MediArticles

Nutrition Tips:

• You must drink plenty of water!
• When I say plenty of water I don’t mean 8- 8oz glasses of water! I mean 80-100 oz. of water everyday especially if you are doing lots of cardio.  Being dehydrated can and will mess with your metabolism. Water is such a simple thing and yet most of us have the most trouble getting enough down everyday.

• Start tracking your meals and calories.
• The very best thing you can do is track your calories. Start out by tracking what you normally eat for a week or so to see just exactly all the foods that your are putting in your body. Then when you have figured out what calorie range you need to eat, you will want to enter foods to stay wihin that range.
• Don’t cheat yourself, you must enter everything.  Even that nibble of your kids sandwich.  In the long run you will be happy you did. Most people find that when they have to be accountable for every little bite, they are more likely not to have it!
• Pay attention to the labels.
• When you are in the grocery store do most of your shopping on the outside of the store, where the foods with little to no preservatives are.  Of course you will need to go into the isles to grab your canned foods and spices.  But the more you follow this rule the more you notice how many chemicals are put into our food.
• Eat foods closest to their natural state.
• It may be very hard to understand this at first, but you will get the hang of it quickly.  For instance oatmeal is close to its natural state, but wheat thins are NOT!  Choose 100% whole wheat when buying bread or tortillas.  Whole grain does not always mean healthy, so it  is very important to read those labels.  Another very good rule of thumb is if you cannot pronounce it, don’t eat it!  It is most often chemicals that are very hard for your body to digest.  Sugar is very processed, so is splenda. Your best choice for sweetener is stevia.  It is a very sweet herb, you only need a tiny bit to sweeten your oatmeal or coffee.  The creamers that are premixed and flavored are full of chemicals also, so beware.  Half & half does have more fat but worth the extra fat for its non-chemical state.
• Start eating 5-6 times a day.
• This may be hard at first, especially if you are only used to eating 2-3 meals. But your body adjusts pretty quick. Small meals every 2-3 hours is the best way to eat. This way your body is getting just enough to use for energy and wont be storing the extra cals from a big meal as fat.  At every meal, have a protein, healthy carbs and good fats.
• Exercise Tips:

  You need to incorporate a good exercise plan