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.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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.

]]> http://blog.mightydigitaldownloads.com/uncategorized/why-portion-control-is-not-about-abstinence/feed/ 0 http://blog.mightydigitaldownloads.com/wellness/how-calories-loss-and-body-fuel-cause-weight-loss/ http://blog.mightydigitaldownloads.com/wellness/how-calories-loss-and-body-fuel-cause-weight-loss/#comments Sat, 28 Feb 2009 06:13:34 +0000 The Team http://blog.mightydigitaldownloads.com/?p=54 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

mightydigitaldownloads.com

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.

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