Download it takes three: right food, right amount, right time

BODY
EAT FIT/NOT FAT
PART TWO:
IT TAKES THREE:
RIGHT FOOD, RIGHT AMOUNT, RIGHT TIME
WRITER: LORI ESAREY
E
ating the “right” food in the “wrong” amount is just
as “wrong” as eating the “wrong” food. If you are
striving to look and feel great, here’s the secret: You
are what you eat. The right foods are necessary to live
healthy, but it is equally important to understand that even the
right food eaten in the wrong amount can result in unhealthy
body fat and a feeling of fatigue and frustration. Understanding
what your body needs is a matter of priority to achieve the
results you want.
Diet simply implies deprivation. Several thousand “diets”
exist with the majority focusing on calories and failing to
provide you with knowledge of what your body needs to live,
have energy, think clearly, and keep cells alive. Depriving
yourself of necessary nutrients will lead to premature aging and
death. Depending on your “diet,” you could be creating cell
death while you are attempting to lose weight. Failing to eat
enough food — independent of the “right food” factor — will
surely leave you feeling tired, hungry, and looking unhealthy.
Let us start by getting rid of the old thinking that if you burn
more calories than you eat, you will lose weight. Have you
noticed this philosophy leaves you deprived, hungry, and for
the amount of sacrifice, inconsistent with your weight loss? Or
worse, as soon as you stop working out for any reason (family
visiting, illness, job change, etc.), you pack on those pounds. I
propose you simply stop focusing on the number of calories.
Instead, start paying attention to the right amount of the right
foods that will satisfy hunger and leave you feeling energized,
refreshed, and alive. Focus on the kinds of calories you are
consuming instead of how many. Eating too much broccoli,
cauliflower, spinach, chicken, fish, and lean meats will not
make you fat, but eating empty calorie junk will.
BE AWARE
100-CALORIE SNACKS:
Read the label and ask yourself, “What kind of calories are
these?” In reading the nutrition label, you will find sugar,
preservatives, and limited — if any — nutrients.
CEREAL:
The average cereal provides limited nutrition. Read the
label for the real ingredients and check out the serving size
of 1/2 to 3/4 cup.
NUTS:
Although specific nuts and seeds can be very healthy,
don’t eat too many. Know your serving sizes.
PEANUTS:
They are a high allergy risk and they are not nuts;
they are beans.
GLUTEN-FREE:
It’s not necessarily better for you. If a food is packaged,
then man made it, and as Jack LaLanne said, “If man
made it, don’t eat it.”
TURKEY BURGERS:
BEST
WHOLE FOODS are unprocessed
and unrefined — or processed
and refined as little as possible
— before being consumed. Whole
foods typically do not contain
added ingredients, such as salt,
carbohydrates, or fat.
They are often higher in fat than a regular burger because
most turkey burgers are made from dark meat. You should
avoid them in order to avoid unnecessary calories.
Remember your CORE FOODS: lean
meats and non-starchy vegetables.
You should eat five-to-eight cups of
vegetables per day.
BETTER
Eat your two servings of FRUIT
with a protein or healthy fat such as
almonds, walnuts, and seeds.
If you must eat pre-packaged foods, choose ones that
provide limited preservatives. Also, watch out for
sodium content and stay away from “empty calories,”
which are substances that fill the tummy and fail to
nourish the body.
Add lots of lean meat to your salad. Protein is a natural
appetite suppressant and will leave you feeling more
satisfied.
LORI ESAREY, ARNP, CFT
opened Total Nutrition and Therapeutics
in 2007. Several years later, she started
a second company, Vitality Wellness and
Aesthetics. Her passion is empowering
people of all ages to achieve optimal
health. She earned two master’s degrees
from the University of South Florida in nursing and nutritional and
metabolic science. She is also board-certified in anti-aging and
restorative medicine.