Someway, somehow, those extra calories seem to sneak their way into our daily diets and keep us from meeting our health and fitness goals. Don’t let those sneaky calories make their way in. Find out how to cut them out completely with these simple tips.
1. Bring Healthy Snacks to Work
Your brown bag lunch should always include enough fruits, raw veggies and nuts to keep you satisfied all day long. This way, when the mid-afternoon snack attack hits, you won’t grab a candy bar from the vending machine. Instead, you’ll satisfy your huger with a healthy snack, that has way fewer calories than whatever is sitting in the vending machine.
2. Eat Nuts
If you can, try to eat unsalted nuts throughout the day. Although they are a high calorie food, the calories go in, provide nutrition, and keep you fuller longer. Chocolate and candies are high in calories, but won’t do anything else for you. In fact, they may even leave you feeling hungry and empty, craving more. With nuts, you’re taking in a handful of extra calories, but eliminating far more down the line.
3. Skip the Bread
While we don’t recommend ever eliminating one entire food group from your daily diet, we do think it’s best to take it easy on the bread. Though it may be tasty, it’s a filler, with very little nutritional value. Always opt for brown or grain bread if you do have some, but try to load up on veggies and protein and reduce your bread intake as much as possible. Those unnecessary calories will have you gaining weight in no time.
4. Replace Soft Drinks and Juice with Water
For lunch and dinner, we often turn to drinks like soda or juice, which are both high in calories and loaded with sugar. This is one thing you can definitely eliminate and replace with water. These sugary drinks will fill you up and take up the room that good calories should be taking up. Also, many of us are often unaware of just how many calories these drinks have, but it’s equivalent to that of a handful of healthy nuts.
5. Forget Bottled Salad Dressing
The only dressing you should be adding to your salads is olive oil and vinegar. This is a delicious dressing that is very healthy for you. It’s a huge part of the Mediterranean diet. Bottled dressings are very high in calories and they’re just not needed. Switch to a healthier salad dressing choice and you may find those jeans fitting better in just a couple of weeks.
