How to eat right and still enjoy food

Eating right doesn't mean starving yourself, nor does it imply boring or bland food. The trick behind balanced eating, very often, is simply portion control. Experts believe that if we just control our cravings, and eat only that which we truly desire, within reasonable limits, we won't need to cut out any foods. Better still, when we eat a balanced diet and compliment it with a simple, moderate intensity exercise plan, we stand to benefit from the combined effect of diet and exercise...All this without giving up on any favourite foods. Therefore, here are five important tips to consider as you plan to do justice to this year's Diwali festivities. What does portion control mean? Portion control is about knowing the correct measures or serving sizes as per calorie counts and fat content for different foods and beverages. A must for losing weight in a healthy way, portion control is something which stands right in the middle of excess calorie intake and not eating enough. Portions of food can be measured keeping in mind a point of reference. For instance, the right portion serving for one pasta meal is what you can hold in your fist (uncooked of course!). How to control festival food cravings The worst thing you can do is to have an 'all or nothing' attitude. Just because you are going out every night and you will nibble on a little bit of the extra sweet, extra rich and extra oily foods, does not mean you have to throw in the towel completely on being healthy whenever you can. Cravings are usually about 'comfort foods'. Some of us have a sweet craving and others a salty one. We have cravings when we have a need to evoke a psychologically pleasurable state, which points out that it is the comfort, not the food itself, that we desire. Eating out - the healthy way No matter how strict your diet is, you may find yourself eating out at times - out of choice or social obligation. Either way, it's at times like this that you have to make sure all your hard work isn't negated by one sinful meal. How to: avoid over-eating and lose weight When one loves food to the point of distraction, the line between eating and over-eating is usually blurred by all the good food in the horizon...That avoiding over-eating is a good strategy toward weight loss is no rocket science; however, it's always a challenge for the foodies amongst us to say no to good food. Expert action plan for developing healthy habits As you know, most things that you do once in a while will not really affect your life or your health in an impactful way, it is what you do regularly that will. The results we have is a sum total of the habits we follow. We each have 24 hours yet some of us manage to include more empowering and healthy habits than others, this is not good or bad, it is just about what you really want and your priorities. Having to juggle family, work, home, friends and so many other things can become challenging sometimes and you may even feel like a circus clown juggling 5 orange balls in the air.