If you're trying to eat healthy and lose weight, there are some simple things you can do to stay on track and avoid common diet pitfalls.
3 Diet Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them:
1. Strategy to Prevent Sugar Cravings
Sugar cravings are caused by lows in blood sugar levels. When your blood sugar levels drop, your body screams for sugar which usually leads to eating something you know you shouldn't (usually something salty or sweet), or eating way too much (overeating or binging).
Eat within the first hour of waking up and again every 2 - 4 hours throughout the day. This will significantly help to balance you blood sugars throughout the day, avoid the 'hangry' lows, and keep you eating healthy and on track.
2. Strategy to Avoid Snacking At Night
Evenings are often the hardest time of day to stay on track and eat healthy. If you eat at 5pm, chances are you're starting to get a little hungry by 8pm (right around the time when you might be sitting down to relax, maybe watch some tv).
Eat a Later Dinner. The old saying "don't eat after 6pm", only applies if you're in bed by 10pm. If you're up later than 10pm, try pushing your dinner later. Eat dinner 3-4 hours before going to bed to prevent needing a snack in the evening.
If you can't have a later dinner (say if you eat with your kids at 5pm like I do), plan a healthy snack like air-popped popcorn or frozen grapes to snack on.
3. Strategy for Feeling Full without Overeating
Satiety is the feeling of fullness after eating that suppresses the urge to eat for a period of time after a meal. This plays an important role in controlling how much we eat. If we feel full or ‘satiated’ after a meal then we are likely to go much longer before we feel hungry and may eat less at the next meal.
Eat a source of fibre, protein and fat at each meal, and most snacks. FIbre, protein and fat help you feel full and control blood sugar levels. This means you will eat less and easily lose weight without feeling hungry all the time.