12 Rules of Maintaining a Healthy Diet

The quickly made modern food, also known as "Fast Food", have made it quite hard to keep a healthy diet in a day-to-day manner. Who would want to eat a green salad when they could order in a matter of seconds a hamburger at McDonalds' or a pizza at Pizza Hut? These are the challenges of today's society, but what most people don't know is that they don't have to sacrifice eating what they like in order to maintain a healthy diet. In fact, you can keep eating almost the same but with minor changes just by following our 12 rules of maintaining a healthy diet:

Rule #1: Find out the amount of calories your body needs to function.
The amount of calories your body needs in order to function widely varies, mainly upon your physical activities and your metabolism. If you feel that you have a slow metabolism then try to eat around 2000 calories a day if you're a man and 1500 a day if you're a woman. Another factor is your body mass, more calories are suitable for people who are naturally bigger and less calories for smaller people.

Rule #2: Don't be scared of fatty foods. In order for your body to function correctly, you must consume fat from fatty foods. Though, it is very important to choose the correct kinds of fats: LDL Cholesterol is the "bad" fat which is consumed by most animal fats and certain vegetable oils. HDL Cholesterol is the "good" fat which can be found in olive oil, fish oil and nuts. Adding these "good" fats to your diet can reduce your cholesterol levels and thus, your risk of heart disease.

Rule #3: Carbohydrates are very important. Your body's main source of energy is your carbs. It is important to choose the right carbs. Simple carbohydrates like sugar are absorbed quickly in the digestive system resulting in a "carbohydrates overload" which releases high amounts of insulin to fight it. Insulin is bad for your heart and causes fat gainage. Eat those types of carbs that are slowly digested by the body like whole grain flour, oats and unprocessed grains.

Rule #4: Eat large meals early in the day. At the end of the evening your body becomes slower at digesting food which finally means more body fat.

Rule #5: Always eat breakfast. A huge mistake is skipping breakfast which is done too often. According to past research, it is proven that people who don't eat breakfast are fatter than people who do. Even if you don't feel hungry in the morning, not eating breakfast will cause you to eat more food at lunch time which finally results in more body fat.

Rule #6: Make eating time fun. Enjoy not only the food, but also the meal. Eating your meal with your family is more satisfying than eating it at work or at the car.

Rule #7: Buy more reduced fat or non-fat foods. The main key for this rule is "Control". Control what type of fats you supply your body.

Rule #8: Cheat meals are OK (once in a while). A cheat meal once a week will not hurt anyone. This does not mean to eat all the wrong foods you find the whole day, but you can definitely eat a slice of pizza or a chocolate cake once a week in order to get used to the diet change.

Rule #9: Alcohol is a no-no. Alcohol is not only bad for your body, but also for your will power. A heavy drinking experience can make you want to eat all the bad food you can find.

Rule #10: Avoid the trap! Do not even buy fatty snacks like chips. The reason is because the minute you try once it is really hard to give in.

Rule #11: There is also a red line for losing weight. Being too much underweight is not a good thing unless you are naturally small.

Rule #12: Eating slowly is always better. Eating slowly will get you satisfied with less calorie intake. So take your time, you are not in a hurry to get anywhere.

Follow these 12 steps and you will start maintaining a healthy diet in no time.