Easy and Effective Diet Adjustments

Dieting doesn’t have to be complicated and overwhelming. That’s often just a recipie for failure anyway. Usually, a few simple adjustments can go a long way towards helping that spare-tire deflate. Before committing to some grandiose dieting scheme that involves a complete lifestyle change, why not try a few simple tweaks here and there first?

Diet Sodas instead of Regular Sodas

Did you know that most n0n-diet sodas have between 120-150 calories? Even if you only drink one or two non-diet sodas per day, that’s nearly a half a pound of body weight per week. Remember, a pound of body weight is equivelent to 3,500 calories. So that means some people drink dozens of body-weight pounds in the form of sugary sodas each year. That’s so senseless! I know they taste better than the diet drinks, but the difference isn’t so big to justify all the extra weight-gain. If you can’t just stick with water altogether, at least drink non-caloric sodas.

Whole Wheat Pasta

When grocery shopping for pasta, choose whole wheat pasta. Not only is it healthier, but whole wheat pasta is more filling than enriched-flour pastas. In other words, you’re able to feel fuller despite consuming fewer calories. Don’t let the charming nature of the word “enriched” fool you. Enriched-flour breads and pastas and converted to sugar in the body. It’s effects on your metabolism are not much different than that of a candy bar.

Skim Milk

This is a simple adjustment: buy skim milk ahead of 2% or whole milk. Frankly, you won’t be able to cut out a ton of calories doing this, but every little bit adds up when you’re losing weight.

Conserve Bread

When eating sandwiches at restaurants, you can cut calories by not eating every last part of the bread. Usually there are a few “all bread” bites near the end of a sandwich anyway. Don’t be afraid to waste those parts; contrary to what your yuppie liberal friends will tell you, it’s not going to make an impact in the global hunger scene!

One Word: Salsa

Become a big fan of salsa (and spicer foods in general). Putting salsa on something like a hamburger in place of, say, mayonaisse can have a huge impact on your diet. Salsa is tasty, reasonably healthy, and very low in calories over alternative condiments. Eating spicy food also leads to feeling fuller faster than eating non-spicy foods. Integrate salsa as a staple of your diet and you’ll probably lose weight without even seeming like you have to try.

Cutting Alcohol Calories

Asking people to stop drinking altogether is a little harsh. But if you’re going to drink, at least don’t drink in high-caloric fashion. Most cocktails are made with sugary mixers and most beers and wines are pretty high in calories. A good alcoholic-drink when dieting is mixing Diet Coke with some type of a liquor (like a vodka-and-Diet or a rum-and-Diet has far fewer calories than something like a margarita).