You may be wondering about how to start a healthy low fat diet. Or perhaps your doctor has diagnosed you with a medical condition that requires you to adopt a low fat diet. Whatever your reason is, there are few things you can do to get started:
The first thing is to be realistic. If losing weight is your goal, focus on achieving short-term goals to reach your final target weight. Celebrating these small victories will feed the excitement of your weight loss journey, and keep you motivated. When starting a low fat diet, it's important to understand what you're putting in your body and how it affects you.
Understanding a little bit about how your body processes food and burns calories will do wonders for your discipline and dedication. This will also help you avoid the perils of unhealthy crash-dieting, which at best will get you short term, temporary weight loss, and at worst will have you in a hospital bed.
Second, be sure to always eat breakfast. You've probably heard the saying that "breakfast is the most important meal of the day." Well, it's true, and it's an important part of a low fat diet. Eating a breakfast meal consisting of a whole-grain cereal with low fat or fat free milk, yogurt and fresh fruit will provide you with the vitamins and minerals you need to start your day. It will also enable you to maintain healthy and steady blood sugar levels until lunchtime.
Third, drink plenty of water. Water is essential for smooth digestion, and will also help you feel content for longer periods of time. At times, it can be easy to confuse thirst for hunger, so having a bottle of water close by, and drinking it often will most likely result in you eating less.
Fourth, plan to replace at least one meat-based meal with a vegetable-based meal each week. A hearty and delicious three-bean chili may be just the thing, or perhaps some pasta with grilled vegetables is more up your alley - two great options for a low fat diet.
Fifth, eat fish once or twice a week at a minimum. Fish is naturally low in fat, and certain fish (such as salmon) contain high levels of wholesome omega-3 fatty acids.
Sixth, eat healthy, low fat snacks. When you feel an attack of the munchies coming on, be sure to reach for alimental snacks like fruit, whole-grain crackers, low-fat yogurt, raw veggies, or air-popped popcorn. An occasional cookie or chocolate snack is not the end of the world. Just make them the exception and not the norm. You may decide to save these special snacks for weekends only. Ultimately, if you make over your pantry, and eliminate the junk food, it will make sticking to a low fat diet much easier.
You can find a comprehensive list of low fat foods here.
Finally, be active and get moving. There are so many little things you can do to increase your physical activity. Take an evening walk after dinner. Work in some calisthenics while you watch your favorite TV show. Ride your bike through a scenic park. Or join a gym. You don't necessarily need to become a workout-warrior to achieve your fitness goals, but regular exercise and physical activity is the best friend of a low fat diet. Consult with a doctor before beginning vigorous physical activity, particularly if you have been largely inactive until now. If you need essay editing service and proofreading you can check my latest articles.