Die-It?!

Often times when we hear the word DIET, the first things that will come into mind are weight loss, no dinner, no or lessen food intake, no rice, and sacrifice. A DIET as Mr. Webster defines it as a : food and drink regularly provided or consumed b : habitual nourishment c : the kind and amount of food prescribed for a person or animal for a special reason d : a regimen of eating and drinking sparingly so as to reduce one's weight <going on a diet>.

As a registered nutritionist-dietitian, we firmly believe that there is no such thing as good or bad food. Unless the person as a health problem that is the only time he/she will have restrictions but as long as there are no health problems there will be a wide array of food to choose from. However, we definitely believe that there are only GOOD AND BAD DIETS. It’s really not the foods fault if we consume them a lot cause they either taste good or they taste REALLY GOOD! It’s the ways we eat the food that causes the problem. It’s our food choices and the amounts that matter the most. When we learn good food choices and how much we need to have, dieting will be a breeze.

Dieting should not be a sacrifice. When we undergo a diet program, we need not deprive ourselves with foods that we love to eat. We just need to know how much we really need to consume. For example, you cannot live without rice, rather than exchanging bread to rice more often than not it takes more bread to satisfy the amount of rice. So eat your beloved rice but cut down its amount. That way you still feel satisfied. Same goes with milk rather than gulping down whole full cream milk even if they taste good the amount of fat within it is higher than non-fat milk. There is already non-fat milk in the market that taste good like Nesvita Pro-Weight Management.

Dieting also needs to entail meal intervals, we need to eat on the right time that is 2-4 hours apart. So everything starts at Breakfast. The importance is to keep the blood sugar stable and the metabolism fast by supplying continuous amount of energy from food.

Exercise is also vital in dieting. Exercise will also help keep appetite down.

SOURCE:
Rency Magsino-Caga-anan, RND
Head Nutrionist, Fitness First Philippines
Contributing Editor & Nutrition Consultant for ACTION & FITNESS MAGAZINE