Yes I eat and I eat a lot! I love food, all kinds of food but lucky for me, at a very early age, I had a taste for a variety of good and healthy foods. I vaguely remember getting dried apricots as a "treat" on trips to the grocery store and I was blessed with many a beautiful salad in my lunch can during primary and elementary school, thanks to my mother. I still remember the pill bottle full of french dressing.
Now don't get me wrong....I also have a deep love for ice cream and gummy candy and there was a time in my life that it consumed me far more than my love for fruits and vegetables. But I got back on track and have read just about everything I can get my hands on when it comes to food. I have sized up (not tried, but evaluated) just about every big diet that has come out in the past few years and in the end, for me, it all comes back to a few simple points....eat real food, in small portions, every few hours, and drink your water!
Eat real food. Yes, real food. Like I have said before, if it flew, swam, or ran you are good to go. But don't batter and fry it in mounds of butter and/or oil. Stick with baking, broiling and grilling. Use oils like olive oil and experiment with seasonings, spice it up with spices, not with chemicals. Really taste what you are eating! And....if it grew in the ground or on a tree, eat it up!
Read labels. If you are eating something out of a box or a bag, just take a look at what actually goes in what you are eating. Can you pronounce it? Is sugar of high fructose corn syrup one of the first 3-5 ingredients... are there more than 3-5 ingredients? Look, if something can last for weeks or even months on your counter or in your fridge, how good can that be for your body?
Eat real food, as close to natural as possible! If humans were involved in processing it, adding anything to it or turning it into something else, move on and try something else. That's pretty simple I think.
My next point is about portions and it is closely related to the following one so I will combine them. Eat small portions and eat every few hours. If you are eating every few hours do you think you will truly be hungry for that HUGE 10-inch plate full of food? Seriously, use some basic common sense with this one...yes, most people in the fitness industry advocate eating every 2-3 hours, BUT you also have to learn to pay attention to your body. You don't have ot stuff in meal #6 for the day if you genuinely are not hungry! Just because it is on your meal plan, (which I know you are planning your meals by now) doesn't mean that you have to force it down. And with that said, if you have to force it down because you are too full, then you probably ate too much at your last meal/snack.
If you are drinking 8-10 cups of water a day, loading your plate up with fruits and veggies and choosing good quality lean proteins then there won't be much room for anything else except a few other compex, starchy carbs (think brown rice, quinoa, oats, etc...) and even those will naturally become smaller portions because you just won't be able to stuff it all in (and feel good afterwards).
Remember: it takes 20 minutes for your stomach to tell your brain that it is full. ....Aim to eat your veggies first, then your protein, then your starches and drink that water! Take your time, eat slow, pay attention to what you are doing (hard to do if you are caught up in the news or in Grey's Anatomy - that's another post) and let your brain register what your body is telling it.
Basically eat REAL food, focus on plants and keep the portions small enough that you will want "another little something" in a couple of hours - and then be prepared for that a couple of hours later by having healthy, real food nearby.
Vegetables, fruit, nuts, light cheese, yogurt, eggs (hard boiled are portable and easy to eat), heck even carry around a few ounces of left over chicken around if you have to - don't get caught unprepared, the food industry is just waiting to catch you and boy are they ready!
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