A few days ago my mom had a meeting with a personal trainer. As they were talking about her eating habits in my kitchen, I could hear her explaining a typical meal of hers: “some salad, a piece of meat, some vegetables….” Even from my room I couldn’t help but shake my head at what she forgot to mention: half a brick of cheese, a loaf of bread, a quart of olive oil....
It’s not that I think my mom was purposely lying to the trainer, I just think that (like most people) she probably doesn’t realize how often she subconsciously consumes food. A moderately active, 150 lb female should consume around 2000 calories a day. Unfortunately, these calories can come quicker than you would expect. To get an idea of how much 2000 calories is, write down every single thing you eat and drink for a day (along with the quantity and portion size) and go to a calorie-counting site such as http://www.thecaloriecounter.com/ to figure out how many calories this comes out to. If you’re above 2000 you should probably make some adjustments to your diet. If you’re below 2000 then you’re probably in a pretty good range.
Of course, how “healthy” you are is not always represented by the amount of calories you intake. If you’re getting 2000 calories from Cheetos and diet Coke then that’s probably not the best thing either. I will talk about the breakdown of fats, carbs, and protein your body needs in a following post. In the meantime, here’s a list of simple ways to cut empty calories out of your diet:
• Avoid creamy salad dressings (try using balsamic vinegar instead)
• Use a cooking spray such as Pam instead of butter or olive oil
• Avoid putting mayo, Sub sauce, or any other dressings on your sandwiches (use mustard instead)
• Switch to skim or 1% milk
• Limit your cheese intake to one serving a day (you won’t believe the amount of calories cheese has)
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Good on you for starting a blog. Clever name, btw.
ReplyDeleteOf course, it'll probably be as relevant to me as mine is to you, but that doesn't mean I won't read it!
Q: I melt margarine in the pan instead of using oil or butter. Should I use cooking spray instead or is there much diff?
Hmm good question. The debate on margarine is one that will probably continue for many years. One second it is a low-calorie butter alternative, the next it is the devil. Personally I don't use the stuff because I grew up using butter and I heard that margarine is one element away from being plastic (which is weird to think about). That being said, I don't think it's going to kill you, but from a strictly calorie perspective cooking spray is still your best bet. :) Thanks for the question!
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