General Guidelines for Weight Management and Good Health

In this era of high protein and/or low-carb foods, there seems to be a great deal of confusion among the consumers as to what would be the ideal diet for losing and maintaining weight. The consumers are often influenced by the food industry marketing campaigns branding their low-carb although processed foods. On the other hand, there are numerous diet pills in the pharmacy stores claiming to activate metabolism. The lack of knowledge on the consumers' side in terms of selection of healthy foods often leads their buying decisions to be influenced by these marketing nudges.

The other problem that is contributing to the obesity epidemic is the fast-food lifestyle in the western world, and now catching up in other parts of the world as well. We all know by now that fast food is fattening, yet we sometimes settle for that. One contributing reason for this is the lack of time to cook food due to stressful and fast lifestyle in the western world. Another reason being, although sad to admit but fast food is cheaper than the healthy food. The third reason is perhaps that fast food eating places are more accessible to the consumers than the healthy food places. Imagine a situation when during your long workday, you have only fifteen minutes to eat your lunch and you don't want to drive too far, and you don't want to spend a lot of money as you often eat outside and are already spending a lot of money on your food bills, a fast food eating place conveniently across the street from your work place comes out to be the best option. Sad but true.

Weight loss and weight maintenance are neither magic nor difficult, they're simple. They are simply an adoption of healthier lifestyle, which comprises of both optimal nutrition and exercise. On the nutrition side, one has to cut down on the total calorie intake while still obtaining all other required nutrients. The nutrients to cut-back for decreased calories are bad carbs, saturated fats, salt and sugar. The nutrients to increase in the diet are good carbs, proteins, fiber and water. A good balanced diet should also contain 7 to 9 servings of fruits and vegetables per day to obtain all the required vitamins, minerals, fiber, anti-oxidant carotenoids and other phytonutrients. In case you are not able to consume these many fruits and vegetables servings daily, it is advisable to take multi-vitamin supplements to compensate for that. Your diet should also include drinking 70 to 80 ounces of water per day. Instead of eating 1 to 2 big meals a day, one should take 3 to 5 small well-balanced meals. And last but not least, one should exercise for 15 to 20 minutes a day. This should preferably be aerobic exercise, if not daily at least 3 to 5 times a week.

Following these guidelines above would, in my opinion, represent best nutrition to lose weight, maintain weight, and staying healthy. Remember, it is the quality of life that is more important than anything else.