Watch Out For Those Calories By Brenda Williams At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

I can still remember a time when my dad went through a diet phase in which he carried this little calorie-counter food book with him wherever he went. He wanted to be as informed as possible when it came to how many calories were in the food he was consuming. It was really annoying. We are talking about someone who ran and completed several New York City marathons as well as various cycling races. Why did he suddenly need to concern himself with calorie counting? It turns out, my dad was not alone.

Today, there are many people who obsess over the number of calories that they are consuming when the truth of the matter is that you don't need a book or an “expert” to tell you what foods are healthy. There are some who would argue in favor of the calorie counting method, touting that dieting and proper diet is a science. While there may be some truth to this, the fact remains that at the end of the day no one knows best what to eat than you. For example, when you pull up to a fast food window at a popular fast food restaurant, no one is telling you to do this. Why, nowadays, most (if not all) of the fast food restaurants have their full menus online, complete with nutrition information so that you can see just how bad or good you are eating when you order a meal from them.

The best way to know that you are getting sufficient calories from the right food sources is to vary the types of food that you are eating. Obviously, you don't want to sit down to a breakfast that is overloaded in refined sugar or consume a dinner that is really high in fat. Therefore, it makes sense to educate yourself first about the various food groups, what they are known for and what the various terms are. For example, you should know that “refined sugar” foods refer to foods that are sugary and have very little nutritional value. Items such as doughnuts, cookies, cakes, creams and most cereal would make up this category. Then there are the foods that may be high in protein but even higher in fat. Examples of this would include things like a triple cheeseburger from a fast food restaurant, etc. You don't want to deny yourself the occasional hamburger or sweet treat, but it should be in moderation as well as infrequently.

On the other hand, when it comes to watching your calorie intake, you don't want to be too strict with yourself, because then you are just setting yourself up for failure. I suggest that you are setting yourself up for failure because you are not setting realistic goals or expectations for yourself. For instance, a person who wants to enter a bodybuilding competition or who wants to become a model may eat very little or may eat only a specific diet. However, after a period of time, that diet becomes old, the person becomes bored, or they may simply lose the willpower to keep going. The result? The pounds start packing back on. All of the foods that you had been denying yourself will come back with a vengeance; the cookies, cakes, tv dinners and deliciously unhealthy fast food will become your best friend, and then you'll have a real problem.

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