From The Straits Times    |

what to eat to lose weight how to eat healthy

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#1 Drink a whole glass of water before you eat
Aside from water being good for your insides (and your skin), drinking a glass of water before a meal can help you feel full faster, which makes you less likely to overeat. 

#2 Eat your vegetables
Not to sound like your nagging mother or make you feel like a petulant child again, but vegetables have long been and probably always will be some of the best foods out there for your body because of their high fibre and vitamin content. Whatever cuisine you might be eating, there will always be a way to incorporate vegetables in your meal. 

#3 Watch your calorie intake
If you’re serious about losing weight as efficiently as possible, counting your calories is pretty important. Keeping track of the calories you consume each day matters when your aim is to take in fewer calories than you burn. 

First of all, it’s a good idea to find out how many calories your body burns or metabolises on a daily basis, which is otherwise known as a Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR). That will give you an idea of how many calories you can eat a day to maintain your weight. Exercise on top of that will help you to burn more. 

There are plenty of apps out there like MyFitnessPal that have a database of calorie information on various foods. Keep a regular food journal to make sure you’re really keeping yourself on the right track.

#4 Eat slowly and deliberately
Absent-minded munching or wolfing down a meal are easy ways to overeat. Your body takes a while to register that it’s full, and by the time it does, you’ve already eaten more calories than you really need. It’s always advisable to take your time with your meals, and be aware of how much you’re eating.

Some things that might help: Avoid eating while watching a mindless TV show, eat with your non-dominant hand, or use a pair of chopsticks. 

#5 Choose complex carbohydrates 
Eating fewer calories at each meal can mean you get hungry a lot faster, especially if you’re eating the wrong types of food. Getting hungry at odd hours of the day is likely to lead to snacking, which undoes all the effort you’re putting into eating lower-calorie meals. 

Simple carbs and low glycemic index foods (think processed stuff like sugar, candy, white bread and cereal) release glucose quickly, causing a spike in our body’s insulin levels. This “high” can make you feel energetic for a short while before the crash comes (a food coma at work is never fun). 

Complex carbohydrates like grains, vegetables and beans are good additions to your meal as your body takes longer to break them down and metabolise them, meaning you feel full a lot longer. These foods also tend to have more nutrients, vitamins, and fibre while being as “natural and unprocessed as possible.

Harvard has a list of foods and their corresponding GI levels to help you figure out what foods to eat more or less of.