Maintaining a healthy, comfortable weight is an important issue for many women today. Society puts a lot of pressure on women and many of us do not feel comfortable in our own bodies for not meeting certain beauty standards. Keeping to diets that allow staying magazine-cover-skinny is a torture, but luckily, times change and so does fashion. And yet, with modern day’s abundance of fried, calorie-loaded,

 overprocessed yet delicious foods, eating healthily and maintaining a healthy weight may pose a challenge.  And then there’s also a huge-scale myth that circulates throughout society, about healthy food being too plain - and too expensive. Let’s overthrow it right now! Here are a few tips on how to keep your diet healthy, fulfilling and stay fit at the same time.

It’s very important to make your meal diverse. Your diet should include proteins, carbs and fats, possibly, coming from very different sources. If you do a research, you will find, that lean meat or fish, eggs and dairy are all good source of protein. If you are a vegetarian - tofu, all sorts of beans, mushrooms and nuts are you protein drug of choice. Frying or adding heavy sauces and dough is not the best way to make your food taste great. You may find baked meat or fish just as delicious as dough-dipped and deep-fried. But the comparatively low calorie count will amaze you.  The same is with carbs. Go with the ‘good’ carbs, such a fibers. And try cutting on the ‘bad’ ones, such as sugars and starches. As for fats, some of them are not just good for you, but essential. Yep, I mean essential fatty acids found in fish and various natural vegetable oils, such as linen or olive oils.

 

Yes, raw carrots are better than fried carrots. And french fries most certainly should not count towards a serving of vegetables. And yet, some people just to not enjoy eating raw veggies, uncooked fruit or unseasoned food in general. Well then, you’re lucky, because there’s still a wide variety of simple, easy to cook recipes that are created with an intention of fitting a healthy diet.  Substituting your pasta and breads with whole-grain various is already a good step. And if you cannot leave without bread, pastries and all those delicious doughnuts and cakes, this easy zucchini bread should at least satisfy some of your cravings. 

Most doctors, nutritionists and psychologists agree that keeping to a very strict diet may be damaging. The best way to avoid temptation, as they say, is to give into it, and yes, nothing, absolutely nothing terrible will happen if once in a while you allow yourself a treat or even a small pig-out. Love those doritos? well, it’s better to eat a serving once in a few days than break and eat two bags and hate yourself after. In fact, many famous diets and weight loss programs, such as Ducan’s, actually insist on letting yourself eat moderate amounts of your favorite junk food from time to time. So yes, do have that margarita and a couple of smoked-meat loaded pizza slices, if it helps you to stick to your designated diet for the next few days.

 

Yes, just generally, move. You don’t have to sweat in a gym fanatically, if you don’t have time or money for that. Just walking a few miles a day or doing half-an-hour of stretching or yoga using a youtube channel at home will do you worlds of good. In fact, it usually takes only a couple of weeks to develop a good habit. Stick to your exercises for a few weeks - and you will surprisingly discover that you actually… wait for it… want to do them everyday, because it makes you feel much better, not just physically, but emotionally.