Editor’s note: This article is presented for informational purposes only. It should not be construed as medical advice or prescriptive nutrition. Rather, the tips featured in this article are offered to produce healthy, sustainable habits for the general population. If you have known health issues or feel that your dietary needs are of a more specialized variety, speak with your doctor.
—
Dieting has such an unpleasant connotation. People think about being miserable and hungry all the time. They fear the possibility of never eating a French fry again. Then, they stress eat way too many French fries, and whatever diet they had been on gets blown out of the water. Oh well. You can always start over on Monday, right?
It’s a vicious, self-defeating cycle that most men are all too familiar with. Fortunately, it doesn’t need to be that way. Sustainable habits allow you to maintain a healthy weight while still enjoying the foods you love. Read on to learn more!
What’s age got to do with anything?
Something tells us the person asking that question isn’t twenty-two. The truth is that the older you get, the more important it is to think about what you put into your body. Your metabolism begins to slow. Your blood pressure may become a little testy. Things change. The tips in this article are designed to be flexible enough to apply well to readers of every age. Modify them as you see fit so that they can accommodate your goals, as well as your physical needs. Not only is this good for your health but it helps to eliminate waste that can negatively impact the environment and food insecurity.
Get Smart About Calories
Cutting calories is a tricky business. We know, of course, that this is how you lose weight. When your body reaches a state of caloric deficiency, it begins to burn fat for energy.
What’s bad about that?
It also burns muscle mass. Even if your goal isn’t to be a beefcake, you need your muscles for long-term health. Simply having ample muscle mass burns calories. That’s what people essentially mean when they say that exercise boosts your metabolism. Cutting some calories is ok, but you need to be smart about how you do it. Don’t make yourself too hungry: It’s easy to make bad dietary choices when you’re starved all the time. Instead, eat three carefully portioned, well-balanced meals a day. You’ll be less prone to snacking, and you’ll feel better throughout the day.
Make exercise a regular part of your life: A little bit of daily exercise is the key ingredient to a healthy lifestyle. This is where your body figures out what to do with all of that energy you give it when you eat. Most experts recommend mixing your exercise up. Not only will this help you avoid injury and burnout, but it will also ensure that your entire body is getting targeted.
When you pick the right foods and exercise regularly, you’ll find that you can eat as much as you ever did and still maintain a healthy weight.
Avoid Crash Diets
While it would be rude to name names, it seems that there is always some dietary fad or another that is making the rounds. They get good publicity because some people will find legitimately excellent results from them.
For example, you can cut weight by eliminating carbs and focusing all of your eating on lean protein. That’s great in the short term, but what happens if you slip up? Or if you find out that this diet isn’t giving you all the nutrition you need?
What happens is this: you start adding new foods into your diet, and even though you’re not doing anything wild, your weight begins to tick up. Weight loss that stems from crash dieting lasts only for as long as you stick to the program.
That’s why systems like Weight Watchers . . .
My mom uses Weight Watchers! She’s eighty-two.
And may she live another twenty! It’s not a glamorous system, but it’s sustainable because it emphasizes moderation above all things. When it comes to your long-term health, it’s important to opt for diets that you are comfortable sticking to basically forever.
Think Carefully About Your Meat
While meat can be an important part of a healthy diet, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. The first is that it will usually have more saturated fat than leaner sources of protein, like beans, tofu, or egg whites.
Fat in your food has an easier time becoming fat on your body, which can contribute to weight gain.
It’s also worth keeping in mind that meat production is an enormous contributor to carbon emissions. If you want to do a favor for mother earth and also improve your health, think about cutting back on your meat intake.
Cheat Night
Finally, it’s important to let yourself indulge from time to time. While everyone will ultimately need to set their boundaries, it’s important to allow for the occasional indulgence. This accomplishes several things:
Indulges improve your attitude: No one enjoys being on a diet. But when it starts to come at the cost of personal experience, that diet may no longer be sustainable. Did your apparently eighty-two-year-old mom invite you over for lasagna? Have a slice. It won’t kill you. The same goes for nights out with friends. Birthday parties, and so on. If you have a vibrant social life, you may need to pick and choose when you indulge, but letting yourself have some fun doesn’t hurt anything.
Cheat night makes it easier to say no: Let’s say you schedule your cheat night. Every Saturday evening, anything goes when it comes to food. Knowing this may fortify you on Wednesday when Becky comes by your cubicle with a box of donuts.
Anything goes on Saturday nights?
Ok, that’s a bit of an overstatement. But there’s only so much damage you can do with a single meal. Even a hearty dinner accompanied by a little bit of dessert won’t undo an entire week of sensible eating. And if it gives you the fortification you need to make good choices for all your other meals, it’s well worth the extra calories.
—
This post is made possible by Andrew Deen.
Photo by Ella Olsson on Unsplash
The post Sustainable Eating for Men of All Ages appeared first on The Good Men Project.