Diet Coke Nutrition Facts 10 Simple Changes to Improve Your Diet.
Are you eating healthy? If you are like most Americans, you probably think that your diet needs some improvement, but all things considered, it's not bad.
So why is America getting fatter by the day? Because many people repeatedly make small mistakes in their diet that lead to big weight gains.
Weight gain seems inevitable. In fact, ask yourself this question: Will you be heavier 10 years from now than you are today?
The harsh reality is that most of us will be substantially heavier in 10 years. We chalk it up to getting older, hectic schedules, and life on the go. All of these things certainly contribute to bad habits and weight gain, but with some small changes, your diet can be improved substantially - without even changing your lifestyle.
1. Dump the Soda:
Pop is a Triple Whammy. Not only is it void of nearly all nutritional value, it is just about entirely made of sugar and one can contains over 10% of the daily calories needed by a 140 pound woman.
Simply put, your body has no choice but to store all of that unneeded sugar in places you don't want it to be stored - such as your hips, gut, and rear.
Drinking 1 can of soda per day adds the equivalent of 15 pounds to your weight each year. You would need to run nearly 275 miles to burn your "coke calories" off.
Skip the Diet soda too. Recent studies have linked it to weight gain, in spite of its "diet" claim.
2. Forget the fast food:
Is it even real meat??? Fast food is high in calories, high in salt, and served in portions that are more suited for a truck full of firefighters than a desk bound commuter.
The number one problem with fast food is portion size. A Big Mac medium sized meal contains over 1300 calories, or 90% of the daily calorie needs for a 140 pound woman.
Unfortunately, most fast food restaurants don't offer an acceptable healthy alternative. Most of McDonald's salads with dressing have over 500 calories and are outrageously high in saturated fats.
The best option is to skip fast food altogether, but Subway and other sandwich shops offer several healthy options. Just remember that a 6-inch sub is usually one serving.
3. Skip The Hype, Read the label:
Nearly food we come across is sporting some sort of health claim - low in sugar, low fat, zero carbs. Heck even some candy bars, chips, and sodas are now proudly displaying healthy messages.
Unfortunately, these messages are usually little more than marketing hype and may only tell half the truth - for example, low in carbs could mean high fat content.
The only way to find out if a product is really healthy is to read the label. Though it can be a bit intimidating at first, Label reading is an easy habit to pick up, and you will be reading them like a dime store novel in no time.
As a starting point: look at saturated fat content (any is too much), grams of sugar (keep it fewer than 10), and total calories.
4. Add a salad:
Most people don't get enough water in their diet. Fortunately, salad is nearly entirely made up of water. Additionally, the high water content makes salad a "filler food" meaning that it makes you feel full without filling you full of calories. Amazingly, this is why you will always find major salad bars at all you can eat buffets.
5. Eat Whole Wheat:
Eat Whole Wheat: Sometime ago, our culture decided white bread was the best thing since, well, sliced bread. Unfortunately, white bread (often labeled enriched wheat on the label) is entirely void of nutritional value. You might as well be wrapping your turkey in cotton candy. "Enriched" might as well mean stripped of any nutritional value.
Whole Wheat, on the other hand is nothing short of a wonder food. It is high in fiber, high in many vitamins, helps lower bad cholesterol and reduces your risk of heart disease.
Brown rice, whole wheat pasta, oatmeal, and 100% whole wheat bread are a few examples of great whole wheat products. Aim to get 80% of your carbohydrates from whole wheat foods.
6. Water, Water and More Water: Drink 8 glasses of water per day.
Water is a health miracle. It fills you up, helps you avoid over-eating, keeps your complexion clean, and increases your metabolism (to help you burn additional calories).
If you still need more reasons to drink water consider this - drinking water promotes brain function. Even a 2% drop in blood water levels can leave you sluggish, slow thinking, and less aware than your better hydrated counter part.
Water truly is a miracle worker, so drink up - take aim at the 8X8 rule: drink an eight ounce glass eight times per day. Feel free to add any non-caffeinated beverage to your daily water totals.
7. Eat 5 times a day:
Eating 5 meals per day ensures that you are rarely hungry, and if you do get hungry, your next meal is always right around the corner.
Several studies have shown that if people spread their calories out over 5 meals per day they are more likely to lose/ maintain their weight than people that eat only 3 times per day.
Put simply, the reason for this is that your body needs calories about every 3 hours - if it receives too many at once you store them. If you receive too few, your body sends you signals to find food fast. This is often referred to as "low blood sugar," and the effect is usually poor snacking choices.
8. Power up with protein:
Eat 20 grams of protein with every meal. A high protein diet is a great way to build a fit, healthy body. Proteins take more energy (and calories) to digest than carbohydrates and fats. Additionally, protein promotes lean muscle mass, which increases metabolism and boosts your body's ability to burn calories.
American is a carb-centric nation. Though most nutritional experts call for only 40% of daily calories to come from carbs, but most Americans nearly double that total.
The easiest way to add healthy protein to your diet is boneless, skinless chicken breast, seafood, and egg whites.
9. Go Fishing:
Eat seafood or fish at least twice per week. Seafood is high in protein and high in Omega-3 fatty acids, which have been shown to fight cancer, heart disease, and arthritis. The health benefits of fish clearly outweigh the recent concerns over mercury content. So, unless you are pregnant, eat up.
10. Keep a journal:
Keeping a food journal can keep you on track with your dietary goals, lead to long term healthy habits, and help you analyze your progress. Fitnovo.com offers a very flexible food journal that combines a database of over 4,000 foods and the ease of being able to record your food in about 2 minutes per day. If you are interested in learning more, please visit
Diet Coke Nutrition Facts.