4 Rules for Healthy Nutrition and Weight Control

A week before Thanksgiving last year, a patient asked me, “Dr. Young, I just heard about a diet that I think is going to be the answer to losing weight, what do you think?”

I cringed a bit when she started describing the all too familiar formula of more protein, fat free, eating certain foods, at certain times, some raw, some not, and on and on the rules and nuances went. While these are all important elements of a good diet, most people eventually steer off course, mired and demotivated in too many details.

Anyways, it doesn’t have to be that complicated! Here’s four simple rules I’d like to share with you for healthy nutrition and weight control that really work, which I have shared with my patient.

• Eat More Vegetables and Fruits than Meat – This isn’t news to anyone as most of us have grown up with this as our mothers’ mantra. But it’s still darn good advice. When you eat your veggies and fruits you naturally increase your fiber, bowel movements and you lose weight naturally.

• Plan Your Meals – This is the most important rule to follow and key to maintaining good nutrition. Take 3 hours at the beginning of the week and cook for the entire week; try a soup, salad and main dish that would serve well all week. This will help ensure you eat healthy, consistently.

• Cook at Home – I love to eat out just as much as the next person but restaurants tend to cook with more oil and fat than we would use at home to enhance flavor. Of course everything is better with butter and bacon…except your butt! Don’t have time to cook at home?  Considering using a pre-made meal service or even a meal exchange with health-minded friends.

• If you can’t tell what it was when it was picked or butchered, Don’t Eat It. Food should look the same way as it did in nature when it was picked or butchered; when it’s in its natural state, in its whole state, food is more easily digested providing more nutrients to the body. I understand that in today’s fast paced environment it’s often easier to eat “fast” processed foods, so I like to realistic and use the 80/20 rule.  80% of the time eat foods in their whole state and 20% of the time processed (i.e. hamburger, chicken “nuggets”).  You will be amazed at how good you feel and there’s no calorie restrictions, you don’t have to keep your food groups separate and eat at certain times of the day.  Pretty simple.

Barring any serious medical conditions, all you have to do now is follow these four basic rules. We invite you to visit Young Naturopathic Wellness Center or Schedule a FREE Consultation with our experts for healthy recipe ideas to help you jumpstart your weekly meal plan.

Do you have a nutrition best-practice or challenge you’d like to share?

Please be sure to leave a comment, I’d enjoy hearing from you!