When we are young, the concept of healthy meals is very black and white. Vegetables are good and fast food is bad. Cleaning your plate is good and being wasteful is bad. As we grow up, no one bothers to tell us that, in reality, individual foods are neither good nor bad- only too much food is bad. In fact, the idea that we need to clean our plates has gotten us into big trouble.

As it turns out, nutrition isn't black and white at all. On a physiological level, it can be extremely complicated. Sometimes we do all the right things and still can't seem to manage our weight, our energy, or our health. Of course, if we could only live on the Biggest Loser Ranch we wouldn't have any of the obstacles that make eating healthy meals so complicated and impractical in the real world.

If only there were a few simple rules that made eating healthy simple?!

The good news is, there are three simple tips that can make healthy meals more of a no brainer. After all, we don't all have the time or money to study nutrition, to visit a certified nutritionist, or to order all our meals packaged and ready-to-eat.

If you assess your diet regarding the three guidelines below, you will be doing a better job than most towards getting the nutrients and energy your body needs. (And by "diet" I don't mean that four letter word that signifies perpetual deprivation but simply, what you consume daily.)

The Three Tips are to 

1) keep your meals colorful 

2) keep your meals small and frequent, and 

3) keep your meals fresh.

As we explore these criteria in a little more depth, it will highlight some reasons you should incorporate them into your lifestyle.

1) Keep Your Healthy Meals Colorful

Our body needs six different nutrients to function optimally during the day. These include carbohydrates, proteins, fat, vitamins, minerals, and water. Most of us don't have time or sufficient interest to make getting our daily allowance of amino acids and essential vitamins a scientific venture. So how can you make sure you are getting what you need? Answer: by keeping your meals colorful. It is that simple.

Picture a plate containing fish and chips beside a smoked salmon salad with a whole grain roll. One of these plates is monochromatic and the other has reds, greens, browns and whatever else your imagination used to dress it up. The more colorful plate has half the calories, more than twice the nutritional benefit, and will provide more lasting energy. Meanwhile, the monochromatic plate is also more likely to make you feel sluggish and desperately thirsty as a result of excessive sodium levels. The point is, picking healthy meals is a choice you are free to make.

While carbohydrates ( like bread, potatoes, rice, and starchy vegetables) and protein ( like meat, beans, and dairy) should be components of every meal, the more fruits and vegetables you add, the healthier and more colorful your meal will be. Even adding peas and carrots to the fish and chips plate would significantly increase the nutritional value of this dish. Presentation is not just for cooking shows- it is for your health, too.

People who eat mindfully (or in other words, don't have a weight problem) enjoy food with all of their senses. Practice making your meals and snacks colorful by incorporating a variety of food groups. This way they will be a feast for your senses, your belly, and your body.

2) Keep Your Healthy Meals Smaller and More Frequent

A healthy eating schedule is going to vary from person to person. Three square meals a day is sometimes the only thing someone has time to prepare and enjoy. However, food is fuel. If you are hungry, eat. If you are not hungry, don't. For many people, enjoying 4-6 smaller meals everyday actually helps them function more efficiently.

Deprivation is not beneficial for your body or mind. You have to eat to lose. However, most of us are used to mindlessly eating portion sizes that are larger than what we really need. You want to be satisfied but not stuffed.

More frequent, smaller meals keep your metabolism revved and make it less likely that you will store food as fat instead of burning it for fuel. It also keeps your energy levels and blood sugar levels steady which decreases the likelihood of overeating at your next meal or suffering crashes in energy that cause you to crave lousy, processed foods and sweets.

Anyone who has ever grocery shopped on an empty stomach knows that creating healthy meals is easier if you don't let yourself get overly hungry. By making sure you have a healthy breakfast and healthy snacks available for the day ahead, you will be significantly less likely to feel the need to stuff your face and you will find it easier to manage your weight. Overall, focusing on eating to keep your energy up and your hunger under control will help you be a pleasant, healthy person.

3) Keep Your Foods Fresh

Eating healthy meals doesn't mean buying packaged foods that say they are healthy on the outside of the box. Healthy meals should include fresh foods. If everything you eat is unwrapped, microwaved, delivered, or frozen, you need a serious diet overhaul. What your body craves is nutrients, not preservatives and added chemicals. Processed foods are more calorically dense and harder for your body to breakdown so they are more likely to be stored as fat than natural food.

If the ingredients list on a packaged food item is a bunch of words you don't recognize or have never seen before, don't buy it. Instead, build a skill for life and learn to cook the meal from raw ingredients. Ingredients that aren't in your granny's pantry, don't habitually belong in yours. In other words," if it doesn't grow, let it go". While it may seem like a convenient time saver now to buy the ready made stuff, preparing your own healthy meals will help you live longer, easily making up for the time it takes to prepare meals in the long run.

It takes conscious effort to incorporate these rules into your daily routine, but they will quickly become habitual with practice. Your efforts start in the grocery store where you can focus on choosing fresh foods and ingredients that will allow for plenty of nutritious choices for healthy meals and snacks in the days ahead. Then all you have to do is focus on including a variety of food groups to ensure you always add at least a splash of color. When it comes to fruits and vegetables, the more the merrier as far as your body is concerned.

Making color a priority, eating smaller meals as frequently as your hunger dictates, and seeking out fresh foods will pay off. In fact, assessing your healthy meals along these three guidelines might just help you save your health and your money. The more you fill your body with quality nutrients, the less you will crave U.F.O's (unidentified food objects). After all, having access to and eating healthy meals is a luxury, not a punishment.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Catherine_Toops

What is the quickest way to lose weight is a question I have been ask so many time, so much that I have lost count. So many people would like to know what is the quickest way to lose weight.

If you intend to lose weight quickly, then you must remember that fast weight loss doesn't last. Always have at the back of your mind that you will almost certainly gain back all those extra pounds lost on quick weight loss plans. You should always remember that those extra pounds you are trying to lose was not gained overnight and you should not try to lose it overnight. It is a sobering thought, I know, but not many people want to know that as they are too occupied with the thought of how to quickly shed off those extra pounds.

If you are one of those who have got lot of extra pounds to lose - say 60 pounds, fine! You can nail off each of those suckers on a daily basis. You can go it slowly till you achieve your desired result. The best way to lose those 60 pounds is to go from 60 to 59 from 59 to 58 until you have achieved your weight loss goal. Post a tally chart close to your bed and check off each pound lost. You don't even have to make it chore but rather a fun. This is you getting into the best shape of your life.

The question to what is the quickest way to lose weight is not an extremely hard one but the truth is that, there is no definitely answer to this age long question as what works for your friend may not work for you and what works for you may not work for your friend.

In some cases your weight may be directly linked to your genes. for some people, it may also be that you are consuming too much food or eating emotionally. Often a lack of exercise and a sedentary lifestyle are the cause. In all cases you are simply consuming more calories than you expend in your daily life.

Anyone who is involved in hard labor work will most definitely be burning or using up more calories at work every day, much more than an office worker who can easily be found seated at a desk day in day out, all weeks and all months. An active youngster who enjoys lots of out door activities will most likely burn lots of calories while a child who sits watching Tv all the time will most likely become overweight or obsessed with time.

There are so many seriously overweight people in our environment these days due to inactive lifestyle coupled with overeating. The sad result is diabetes and so many other problems associated with being overweight.

The surest, most effective and quickest way to lose weight is to set realistic goals. Quick way weight loss is possible but you should never expect any miracle in your journey to losing weight. I know you want to lose weight as quick as possible but you must decide on how much you want to lose and how soon you want to lose it.

But know that there is no safe weight loss programme that will help lose a very large amount of weight quickly. On a good diet exercise program most people lose one pound per day safely or a bit more if you are quite a bit overweight.

The best, safest and quickest way to lose weight is to go it 2 pounds per week. It is entirely impossible to lose as much as 30 pounds in a week without putting your healthy at risk. Most of the weight loss ads your regularly see on TV will try to make you believe that it is possible to lose up to 30 pounds per week but please don't be suckered --it is can never be done.

If you want to know what is the safest and quickest way to lose weight, then you have got to look up to water. Our bodies retain lot of water when we live in a state of dehydration and, surprisingly, most of us are dehydrated most of the time.

If you want to lose weight and want to know the quickest way to lose weight, you can never go wrong with water. Your body stores lot of water whenever you are dehydrated. This excess can be as much as 10 lbs which you do not necessarily need. In order to flush out this excessive water from your body, you can drink copious amounts of water to get rid of the excess. Drinking more water tells your body you are now hydrated and that you don't need spare reserves, so the body ditches them.

So don't ask what is the quickest way to lose weight. Instead commit yourself to drinking plenty of water, eating good food, and doing resistance exercise to maintain your healthy muscle while the fat is blowtorched off.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Abayomi_Kingsley_Aje

Whenever women are wishing for a fitness plan one should realize that they aren't taking it up just to look fit. One who can understand women psychology realizes that they constantly have supplementary reasons for doing everything.

As a woman we wish to get healthy but we also wish to halt the effects of aging, lose weight, improve our flexibility, improve our tone, be more attractive to the opposite sex, look younger and even further, prominently help us appear good-looking enough to pass assessment by any women.

Reasons why one should be Fit and how to achieve these Goals:

Before one starts any fitness plan she should actually make a decision that her determination is significant enough to maintain her motivation and triumph over all the dumb excuses she thought of in the history. The fitness plan must turn out to be one of those possessions that one should do without any queries like brushing your teeth or like eating. Till one is influenced of the advantages of the fitness plan and that one needs to be adequate to stay attentive and want to keep away from the risks that one will face if she doesn't follow the fitness plan correctly, she won't gain any achievement only then she should move ahead.

If one feels that she is confused whether she is in good physical condition or not, she should always consult a family general practitioner before commencing any fitness plan. A fine fitness plan would grant for energetic work out but also considers about involving minimum health risks for women if she is in excellent health or as guided under the physician's advice.

The woman fitness plan for lady's exceptional desires and needs would allow her to achieve up to her accurate potential. An exact fitness plan designed for her will help her feel, look and do her best. It would also grant her the capability to execute daily tasks alertly and vigorously with vigor left over for enjoying spare time actions after she has completed with her daily fitness plan.

As she starts her workout routine, it is necessary to keep in mind that health is an entity quality that varies from human to human. It is inclined by age, heredity, sex, exercise, personal habits and eating practices. So if you have an important person to have a high regard for, who is really healthy be sure it's someone who is somewhat like you.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robin_Brain

Men's fitness programs are often designed differently than women's fitness programs. Where women are mostly interested in weight loss and improved health and well-being men's fitness programs are focused on adding mass and 'bulking up.'

At a gym you give up privacy and convenience for trainers, top-notch equipment and other men for motivation and socialization. If you do decide to join a gym for your men's fitness program be sure to evaluate your options thoroughly. Look at convenience of drive time, price, the number and quality of trainers, equipment, services, childcare if it's needed and the hours they are open. Also check with your employer since some have agreements with gyms for cheaper fees. Men's fitness programs benefit your employer as well since a healthy company often pays cheaper insurance fees.

If you want to use a home gym be sure to evaluate the equipment to meet the needs of your men's fitness program. Look at the price of the equipment, the space you have available for use and storage, reliability of the machine, function, and the number and variability of the exercises that are available on the machine.

To be successful men's fitness programs must be made a priority in your fast paced lifestyle. This can be hard to accomplish, especially at first. Other commitments are vying for time and energies. There are work and family commitments as well as friends and relatives who all want a piece of your life. Sometimes men complain that after a long day at work the thought of working out is too tiring but interestingly working out will actually give you more energy! You have to make a commitment to your health and fitness program to be sure that it is successful.

Men's fitness programs are also successful when they incorporate sports or activities that you enjoy. Most men feel out of place doing aerobics or yoga but a good game of basketball, raquetball or tennis is just what the doctor ordered. If you enjoy these sports don't depend upon the occasional game (1 x a week) to meet the needs of a men's fitness program. You should also include other activities to prepare your body for the one time a week all out effort that these sports require. Without preparation and conditioning there is a higher risk of injury and a higher health risk since you won't be involved in a program that prepares your body but rather doing activities that create stress once a week.

A good men's fitness program will engage your mind and your passion and give you a reason to continue to workout week after week. This is a lifetime commitment to health and wellness that will decrease your health risks and give you a whole new outlook on life.

http://goarticles.com