- Cutting down on food and calorie intake without giving enough proper nutrition to your body.
Skipping breakfast is a common example. It puts your body into starvation mode and slows down your metabolism. You need to replenish the nutrients your body used up during your sleep. This is why your breakfast must be your most nutritious meal for the day.
You might be eating less food thinking it helps you lose weight. Instead, cut down on the calories but increase your nutrient intake. This may mean eating more food, but the ones which are low-calorie and nutrient-packed. You need to eat 7 to 9 servings of fruits and vegetables everyday. You can even take nutritional supplements to ensure you get proper nutrition in your busy lifestyle.
- Eating to feel full without getting proper nutrition.
You usually eat until you feel full. You do not consider the nutrition you get or do not get. It is best for you to eat the right quantity and quality of food. You should eat to control your hunger and satisfy the needs of the trillions of cells in your body. Use your mind, not your taste buds, to control and determine your health.
- Spending money on delicious food that makes you overweight or unhealthy.
When you get recommendations to eat more fruits and vegetables or take nutritional supplements, you feel deprived of the pleasure you get from eating your favorite food. You feel you are better off spending your hard-earned money on an extra hotdog or your daily cup of high-calorie coffee beverage or pastry for dessert. This should not be the case since your priority is your health.
Explore recipes and dining places that provide you delicious and healthy meals.
- Finishing your "platter" of food or eating more food to get your money's worth.
When you go to a restaurant or a party, you eat your heart out. You eat much more when you pay for a buffet or when food is free. You prefer to go to places that give large servings at lower costs instead of going to places that offer nutritious food.
Put enough nutritious food on your plate. Eat a colorful variety of fruits and vegetables. Patronize dining places that help you boost your health, not your stomach. Get your money's real worth! Get the nutrition you deserve!
- You "do not have" time to exercise.
We all have 24-hours a day. You do not realize that some of your daily activities could be turned into healthy exercises. A 10-minute brisk walk to the office, parking lot, or bus station is a good aerobic work-out. You may not realize you can integrate simple work-outs into your routines. Simple squats, stretching, and/or deep breathing can be done while blow-drying your hair or while waiting in line. Doing two or three 10-minute work-outs per day can do wonders to our health and weight loss program.
- Eating "low-fat" or "reduced-fat" food without knowing that you are getting too much calories and fats but little nutrition.
You justify your food choices using these marketing terms. But you eat two or more servings resulting to oversupply of calories. You may get empty calories because some of food items are low in micronutrients. Millions of people eat low-fat food without knowing that their body converts and stores excess carbohydrates into body fats.
Know what you must put in your body. Choose wisely. Make nutrition your priority!
- Thinking that your weight management program ends once you reach your target weight.
You then celebrate and reward yourself with some ice cream and cake. You go back to your old eating habits. You gain back the weight you lost. You might even end up being heavier than the weight you had before you started with your weight-loss program.
Improve your dietary habits and lifestyle towards optimum wellness. Health is not a destination. It is a life-long journey. Your life-long journey.
- Undergoing a medical procedure without changing your dietary habits and lifestyle.
You choose to take the short-cut out of convenience or desperation. You would rather get a liposuction or bariatric surgery. Such short-cuts are short-lived. You will soon gain more weight. It is simply a matter of time. The real solution is to develop healthy eating habits and get proper nutrition. Better yet, integrate exercises into your lifestyle.
- Believing that your genes are the cause of your size and health condition.
It is such an easy excuse and others believe it. The truth is you can improve your shape and health by changing your dietary habits and lifestyle. Genes are only responsible for 20% to 30% of your health. The bigger percentage is something you control, which covers your dietary habits and lifestyle.
- Choosing to take medicines for life rather than changing your dietary habits and lifestyle.
You readily accept to take medication because it is cheap, free, or covered by a health insurance. You eat delicious (but unhealthy) food. Your medicine is right there in your pocket ready to be taken in when you feel your heart is pumping harder. You are actually abusing your body.
Your medication targets a health condition. But it may damage your liver, kidney, or another body organ. It may only treat a symptom instead of treating the root cause. You end up with complications. Is this the price of convenience that you are willing to pay for?
