5 simple tips to healthier eating

Everywhere i go, everyone is asking me... how do i lose weight. To be honest, the simple answer is to work out more and eat less unhealthy food and more healthy foods. But yet, people still want that miracle like "oh just watch TV for an additional hour and watch the fat melt off". Sorry folks, no such thing. It all comes down to your own effort and determination.

But don't worry... its not all that hard. I would like to share with all of you - 5 simple tips which you can start doing today to eat right and lose weight. And trust me, its not that hard to do

Tip#1 - Avoid Fried foods
Fried Mee, Fried Chicken, French Fries, Fried Maggi, goreng pisang... please cut these out. If you are serious about losing weight, avoid these foods. Now, i am not saying you can never ever eat them again in your life. You know it is bad, so just eat it sparingly. The more of it you eat, the more weight you are going to put on. The less you eat, the faster you will lose weight. So the choice is yours.

Tip#2 - Reduce Intake of Sweet Drinks and sweet foods.
Do a quick count of how many sweet drinks you have in a day. If its 5 drinks, cut it down to 4. Then after 1 month, cut it down to 3 and so on. You get the picture. The worst sweet drink to have is Sodas and colas. Its just sugar with no nutrition value at all. Ideally, you should try yo cut it down to 1 or 2 sweet drinks a day. Don't waste time with telling your mamak - kurang manis. Some times they do, sometimes they jsut don't care. Safest is to control the number of drinks you have.

The same goes for sweet foods such as cakes, candies, chocolates etc. Cut it out from your daily diet and use it instead as a reward. Maybe treat yourself to one slice of cheese cake if you follow these 5 tips for 1 full month and have some reduction in weight. It's a great way to motivate yourself and keep going till you reach your ideal weight.

Tip#3 - Switch whites to wholemeal
If you eat a lot of white carbs like white rice, white bread etc, make a switch to wholemeal or high grain / high fiber stuff. It does make a difference. Of course if you are eating out, you can't tell your mamak you want a serving of brown rice or high fiber rice. So instead, cut it down (maybe just 3/4 of the helping) or eat other things like chapati or "Pollunggu Arasi" or Indian rice. This has less starch content than normal white rice because of the way they cook it. Important note, not all mamaks have this... its usually found in authetic indian restaurants and those that serve banana leaf. So make the small switch. Wholemeal isn't as bad as it seems

Tip# 4 - Eat more fruits and vegetables
This goes without saying. Not only is this stuff good for you, it will help you lose weight. Why? It's high in fiber, which means it fills you up fast and because it has fiber, it takes time to break down ... which means you stay full longer. So you don't have to starve to lose weight. Reduce your carbs and increase your intake of these wonder foods. You will be surprised at the results. When it comes to fruits and vegetables, of course the sweeter the fruit, the higher the content of sugar compared to others which aren't as sweet. So choose wisely.

Tip# 5 - Stop eating junk
When it comes to junk food, there are 2 broad categories that i have in my dictionary. One is the junk food like potato chips etc and the other is junk food which is processed meat like sausages, nuggets and burgers. If you eat 3 meals a day, stick to your 3 meals and don't snack on potato chips, kacang or other tit bits during the day. All these junk foods have what i call "empty calories". High in calories and fat which go straight to your gut and worst of all, it doesn't fill you up. Ever eat a whole packet of Twisties before? It has a whopping 500 calories, but it does nothing to fill you up. So most times, we eat that feel hungry half an hour later and then try to eat something proper. Double calories. Try eating 500 calories of whole meal bread (which will be about 7 to 8 slices). Feel the difference on how full it makes you feel? So please avoid all unnecessary snacking. If you want to snack, snack on healthy things like muesli bars or breakfast cereal. Stay away from the rest.

As for sausages and nuggets, sorry to say... most of these things are made by churning left over chicken / beef parts which cannot be used for anything else. Then they load a lot of MSG and flavouring, put it in an attractive shape and voila... you have it. These parts include the left over skin, fat, ligaments and other parts which people generally don't buy. I will be posting up a recipe for healthy burgers and healthy nuggets soon, so please try it as it is much healthier than the crap in the super markets.

There you have it guys... 5 simple tips which you can do right now. Best of all, it still leaves a whole variety of foods you can eat out there... so you have options. Try it and let me know what you thoughts are as usual.