When we lower caloric intake in an effort to lose weight, it’s imperative that the diet meal plan is well thought out so proper nutrition isn’t sacrificed. Here are some top tips on setting up a diet meal plan that will offer up optimum nutrition as well as promote weight loss in a healthful way.

VEGETABLES

We all know that we’re supposed to eat our veggies, but how many of us do? And if you do, do you eat enough? Really, this is one food group that you most certainly don’t have to worry about overeating.

These power houses contain so many great nutrients and with very little caloric content. Choosing a wide variety of colorful vegetables ensures optimum nutrition. This is due to the phytochemicals that not only give vegetables their characteristics, but they are also what give us important nutrients such as vitamins and flavanoids. Vegetables also contain fiber. Fiber is incredibly beneficial to weight loss because of its cleansing effect in the digestive system.

In terms of preparing vegetables, the closer to the way Mother Nature intended, the better. Raw vegetables are of course the most nutritious, but cooking is acceptable as well so long as the vegetables are steamed or microwaved. Prolonged cooking breaks down the fiber in the vegetables which of course makes the fiber less useful to our bodies. In addition, boiling vegetables literally boils the nutrients right out of them. Have you ever noticed how the water changes to whatever color the vegetable is? Remember, the phytochemicals are not only the vitamins that make the vegetables so good for us, but they are also the actual color.

Vegetables can and should be included at every meal. Coming up with clever ways of adding vegetables to your meals in flavorful ways isn’t as difficult as one might think. Raw vegetables can be a refreshing side to any meal and complement quite a few dishes. Steamed vegetables with just a bit of olive oil and black pepper are delicious. Adding hot peppers to a mix of vegetables can be a great way to spice up a meal. Try splashing on some herb vinegar or a berry vinaigrette for a sweeter taste.

PROTEIN

Protein is necessary for cellular health and a thousand other functions in the body. Obviously, a healthy diet meal plan includes protein sources. The trick is to make sure you are eating lean protein as well as the right amount.

Lean protein sources contain less saturated fat which has been known to have an effect on cardiovascular health. Good choices here are chicken or turkey breast, lean pork, and fish. Some cuts of beef are acceptable as well, but opt for the leaner versions and save the juicy steaks for an occasional treat.

A serving of meat is roughly 3 ounces for the above choices. The easiest way to determine an appropriate portion of meat is to realize that a 3 ounce serving is roughly the size of an average fist. A free diet meal plan may offer up more suggestions on proper portion sizes.

Choosing fish a few times a week is highly advisable due to the omega 3 fatty acids found in many fish. Omega 3 fatty acids have been found to lower LDL (bad cholesterol) and raise HDL (good cholesterol).

WHOLE GRAINS

You probably thought I was touting a low carb diet. Not so. Carbohydrates are important in our diets and we should aim for around 6 servings or more a day. The thing to consider here is which carbohydrates?

When trying to lose weight, obviously some calories need to be cut. The category that is usually to blame for unnecessary calories is in fact carbohydrates. This is because a lot of us tend to relate carbohydrates to starchy sides such as white rice or mashed potatoes as well as all of the junkier carbs such as potato chips and cookies. When it comes to these types of carbs, then of course, they should be eliminated from a diet meal plan aimed at weight loss.

Instead, choose carbohydrates that are whole grain. Switch out your starchy mashed potatoes for sides such as couscous or brown rice. You might consider searching for a free diet meal plan on the internet for other creative suggestions for whole grain sides. Make sure you read bread labels carefully to determine whether it is in fact whole grain bread or simply brown bread that is made with wheat flour rather than the whole grain kernel.

EVERYTHING IN MODERATION

Finally, the biggest rule of all is the old adage, everything in moderation. If you have some favorites, make sure to include these in your diet meal plan for weight loss from time to time. If you deny yourself everything you really enjoy, eventually you may very well go overboard when you finally allow yourself the treat. Instead, go ahead and have that glass of wine in the evening or a piece of chocolate when you’re craving it.

If you find yourself craving your favorites too often, you might consider substituting for something else more healthful. A handful of almonds might replace your craving for salty items like potato chips. A bowl of strawberries may satisfy your sweet tooth. If creamy delights are your thing, a healthy smoothie in the morning may stave off that craving throughout the day.

Be sure to incorporate exercise into your life as well as the above suggestions. Soon, you’ll be on the path to healthy weight loss for life!

So Bridget and her ilk need a diet plan, obviously. The problem with that is you never know if a diet plan is good for you until you give it enough time. Susanna Giles, a homemaker who trained in nutrition and food science to create the perfect diet for her four growing children, says the problem with diet plans and dieters is that it is a now-on-now-off relationship. “The common belief among people is that a diet should have immediate impact, but that is just so unreasonable. You have to give any diet at least three months to make its presence felt,” she says.

When was the last time you planned your diet?

That was a serious question, requiring a serious answer. When was the last time you carefully planned your diet starting from breakfast to mid-day snack to dinner keeping in mind all the essential nutrients that your body required? “Far too often, and even when they are handed a diet plan, people tend to make what they see as slight adjustments to the plan and then blame the diet for not having any effect,” says Wendell Harvey, a consultant nutritionist based in New York.

Just as a matter of interest, while researching this topic, I came across nearly 75 diet plans, and these are just the known ones. No doubt there are hundreds of personal diet plans tucked away across the world, formed according to what a dieter thinks is best for him or her. However, none of it is going to work if you keep cheating on your diet plan, or more damagingly, keep switching between diet plans.

Even conservative estimates reveal that the dieting industry makes billions of dollars every year selling diet plans and remedies in the USA alone. So when we learn that an astonishing 20 percent (or thereabouts) of Americans are medically overweight, our automatic reaction is to blame the diet plans that they follow, without wondering whether the fault lies with the dieters rather than the diets. Most diet plans are based on premises that will work, because the essential thing about a diet plan is balance. If the diet plan is balanced, it will help you achieve whatever it is that you want to achieve.

If one were to stop people passing by on the street and ask them what they thought was a healthy daily diet plan, the reply would probably go something like this: “A variety of food incorporating carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals, and vitamins, and about five portions of fruit and vegetables.” The point is that most of us know what a healthy diet is like, so we don’t have to work too hard to figure out what we should eat.

The famed diet plans

Here, you must indulge me by letting me quote Bridget again, because she incorporates quite a few internationally famed diets into her daily routine…and gets nowhere. It’s a long extract, but extremely illuminating:

“Breakfast: hot-cross bun (Scarsdale Diet – slight variation on specified piece of wholemeal toast); Mars Bar (Scarsdale Diet – slight variation on specified half grapefruit)
Snack: two bananas, two pears (switched to F-plan as starving and cannot face Scarsdale carrot snacks). Carton orange juice (Anti-Cellulite Raw-Food Diet)
Lunch: jacket potato (Scarsdale Vegetarian Diet) and hummus (Hay Diet – fine with jacket spuds as all starch, and breakfast and snack were all alkaline-forming with exception of hot-cross bun and Mars: minor aberration)
Dinner: four glasses of wine, fish and chips (Scarsdale Diet and also Hay Diet – protein forming); portion tiramisu; peppermint Aero (puked).”

Can you see what’s happening here? This crazed switching of diets is doomed to failure, as anyone but Bridget can tell. However, like Bridget, people who follow the Scarsdale or Hay diets will tend to blame the diets rather than their own inability to stick to any one of them.

Since, as I mentioned, the sheer number of ‘official’ diet plans in existence makes it impossible for me to discuss all of them, and since I am not going to advertise or run down any specific diet plan, I can only repeat that for a dieter, following a diet plan is akin to a battle that they must win, provided they can overcome their ‘eating instincts’.

Says Susannah Giles, “The problem is that as your brain gets used to certain eating patterns, it prevents you from adjusting to new ones. So even if you follow certain diet plans and consume the required calories and other nutrients, your brain will still signal to you that you haven’t eaten enough and are still hungry.”

That, of course, sets off the various ‘cravings’ dieters regularly experience. Stacy Grimaldi, a 37-year-old banker from Shreveport, Louisiana, who has been following a diet plan for three years with what she says is astounding success, claims that in the initial stages of her diet, her craving for chocolate grew alarmingly, even though she wasn’t too fond of it to begin with. “I guess it was just because I was not allowed it,” she laughs.

So whichever diet plan you follow, chances are you will notice a similar thing happening to you. So knuckle down and (honestly) stick to your chosen diet plan. The result will be a matter of time.