What To Eat and Why

There's no way around it. No matter who you are, you must eat a well balanced diet in order to lose weight properly. There is so much confusion about what foods are good for us, and what foods are not. Just exactly how much of that well balanced food are you supposed to eat? What foods are best?

Let's look at what we should eat and why.

"The big 3" - Macronutrients.

Protein:

*Responsible for building and maintaining muscle

*Important part of every cell in our bodies, (hair and nails are mostly made of protein)

*Keeps hunger at bay when eaten with carbs

*Repairs tissues

*Important building block of bones, muscles, cartilage, skin, and blood.

Carbohydrates:

* Cut risk of type 2 diabetes by 30%, when 3 servings per day are eaten

* Fiber, a carb found only in plant sources help flush out toxins from the body

* Provide energy to power us through all activites

* Keep hunger at bay when eaten with protein

Fats:

*Eating fats slow absorbtion of nutrients, making you feel fuller longer

*Fats assist sugar and insulin metabolism, which helps with weight loss

*Fats carry vital fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K

*Omega-3 fats are heart healthy and can lower bad cholestorol

So why do carbs have such a bad reputation?

Because people tend to group all carbs together. What you must realize is, carbs are perfectly okay to eat, as long as they are good carbs.

"Good carbs" come from foods that have not been processed or "enriched" or have been minimally processed. For example:

* Brown rice
* Whole grain bread
* Frozen vegetables
* Whole grain pasta
* Legumes (beans)

Stay away from any type of food containing the words "refined" "enriched" or "bleached". This means the vital nutrients and fiber, as mentioned previously have been stripped away from the food.
What is left is a load of starch with no health benefits.
Foods like that cause an immediate spike in our blood sugar and then a crash. (makes us hungry over and over)

Refined grains are a definite NO!

Leave junk food and processed garbage on the shelf.

Now let's move on to food sources to find out what foods will provide these healthy macronutrients.