Tips for Adding Fiber to Your Diet

- Eat fresh fruits and vegetables rather than juices.

- Keep skin on fruit and be sure to eat it.

- Choose unprocessed foods over processed ones.

- Select whole grain foods when possible.

One additional note here… it is important to increase amount of water you are drinking as you increase amount of fiber in your diet, again to ensure proper digestion and to avoid uncomfortable symptoms.

Sugar and Sugar Substitutes

Is sugar really bad for you? In a word, yes! Sugar isn’t really bad, but it certainly doesn’t provide you with any nutrients or high quality vitamins and minerals. Most people have trouble losing weight because their diets are jam packed full of sugar.

Sugar is in everything, particularly foods that have been overly processed. Think sugar isn’t in Chinese take out you ordered other night? Think again! Sugar serves one purpose when you are trying to lose weight… it packs on calories!

Eating too much sugar will also help disrupt your blood sugar levels, causing your blood sugar to rapidly rise and fall again, which (you guessed it) will help contribute to weight gain by making you hungry more of time.

So what can you do to reduce your intake of sugar? First and foremost you should work to eliminate amount of processed food that you eat. Whenever possible you should be consuming foods that are in their natural state. This includes plenty of lean meats, fruits and vegetables. Anything that comes in a box that is microwaveable is a processed food item.

Even pre-made pancakes are processed! Have you ever looked at ingredients on side of box? You will undoubtedly run into ‘sugar’ at some point or another. Many cereals also contain large amounts of sugar.

Make your own pancakes if you can with flour, milk and eggs. Another thing you can to do help facilitate your weight loss is start reading labels. If you read before you buy you are less likely to add things to your cart that are high in calories due to added sugar.

If you have a sweet tooth, you might consider sugar substitutes. Some popular selections include Splenda and NutraSweet. Some people also substitute honey for sugar. Honey is actually a better choice than sugar because people tend to use less and It is low in calories.

Eat Slowly and Thoughtfully

Far too many people eat while they are on go. Even more eat while they are watching television.

This is actually one of number one things you can do that will sabotage your diet. Time and time again studies have shown that people tend to eat more when they eat in front of TV. Why? Well for one you are eating absentmindedly.

So what can you do to avoid mindless eating? First and foremost turn off television. If at all possible you should strive to sit down and enjoy your meal whenever possible.

Now, we certainly understand that you have a new baby, and are very busy. Baby’s needs usually get addressed before mommy’s. However, EVERYONE has ten minutes in day where they can slow down long enough to eat. When you eat it is important that you do so thoughtfully.

The first thing you should do is actually inhale your food. Smell it. Simply smelling your food sends signals to your brain that you are fulfilling your biological need to eat, and will help trigger your satiety signals when you are full, helping prevent overeating.

The next thing you need to do is actually chew your food. Take a bite and chew your food thoroughly. In hub to get things done most people don’t actually chew there food, they inhale it. Chewing your food thoroughly will help saliva break down food you are eating and help you feel full faster. People who actually chew there food tend to fill up much faster than those that don’t.

You should also learn to enjoy your food. Savor every taste. Take note of texture of food you are eating. This is what is known as mindful eating, and like chewing your food, it will help you avoid over-eating because you are paying more attention to what you are eating rather than simply gorging yourself.

Pre-Cook Meals

Any experienced mom will tell you value of pre-cooked meals. Meals you cook ahead of time are meals that are readily available when chaos breaks lose and you no longer have time to cook a proper meal for you and your family.

Consider taking one day of week to prep a bunch of meals for that week. If you pre-plan you meals, you have time to ensure that everything you are preparing is cooked in a healthy, low fat and high nutrient manner.

If you have never been much of a cook in past, consider purchasing a low fat cookbook and trying out a few recipes. There are many versions out there that offering easy cooking recipes for people on go.

Any meals you prepare ahead of time you can break down into single serving or multiple serving sizes and place in freezer for later consumption.

How does pre-cooking help you lose weight? If you have meals prepared ahead of time, you are less likely to order a pizza or some other unhealthy food on spur of moment because you don’t have a lot of time to prepare a full meal.

Pre-cooking meals will also enable you to better control portion sizes. You can decide ahead of time how much food is right amount, and keep track of caloric content of foods you are preparing.

Consider a sitter. You might need to have someone come in for an hour per day to watch your baby while you work out. Not sure who to ask? Consider parents, grandparents, friends, neighbors. You can even put an ad out in your local paper. If you have friends with older children, you might ask one of them if they have any children with experience watching young children. Many gyms also offer daycare for parents who need an hour to work out, as do many local recreation centers.

Take just ten minutes. If you are truly time deprived, you can still get a great work out in for day in 10 minute intervals. There are no hard and fast rules that state that you have to work out 30 minutes in a row for exercise to be effective. If you have just 10 free minutes in your day, consider climbing some stairs or going for a brisk walk. Do that two to three times per day and you have worked in a full blown work out.

Consider home work out videos. You can pop these easily into your VHS or DVD player and work out from convenience of you home, saving travel time and much more. There are even many videos that are targeted toward moms, where you can work out with your newborn!