Top Healthy Dieting and Eating Tips-YoDiet

Top Tips

Forget 5 servings of fruit and vegetables a day. Aim for 8-10 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Half of your dinner plate should be filled with vegetables. And fruit is your new snack and dessert. Eat a rainbow of fruit and vegetables everyday—reds, oranges, yellows, greens, blues or purples. A bounty.
To get your 8-10 fruit and veggies a day, you might toss an apple and orange in your bag as you head out the door. That’s a great start—but if you’re like most people, the fruit might sit in your bag all week. Here’s the fix: Take fruit and veggie snacks that are 100% ready to eat. Wash the fruit. Peel the oranges and separate the segments. Peel and cut kiwi. Cut apple or pear. Yank grapes off the stem. Cut the stems out of strawberries. Cut up carrot, celery, and sweet pepper sticks.

Put the prepared fruit into a baggie or Tupperware—we call this a snack pack. You’ll be amazed at how much more fruit and veggies you’ll eat if it’s washed, prepared, and ready to eat. Have different fruits and veggies everyday so it stays interesting. And include some protein to keep you full—low fat cheese, a handful of plain nuts or seeds. It’s also good to eat fruit and veggies for your evening snack.
For both meals and snacks, combine protein and whole carbohydrates. Carbohydrates, especially white carbohydrates stripped of fiber, are digested quickly, leaving you hungry sooner. So, don’t eat carbs alone—the addition of fiber (whole grains), lean protein, and good fats will slow down your digestion, keeping you full for longer. For example:

Carbohydrate + Fiber	Add Protein, Good Fat, and/or more Fiber
Fruit	+ One handful of nuts or seeds
Fruit	+ Slice of low-fat cheese
Whole grain bread or crackers	+ Hummus, almond butter (thin layer), avocado
Fruit	+ Low-fat cheese, chicken, turkey, beans, avocado, or nuts
Pasta + tomato sauce	Skinless chicken, canned black beans

Eat low GI foods. Or at least limit the high GI foods you consume. Examples of high GI foods are sugar, white flour, most processed, sweet or starchy food—chips, cookies, crackers, cakes, biscuits, candy.
Decrease your consumption of the ‘whites’—sugar, non whole grain flours, and salt—for a few days. See how you feel. You’ll be amazed, but you can actually decrease your sweet tooth.
Carbs you eat should be from fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, lentils. (In our experience, people are happier and have an easier time losing weight when they decrease white carbs like sugar and refined, non-whole grain flour).
High fiber. Keeps you full.
Limit packaged, processed foods. Eat food as nature intended. Cook from scratch a little more often.
Read food labels. Avoid trans fats (partially hydrogenated fats), high fructose corn syrup, saturated fats (animal fats like butter and whole-milk cheese), sugar, non-whole grains.
Don’t obsess over calories. Just eat good foods, including lots of fruits and vegetables.
Stop at 80% full. You’re not the Thanksgiving turkey.
Cook in bulk and freeze meals (homemade soups and stews are great frozen—and an easy way to get veggies, beans, and lentils into your diet).
Don’t keep chips, cookies, cakes, or other temptations in your cupboard. We can’t resist if they’re in our kitchen, and we don’t expect you to either. Have them in small doses when you’re out of the house. Snack on lots of fruit and raw vegetables at home.
Don’t go grocery shopping when you’re hungry or you’ll end up with a cart full of junk food. And make a shopping list before you go. Menu planning for the week is a great way to eat healthier. Preparation and Organization!
Take a snack pack to work every day. That way you won’t ever get too hungry or feel deprived.