What to eat and what not to eat, that is the question…

First of all, not all healthy foods are optimal for losing weight, and even more importantly, many “diet� foods are not good for your health!

Processed diet foods often contain artificial ingredients up the wazoo, many of which can be harmful to your health, such as hydrogenated oils. They also contain still more ingredients with questionable effects on your health, like artificial sweeteners, preservatives, and colorants.

There’s no question that you need to make healthy fats and whole grains part of your daily diet. However, any healthy heart benefits you might gain from chowing down on bowl after bowl of walnuts and cashews might be lost by the extra pounds you’re putting on in the process.

On the other hand, filling your body with only fat free diet products might help you knock off a few pounds, but it could leave your body without the nutrients it needs and might end up causing serious problems down the line. Sudden weight loss is not a good thing, and is often a sign of a serious illness.

This is why it’s essential to balance a weight loss plan with your health needs.

Often people think, “I’ve been doing well on my diet. I deserve a little treat.� This is true. Treating yourself and avoiding deprivation can help keep you on track. However, if you reach for some highly processed food full of hydrogenated oils or something rich in saturated fats, it’s like you’re saying, “As long as I look okay… who cares about the rest?�

Whether you’re trying to lose weight or not, you should always be eating healthy. The best way to accomplish this is to banish all unhealthy foods from your home.

In my kitchen I make sure to keep corn for popping, plenty of fruit, a bar of dark chocolate with at least 80-85% of antioxidant rich chocolate solids, low-fat yogurt, whole grain crackers and crisp bread, honey, and dried fruit.

If the urge hits me to snack, I can make a bowl of popcorn or have a square or two of dark chocolate or some rye crackers slathered in honey. This is not diet food, especially if I eat all these things in one day! However, these snacks won’t harm my health the way pre-packaged junk food or fast food will.

Also, it’s good policy to make a few ground rules about food with your family. For example, my husband and I agreed to eat the chocolate only together. This is for my benefit, since he by no means needs to watch his weight. Also, he doesn’t have an eating disorder, so he doesn’t crave food the way I do.

This helps me regulate my intake of chocolate, as dark as it may be, by saying, “You want a piece of chocolate?� Usually he says yes, and we each break off a square. However, sometimes he just doesn’t feel like it (which I will never understand!). I kind of resent the chocolate agreement for a millisecond and then decide, okay, we’ll have a piece later.

You can only count calories for so long before you start to go a little insane. My theory is that it’s okay to not count calories one day, but that doesn’t mean you should start stuffing your face with the most unhealthy things around, just because they look good.

For me, a non-dieting day might include an over abundance of mono- and poly-unsaturated fats in the form of excess olive oil on my popcorn or extra cashew butter on my rye crackers or perhaps carbohydrate rich yam fries and a piece of turkey baked in the oven with plenty of olive oil and garlic.

Having days when I eat like this won’t knock off any numbers on the scale, but it will keep me eating healthy and contribute to long term permanent weight loss. When trying to reach permanent weight loss goals it’s essential to remember to treat your body well. Don’t starve yourself and then exercise until you drop, and don’t punish yourself by putting yourself in a situation where you will wallow in guilt after a quick spin through the all night drive-thru.

Keep your fridge and cupboards full of nutritious and tasty foods to keep you satiated and your heart healthy. It’s easier to stick to your goals if you’re working each day to be healthy instead of torturing yourself to be thin.