Your Weight Loss Depends Upon Good Nutrition

Weight loss is a desired commodity in the United States. To conquer your personal weight loss war, nutrition needs to be a major player. Healthy eating is a key component in attaining your weight loss goals. Exercise alone can achieve only so much-and, sometimes, nothing! No amount of exercise is going to help slenderize your figure if you choose to regularly eat large amounts of junk food. And eating a regular supply of junk food will soon crash your energy levels, making exercise a thing of the past. Supplemental vitamins and minerals aren't a bad idea, but relying on a daily pill may cause you to be careless about the quality of foods digested. This carelessness will beckon your old eating habits back in a flash. Guess what that means? Weight gain (again)!

Now that you're convinced that proper nutrition (along with regular exercise) is the way to go, how can your body achieve optimal nutrition? For starters, you might want to add just a serving of vegetables a day. A gradual change in your diet can help you stick with it a lot better than going cold turkey. (Speaking of turkey, it's a great food to eat-plenty of B vitamins to give you extra energy, zinc to strengthen your immune system, and selenium to help repair DNA cells.)

Don't forget about portion control. A serving of meat is, on average, three ounces; this is roughly the size of a deck of cards. Three ounces of fish is the size of a checkbook. Having pancakes on Sunday morning? Keep in mind that a pancake portion is the same diameter as a compact disk, or CD. A serving of cheese is the equivalent of four standard dice. Vegetables and fruits have their own serving sizes, too-but, really, what are the chances of exceeding your optimal daily caloric intake on lettuce and strawberries?

There is an interesting book that covers the topic of nutritious foods entitled SuperFoods. Written recently (in 2004) by Dr. Steven Pratt and Kathy Matthews, SuperFoods explains why certain foods act as powerful players in achieving a healthy body. Ways to incorporate the book's fourteen SuperFoods are discussed in detail (without becoming boring). The best parts about this book are its straight-forward language and its relevant information. This is definitely a must-read if good nutrition is high on your list of priorities. Happy (and healthy) eating!