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What Do You Eat?
By Scott Sumner
What do you eat each day? Have you ever really looked at if its good for
you.
Basically, Canada's Food Guide suggests eating 5-12 grain products like
bread, cold cereal, pasta, rice, bagels or buns per day. Next it
recommends 5-10 vegetables or fruit servings per day, including apples,
bananas, brochili, juice, or salad. You can use fresh, frozen, or
canned, depending on your availability or  your budget.  The milk
products are the third part of the program, and as an adult 2- 4 serving
per day are required. This includes not only milk, but cheese or yogurt
as well. Lastly, meat or alternatives of 2- 3 servings per day are
important and include choices such as meat, poultry or fish, eggs,
beans, tofu, or peanut butter.
The amount of servings you eat depends on your age, body size, activity
level, sex, as well as other factors. The first person to start with
would be your family doctor, followed by a  registered dietician. In
Canada everyone can see a doctor at no cost. Many people who are covered
by health plans can see a registered dietician as part of their coverage
. This is an excellent beginning for you, as it allows a professional to
see your own specific circumstances and make an informed plan for you.
Eventually you will establish a routine for yourself but a good start is
important. I believe the Canada Food Guide forms a great basis of your
own individual program.
Remember that most of our body is made up of fluids, and every organ in
our body needs water to function. Eight to ten glasses per day of water
will allow your body to function well. That is typically more water than
most people drink in a day, but the proper amount will allow your body
to cleanse itself and operate more efficiently.
It is possible to consume all the right food and still eat too much. My
dietician has "plastic food" to demonstrate proper portions. For
instance, a serving of meat is about 4 inches by 2 inches, and a glass
of water is 8 ozs. A bowl of cereal is  a normal size, about 5 inches
wide, and salad dressing is a table spoon. You have to get a handle on
quantities to be certain of your program.
Determining how many calories you should eat is a very personalized
custom exercise. Your dietician will make a determination based on your
height, weight, activity level, current weight, sex and other factors .
Usually this could range from 2000 to 3000 calories per day, but  it is
always  a complex determination. Be sure you get it right. Be
comfortable with this decision. I spent 6 years at university in
business schools in order to graduate with  Commerce and MBA degrees.
Perhaps the most important thing I learned in this experience was to
make decisions based on the accumulation of as much relevant information
as possible. The more input you have in terms of the facts and data ,the
better the decision you make.
  The best thing that happened with my  ongoing  visits  to a dietician
was the daily recording of everything that I would eat. Following her
advise at first seemed like a chore. The forms to record my meal intake
were small and detailed. At the end of the day, I used a notepad to jot
down all the data.  This procedure  illustrates what  you really put
into your body each day. You quickly get a clear idea of how your eating
patterns stack up to  YOUR OBJECTIVES . You gain a notion of the
breakdown in the 4 areas of grain products, vegetables and fruit, milk
products and meat and alternatives. It is very enlightening, and in my
case I could see that I ate too much meat. It's probably a common custom
because the amount of meat we should eat daily is really not that large
.  Each visit to the dietician ends with a trip to the scale. Your
weight is an excellent way to determine your progress in choosing foods.
When you set your goals you can determine the weight you want to be
based on your circumstances, like height  sex, body type, and structure.
Your doctor can help you with this. Once you starting eating properly
you will start to move to the ideal weight .
    Other tests such as your chlolestoral level or blood pressure can
also determine how you are doing in your health. Don't be afraid to ask
your doctor to test  you  for these, and then keep your results. When
you track your own progress, you will witness improvements.
Next time we look at sleep and how to get enough each night.


About The Author:
Scott Sumner grew up in Northwestern Ontario Canada  and is a graduate of Lakehead University's ( Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada ) Honour Bachelor of Commerce Program as well as York University's ( Toronto, Ontario Canada ) Master of Business Program. He founded North Superior Publishing Inc, a regional specialty publishing company almost 20 years ago in 1982.  This company has published 10 ongoing titles in the areas of real estate, business, lifestyle, travel, golf, snowmobiling, automative and family. His book Create An Exceptional Life: Mind, Body, Money can help you look at ways to accomplish more in your life that you ever thought possible. It will start you on a process of living your life to it's fullest potential.
Visit www.scottsumner.com