One of the growing major concerns for peoples’ health, especially in the developed countries, is the large number of clinically overweight people. Weight problems have been linked with chronic heart disease, liver problems, hypertension, as well as certain forms of cancer.
Weight problems arise from the typical way of life where people devote little to no time to physical activities. Coupled with largely unhealthy eating habits, mainly fast food, foods that contain large quantities of sugar, saturated fats, very few dietary fibers, as well as a low percentage of nutrients.
The more common ly available foods in most supermarkets, along with prices friendly to all incomes, make unhealthy foods even more popular. Everything from simple donuts, to fatty red meats, like bacon, as well as the eager use of butter in many ready-to-eat foods and the prevalence of recipes rich in sodium, fat, and carbohydrates in peoples’ daily eating rituals, all contribute to a steady decline in the quality of health of a person.
In order to change those habits and avoid health problems arising from being overweight, and naturally preventing such a situation to occur, the simplest way is for people to turn to a diet of dishes made from low calorie recipes, as well as follow some simple guidelines.
Meals should, in general, be many and evenly distributed during the course of the day. That means that there should be five to six meals during a day, definitely including breakfast, brunch and lunch. These meals should be followed by a light afternoon snack, and a very light evening meal. What is important to keep in mind is that the body has higher demands in the morning, and lower demands in the evening. So, a hearty breakfast with lots of energy that will be easily absorbed and used, is encouraged, while a late evening eating marathon should be avoided at all costs.
When preparing a meal, whether it be breakfast or lunch, or when picking something ready to eat, you should, as a rule of thumb, avoid anything that contains sugar, fats, lots of carbohydrates and anything fried as it will inevitably contain lots of saturated fats. You should though prefer vegetables, fruits, anything with lots of fibers, as well as switch to rye or whole wheat bread.
Your cooking habits should change and throw everything remotely related to frying right out the window. Sweets are also a no go, unless they are made with only few quantities of vegetable butter and honey or fructose instead of sugar. Switch from red meats to white meats, like poultry and fish.
You do not have to become a whole-hearted vegan, but you do have to include lots of vegetables in your dishes, especially steamed or boiled, since they are a very good source of fibers, nutrients, are very low on calories and are generally bulky and tend to fill up a stomach more easily. You will find there are many low calorie recipes out there, and quite tasty as well.