown rice and whole wheat flour are examples of good carbs and an important component in any portion control menu they will stave off your hunger longer.

The inclusion of fats in your portion control menu is important but the total amount of fat you eat should be monitored and generally less than 30% of your daily food consumption. As is the case with carbs there are healthy fats and not-so-healthy fats so it’s important to know the difference. Fat can be obtained from meats, dairy, nuts, and oils and knowing where to find the healthiest fats is important.

You can eat sugar or artificial sweeteners and still lose weight, it’s just a matter of how much. Using natural sugars may be more satisfying but either source should be used in moderation. Unlike most fad diets portion control eating is not restrictive – it’s a way of life, so there is a place for the inclusion of limited amounts of either natural or artificial sweeteners.

The jury is still out about the value or not of sweeteners in weight loss programs. However, they can be a useful strategy for reducing the amount of sugar in your diet, which does lead to better weight control. The important thing to understand is that the use of real sugar in your diet is not necessarily a bad thing when you practice portion control – unless you are diabetic or have some other illness that prohibits the consumption of sugar.

Take care when you select artificially sweetened drinks as these often contain empty calories and can promote hunger rather than suppress it. There is some value in a limited portion of something sweet rather than continually depriving yourself of a delicious sweet treat or cup of carbonated soda. This generally leads to overeating later. The solution is found in an underlying principle of portion control! A small taste of something calorific is MUCH healthier than prolonged abstinence and then binging.

You can lose weight without abstaining from the foods you really enjoy. Smaller portions of food from every food group Combined with physical activity, is a winning combination! If you eat 100 more food calories a day than you burn, you’ll gain about 1 pound in a month. That’s about 10 pounds in a year. If you reduce the same number of calories seamlessly by managing the size of your food portions through portion control and gradually increase your physical activity you WILL lose those extra pounds and keep them off. All without the agony of abstinence from entire food groups.

Take a look at what Connie Diekman, Director of Nutrition at Washington University, St Louis has to say about how to get healthy and stay healthy using portion control.

Warm Regards

Rowena French

For The Team @MightyDigitalDownloads.com

Rowena French uses responsible portion control to successfully manage her own weight and her family’s health. Tired of dieting without success? Sign up to my free magazine to learn more about how to use portion control for healthy, permanent weight loss. If you haven’t already subscribed to my free product sample, watch my preview video for more information about the whole portion control package.

You have probably heard that if you use a smaller number of calories than your body needs for fuel through a calories loss eating program and if you exercise then you will lose weight. It is true, and this is the only way that you will ever successfully enjoy a healthy weight loss and keep this weight off.

Let us say you normally eat about 2,000 calories per day, which is the recommended amount of calories for an average weight adult. If you create a calories loss and cut your daily calories back to 1,500 then your body needs to get that additional 500 calories of energy from somewhere. It will get that additional energy by burning energy from the fat stored in your body.

That will make you lose weight. There are roughly 3,500 calories in a pound of fat so in order to lose five pounds you will need to burn an additional 17,500 calories. That is why it is impossible for those fad diets and trendy diet pills to work like they say they do and why a gradual calories loss through eating a healthy diet is the only way to go.

No pill can ever cause your body to burn that many additional calories. Only restricting your calories in a calories loss menu and forcing your body to burn fat for energy can cause real weight loss. Dieting is about more than just calories though and you need to maintain a sense of balance in your eating program to lose weight and remain healthy.

If you only eat a salad and drink diet sodas for calories, you still won’t lose weight because you are not giving your body what it needs to function. Your diet should not be something that you use to punish yourself or to punish your body. Your body needs food for fuel.

There is no getting around that fact, so you need to change what you give your body for fuel and that is where the common sense part comes in. It is common sense to know that your body needs whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats. Most of us would agree that some of these foods are OK but how do we include them in our diet on a regular basis instead of those high calorie foods we enjoy the most?

It is not always easy to only give your body what it needs when you are craving a juicy, cheesy, greasy burger, but if you want to be healthy, you will choose to skip that burger and replace it with a turkey and salad wholemeal roll. Changes like this are not really about going ‘on’ a diet in the traditional sense. They are about a lifestyle change and creating a calories and this is just a tool to help lose unwanted weight and keep it off.  

Choose to make your health a priority, watching your calorie intake as a guide and instead of punishing your body for being overweight, celebrate your body and feed it so that your body gets strong and healthy. A diet that is rich in whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, hormone free lean meat, and other ingredients combined with regular exercise is the best way, and the only way, to get truly fit and to get your body to the ideal weight.

When you first start a new healthier eating program it can feel awkward, but after you stick with it for a time, it will begin to feel NORMAL. The trick is getting through that period of calories loss ‘change’. Once you accept the change, accept the new routine and start to notice your weight loss it will feel great…like, how did I ever NOT do this before? 

Warm regards

Rowena French

For the Team

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Rowena French knows that the way to good health is through weight loss and exercise. Want to reclaim your body and enjoy long term weight loss watch my video?  Subscribe to my magazine and free report on common sense weight loss. Read my blog to learn more about losing weight permanently and staying healthy through calories loss.