Health
Food Can Burn Calories
by Valecia Weeks
Special to the NNPA from the Houston Forward-Times
What is that hideous word “DIET”? Well, it’s simply food and drink regularly consumed or as the kind and amount of food prescribed for a person or animal for a special reason; whereas, we divas define the word “DIET” as torturing ourselves and starvation. We’ve been taught that if we just eat our little celery sticks and dry toast, those pounds will just melt away. Well that is as untrue as water draining uphill! The fact is that your body will just think it is starving and hang onto those extra pounds, thus keeping us running to the scale every 5 minutes. So, ladies, I’m here to give you great news: GET OFF THE DIETS….EAT your Christmas Dinner; just do it in moderation and fill your plate with more grown than processed foods.
The problem is that we want to eat all the foods that our bodies crave, such as sugars and unhealthy fats. Oh, and did I mention sugars and unhealthy fats? It’s not necessarily HOW MUCH you eat…it’s WHAT you eat. Now, don’t get me wrong, you can’t eat a truck load of pinto beans with fried bacon grease and hog parts and expect to stay fine. We have to pick and choose our battle when it comes to the selections of foods that we choose to consume.
There are certain foods, when consumed on a regular basis, that will actually help you lose weight. For example, for breakfast, a good combination may be almonds in yogurt. Studies have shown that almonds may shrink abdominal fat, and yogurt hinders the absorption of fat in the small intestines…not to mention that it’s packed with calcium (divas we have to keep in mind that osteoporosis will possibly try to attack us as we age), and “an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure”. Throw some eggs in there — Eggs can actually help you feel full longer and help you control those snack attacks. I don’t know about you, but I grew up knowing “grapefruit” as the food of preference when it came to losing weight. The only thing is that I loaded mine with sugar, stirred it into the grapefruit, and ate a little grapefruit with my sugar. Well, ladies, cut the sugar and eat half a grapefruit before each meal; and shed more pounds than those who skip the tart appetizer. If you want to try an easy and tasty calorie-cutting trick, then replace the meat in your favorite recipes with mushrooms. You’ll automatically cut about 420 calories out of a meal, partly because you’ll skip all the belly-padding saturated fat contained in meat.
4 Rules for choosing fat-cutting foods
- Fill up on fiber
- Stay satisfied with protein
- Skip the artificial sweeteners
- Dump at least 1 high-calorie item from your diet. Soda or refined white sugar would be a great start.
Lots of diets work for lots of people—the key is to find what works best for you. But if you’re not sure where to begin, these science-proven tips (that are easy to fit into any lifestyle) will get you started. So, ladies, don’t worry, you can still enjoy your holiday meals, just enjoy it in a non-traditional way.
