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Many people are looking for the quick fix to their weight and diet problems. They see the advertisements on TV with young in shape good looking men and women who are pushing whatever product they have. It may be some sort of exercise equipment or diet or medical treatment or some sort of concoction that they should take to improve their weight problems. For the majority of people these gimmick just do not work because they do not deal with the underlying problems or the real work it takes to reduce weight and improve your overall life style.

The main message of this post is as follows : Develop a common sense plan around the food you eat, the nutrition you get from these foods and the amount of exercise that is right for you. Without a plan that you can focus on, most people will just not be able to  lose weight or improve their situation

The bottom line is to reduce your intake and get moving, exercise more and burn of those calories.

Common Sense Diet

So what does it mean to follow a common sense diet? Without getting into how many calories you are eating or how many calories you are burning off, the common sense diet really means that you need to limit your intake of food and focus on good nutritional food.

More and more we are seeing that when we go to restaurants, that we are not satisfied unless there is a huge plate of food in front of us. Part of this satisfaction is getting value for money spent. We seem to equate the more food that we have in front of us vs. the amount we are spending is a good thing. Consumers love going to buffets were they can eat as much as they can put into their mouth or going to a restaurant where the restaurant offers large sides of vegetables, pasta’s or other high carb food.

Must Finish the Plate

Of course once we have this immense quantity of food in front of us, there is the feeling that we must consume all of this food. We ordered it and we have been taught since we were young to always finish our plate. So we order or receive large amounts of food and we consume all of it. Before we know it we are gaining weight at a rapid pace.

The message is to practice some self control and cut down on the quantity you are eating. Use whatever trick you need, but reduce the quantity of food that you take in every day. Use a smaller plate, stop snacking, snack on low calorie foods, split portions with a partner and avoid those places were you just cannot maintain your self control. It is the old adage, you cannot take a kid to a candy store and expect him or her to not ask for some of the candy in that store. Adults are exactly the same. If it is in front of us we will eat it.

Split Portions

One common sense diet approach is to split portions between you and a partner when you go out to a restaurant. We have found that most restaurants support this request and will gladly give you another plate so that you and your partner can separate the portions any way you like.

Some restaurants have a minimum order requirement. If you really like this restaurant, then just order a salad for one person and have the other person order the main course. You can split the meal after the meal is delivered and reduce the number of calories that you are taking in.

A big advantage of this approach is that you also reduce the cost of eating out!

Foods You Eat

Anything that is deep fried, regardless of what it is should be avoided. The fat content from the oil that it was cooked in will contribute to many more calories that you can believe. Focus on foods that are not deep fried such as vegetables that are steamed, meat that is not breaded and fried and stay away from desert. If you really must have desert keep your portion small and split it with your partner. That way you will both benefit from less calories, save money and reduce your weight.

Common sense diet – Snacking

Snacking is one of the most difficult things to get control of. Yet in some cases is the single biggest contributor of weight gain.

There are two problems with snacking that cause weight gain. The first one is that we lose control of how much we snack and how many calories that we actually consume. A bowl of peanuts, chips etc taste great, satisfy some inner urge. Before we know it the entire bowl is gone. Repeated daily or several times a week will definitely contribute to weight gain. It really does not matter what you snack on, unless it is just fruits and vegetables with no salad dressing, everyone loses control of how much they eat and will gain weight.

The second problem with snacking is what we snack on. Many of us like salted peanuts, chips or sweet deserts. These kinds of snacks will contribute to weight gain. As well as possibly high blood pressure from all of the salt intake. If you must snack, then cut these types of high calorie foods out of your die. Switch to other low calories types of foods. Fruits and vegetables are good examples.

Chew Gum

Another common sense diet snack reducer is to chew low calories gum. Benefits to chewing low calorie gum include the lack of calories. Also the sensation of chewing you get which will contribute to the satisfaction of chewing on something. It gives you something to do instead of snacking.

In summary for a common sense diet, reduce the amount of food you intake. Split portions, avoid snack foods and desert. Use common sense diet approach to everything you do. Use tricks such as smaller plates. Split portions. Avoid fried food and eating steamed vegetables with spice flavoring instead of salt.

We would appreciate your comments and positive contributions to this subject. For more diet information and ideas about losing weight, click here.

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