Diet is a word that most women, and many men, are familiar with. A popular joke among my women friends is that “diet” is “die” with a “t”. People all over the world spend millions of dollars every year to have people tell them how to lose weight, how to be healthy, what foods to eat, but all they really need is to have access to accurate nutritional information. With the proper nutritional information, you’ll never have to fall victim to diet scams again.
Nutritional information can be found all over the internet, but choosing where you get your information is important. Whether you are getting information on the internet or from books and magazines, you should always take into consideration where the information is coming from. There are some very popular “doctors” in the media that have never obtained a medical degree. It is important to remember that anyone can publish on the internet, but it doesn’t mean that the information that they are publishing has any valid accreditation. Sites that have “.org”, “.gov”, or “.edu” in their address hold the highest probability of being accurate.
Once you’ve found a source that you consider trustworthy, you can begin to gather nutritional information that can help you lose weight, feel better in your day to day activities, and sleep better at night. Putting that nutritional information to use can improve your mood and general outlook.
Some of the nutritional information that you may want to look for includes Dietary Reference Intakes that can help you plan and assess your diet. The Food Pyramid, or in Canada, the Canadian Food Guide are other simple and easy to understand tools that can guide you to healthier eating. These guides have been in place for a long time and there are reasons that the American and Canadian governments promote their use. The research that has gone into developing them has been ongoing and the empirical results of these studies are valuable. Any information that contradicts these guides should be questioned.
As your knowledge of nutritional information builds, you’ll find that there is no longer a need for the word “diet” in your vocabulary. Applying the information to your life on a regular basis can become a habit and you’ll no longer need to think about how many calories this food item has or how many minutes (or hours!) you’ll need to spend walking on the treadmill to work off that burger with the kill-me-now-sized fries that you had for lunch. You’ll know that the piece of chocolate cake you ate at grandma’s house on the weekend is not the end of the world because you’ve been applying good nutritional information to your daily eating habits. Isn’t that alone worth spending a little time to find good information?
