Free Diet Tips & Weight Loss Info

Diet means proper food.  The food taken by every person during every meal should be wholesome, tasty and nutritious. The body needs carbohydrates, protiens, fats minerals, vitamins in various proportions to remain healthy. Not all food items contain all the above essential ingredients.  They are rich in one or two of these items only.  Therefore it becomes necessary that the food intake should be balanced so that all the above essential ingredients are taken in the right proportion.  The various food items that are taken both in cooked form and also without being cooked are vegetables, fruits, nuts, meat, fish, poultry, cereals, pulses green vegetables, whole grains etc. Some of these are rich in carbohydrates, some in proteins others in fats etc.  One food that supplies all the essential ingredients is mother’s milk.

A breakup of the daily requirements for the body, of all the essential ingredients will be quite interesting.  Carbohydrates, being the biggest source of energy constitute about 50 to 60% of everyday food.  In terms of weight it is about 300 to 600 Gms every day.  Every day the body needs about 40 Gms  of protein, fat at about 20 to 30% of each day’s intake of calories, minerals about 3 to 5 % of body weight, fibers 25 to 30%, 6 to 8% of water form the basis of good nutritional diet.

Carbohydrates can be found in all products right from rice, wheat, corn etc. Meat contains the highest percentage of proteins compared to others.  Fat is found in milk, cream, fish, eggs, red meat etc.  The various minerals that the body needs and which are found in various quantities in various forms are calcium, iron, manganese, sodium, potassium, carbon, iodine, zinc etc. Milk is rich in calcium.  Other minerals are found in meat, fruits, leafy vegetables, sea food etc.  Vitamins are usually extracted from wheat, yeast or liver.  Properly balancing the diet and taking the advice of a dietician if required will help in maintaining a healthy body.

The proportion of various items mentioned is of a general nature and they vary according to the person’s activity. Thus they will be different for athletes, people who engage in physical labor, office goers, other sportspersons, writers etc.  Studies have shown that on an average a person’s intake of calories everyday should be 1600, provided he leads an active life.  After crossing the age of 50, this requirement comes to about 10% for every 10 years.

Breakfast is the most important food.  Food for breakfast varies from country to country and from person to person.  In the present day many people are not able to stick to any particular timing for taking food and they grab whatever they can get when they get the time. This has lead to dietary problems and other health related problems. Over weight, flatulence and obesity are common problems caused by not having a proper diet and in the right proportions. Because of this problem, these days the word diet is for diet foods which usually kill the person’s appetite for food and reduces his food intake.

Diet means good nutrition, for maintaining the body in good health which will also help the person to remain mentally healthy.

Dieting during pregnancy is not recommended by any doctor. It is better if you follow a diet after delivery of the child. However you can be on diet during early stages of pregnancy and it is advised to consult your doctor to know whether you can be on diet when you are pregnant.

Generally women have less chance to conceive when they are overweight. It is not good if you are overweight during the stages of pregnancy since it may lead to complications like blood pressure and diabetics. It is most common that normal women may develop blood pressure during their pregnancy and that too obese women may develop gestational diabetics or pre-epilepsy which may damage the development of your baby. However, it is not good for a woman who maintains healthy weight for her age to lose weight when she has intention to become pregnant. Many women feel that they gain more weight during the course of pregnancy and hence in order to minimize the effect of gaining more weight they starve a lot to lose weight. Since you carry the fetus with you it is necessary to take nutritious food for keeping the baby healthy. If you are going to be on diet when you are pregnant it will affect the baby to be born. Hence it is vital that you consume nutrient rich foods during pregnancy for delivering a healthy baby. You have to follow the medications and food items prescribed by your doctor for having a healthy baby. If you still follow a diet during pregnancy you are inviting unwanted trouble of delivering a baby which is malnourished.

The baby inside you may require lot of nutrition during the developmental stage. Also your body will undergo lot of physiological changes when you are pregnant. It is true that you will put on weight during the stage of pregnancy which will gradually come down once the baby is delivered. Though dieting should be avoided when you have conceived still it is strongly recommended that you should monitor the foods you are eating. As per the doctor’s advice you should avoid taking lot of sugars and carbohydrates but have rich and nutritious food needed for your baby’s development. Eating too much of fried items and fat rich foods should be avoided. It will induce weight gain and also develop digestive problems.

You can be on diet after your delivery but it should be monitored carefully. Since you are breastfeeding the baby following a strict diet is not advisable. It may cause irreparable damage to your child and your health. You may need lot of nutritious food till you feed the baby. You need not worry much about the weight gain since it will automatically come down 4 months after delivery. You should always follow your gynecologist advice regarding your diet. Even after 6 months of birth, you still continue to gain weight it is time to consider a healthy diet to reduce those extra pounds. You can do some exercises if you delivered the baby without undergoing operation.