What Should I Eat?
Most of the information we have read suggests that if you are a woman trying to lose weight you should eat apporoximately 1,400 calories worth of food a day if you have between a stone (14 pounds) and 3 stone (42 pounds) to lose. If you have less than a stone to lose you should eat about 1,250 calories worth of food a day. For a man this figure is 1,700 calories a day.
Any less than this and your body will go into 'starvation mode' and you body will use your muscle reserves as well as your fat reserves to feed itself. Muscle increases your metabolism so, as your muscle ratio decreases your metabolism falls. This is why when people have lost weight on a 'crash' or starvation diet (usually under 1,000 calories a day) they put back on the weight and more as soon as they start to eat normally again. It sounds odd but you have to eat to lose weight!
An example of a typical day's menu when eating 1,400 calories a day is:
3/4 pint of milk (to be taken with cereal or drinks or drunk on it's own)
Breakfast: 50g Bran Cereal, s-s milk from allowance, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1/4 pint orange juice.
Lunch: 2 slices of wholemeal bread filled with 75g cottage cheese and salad. 1 piece of fruit.
Dinner: 100g meat substitute (Quorn, tofu, soya etc), 175g cooked potatoes, pasta/rice, 350g vegetables, low fat sauce or gravy. Glass of wine (optional) Fresh fruit with low fat yoghurt.
Fat v. Carbohydrate v. Protein
There are a number of diets around that advocate eating little or no carbohydrate whilst filling up on fat and protein. Whilst this may result in weightloss it is a very unhealthy way of eating - as most people know eating large amounts of saturated fat may cause heart disease.
So - if you are following a low fat vegetarian diet what should you eat?
Carbohydrates give us energy and contain 4 calories per gram. Carbohydrates will only be stored as fat if eaten in great excess. Carbohyrates should form the largest part of your meal and most of the calories you eat each day should come from Carbohyrates.
Proteins help the body grow, renew and repair and contain 4 calories per gram. Excess protein cannot be stored but instead will be used to provide energy therefore delaying the burning of fat. Protein should be eaten in moderation forming about a seventh of our daily calories intake. Too much can be harmful because it has to be metabolised by our kidneys. Part of the protein is excreted from the body; the remainer is used to provide energy.
Fats are a concentrated form of energy, efficiently stored for later use as fat reserves. Fats contain 9 calories per gram. The prime purpose of fat is to create fatty reserves. You should on ly eat 20-40g per day on a weight-reducing diet. Eat no more than 70g per day when seeking to maintain weight and for good health.
When you are checking the nutritional label on a food packet go for foods for 4 grams of fat or less per 100grams (i.e. no more than 4% of the product is made up of fat). A product may say it is 90% fat free but that means there is still 10% fat in it! Also be careful with products that are 99 or 100% fat free because their main ingredient may be sugar - which is fat free but loaded with calories!
Fruit and vegetables are a valuable source of vitamins and minerals and guidelines for good health suggest you should have at least 5 helpings a day.
Drink plenty of water! Recent research has shown that drinking a lot of water will actually help the fat to be flushed from your body. In addition it helps clear your system - you'll see how good your skin gets! Cutting down on salt and drinking more water will actually help to avoid uncomfortable bloating. Also, we often snack when we think we are hungry but we are actually thirsty. Have a glass of water before you have a snack - just to see! Try to drink about 4 pints or 2 1/2 litres of water a day. If you drink tea or coffee drink an additional 1/2 pint of water for each cup - as tea and coffee are both diaretics (they push water out of your body which can lead to bloating).
Need a little help with your counting? Not sure how many calories there are in what you're about to eat? Why not buy this useful calorie counter book for under a fiver that's got 4/5 stars on Amazon when rated by people who've bought it? Just click on the book to find out more.
This site was featured in Woman's Own Diet Special™ Magazine as one of the Top Ten Diet Sites!