Healthy Eating
Healthy Eating Healthy eating can be defined as a balanced diet or a good diet - consuming from all the different good groups in the right quantities to support your lifestyle. Are you eating the foods that give you the nutrients you need to maintain your health? Do feel good and have sufficient energy to enjoy life and do the things you like to do? What is your lifestyle? How active are you?
Personal Trainers when taking on new clients will do an assessment of the clients lifestyle to determine what their caloric needs are. How much are they eating and how active are they. They create a list of all activities of a client for an average day. The activities include what they do at work, how much do they walk, lift and push objects around. They also take into consideration what type of exercise they do.
It is really a matter of calories in v.s. calories out. The goal is to determine how much and what types of food should be consumed. If your goal is weight loss you need to burn more calories than you are consuming. The next thing you need to look at is what types of calories are you consuming. The primary source of energy for your body is carbohydrates. The best type of carbs are "complex carbs" as they have a higher nutritional value than simple carbohydrates. It may be confusing to differentiate simple and complex carbohydrates due to the fact that complex ones contain certain elements of simple ones. Nevertheless, differentiating the two should not be a problem since their chemical structures are very different, and therefore, they can be distinguished by their nutritional properties. The consumption of simple carbohydrates is not recommended, especially for diabetics.
Personal Trainers when taking on new clients will do an assessment of the clients lifestyle to determine what their caloric needs are. How much are they eating and how active are they. They create a list of all activities of a client for an average day. The activities include what they do at work, how much do they walk, lift and push objects around. They also take into consideration what type of exercise they do.
It is really a matter of calories in v.s. calories out. The goal is to determine how much and what types of food should be consumed. If your goal is weight loss you need to burn more calories than you are consuming. The next thing you need to look at is what types of calories are you consuming. The primary source of energy for your body is carbohydrates. The best type of carbs are "complex carbs" as they have a higher nutritional value than simple carbohydrates. It may be confusing to differentiate simple and complex carbohydrates due to the fact that complex ones contain certain elements of simple ones. Nevertheless, differentiating the two should not be a problem since their chemical structures are very different, and therefore, they can be distinguished by their nutritional properties. The consumption of simple carbohydrates is not recommended, especially for diabetics.
Eating Healthy CarbsThere are two general types of carbohydrate:
Simple carbohydrates are sugars. All simple carbohydrates are made of just one or two sugar molecules. They are the quickest source of energy, as they are very rapidly digested. Unfortunately, most foods high in simple carbohydrates contain few nutrients other than calories. They also lack fiber and pass into the bloodstream rather quickly. Therefore, it is best to limit your intake of simple carbohydrates. Some food sources of simple carbohydrates:
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Complex carbohydrates
Complex carbohydrates are made of sugar molecules strung together like a necklace. They digest slowly, so they keep blood sugar more stable than do simple carbohydrates. They are often rich in fiber, more satisfying, and more health promoting. Complex carbohydrates are commonly found in whole plant foods and, therefore, are also often high in vitamins and minerals.
These whole plant foods are great sources of complex carbohydrates:
These whole plant foods are great sources of complex carbohydrates:
- Green vegetables
- Whole grains and foods made from them, such as oatmeal, pasta, and whole-grain breads
- Starchy vegetables such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, and pumpkin
- Beans, lentils, and peas
