10 Totally Unhealthy Eating Behaviors To Avoid!

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by Nadia Lemmon
http://www.nadia-alterio-lemmon.com

10 Totally Unhealthy Eating Behaviors To Avoid!

Written Exclusively With Women's Health In Mind
By Nadia Lemmon, Women's Fitness Specialist of www.nadia-
alterio-lemmon.com

Many women today are victims of seriously unhealthy eating
behaviors. Ironically, many of them know their behavior is
consequential, but would rather jeopardize their health
to 'look good' than to try and follow a healthy eating
regimen. In a nutshell, this type of ritualistic behavior
is all about weight loss or weight maintenance. Most women
will try every and any thing that seems like a short cut to
achieve their success. These ladies are the ones who are
not making a point of educating themselves about the safest
and healthiest ways to reach their goals. Fortunately,
these are also the easiest people to work with because you
know they take their weight seriously and will commit to
the right program. They only need the right path laid
before them. However, because many women want results
through the quickest means possible, they still end up
taking steps backward before they move forward.

Over the years, I have counseled a number of women and have
noticed that many of them share the same unhealthy eating
habits. I would like to point out that there are plenty
eating behaviors that all women share, but I have chosen to
address only these ten because of the self-destruction
involved. I know for a fact that we all are related to
someone who is guilty of least one of them. PLEASE, if it's
you, let this serve as an eye opener and allow it to
motivate you to make the changes necessary to become a
healthier and smarter woman! It is also important to remind
you that there are 6 essential nutrients that our bodies
require for health, growth, maintenance and development.
These are protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals
and water. If we deprive ourselves of any one these
nutrients, then we are jeopardizing not only our physical
health, but our mental health as well, each through mal-
nourishment. Any nutrition educator will tell you that your
body needs these nutrients to maintain itself. A deficiency
in any one of these life sustaining nutrients could be
detrimental. My husband tells clients each day, "Your body
needs essential fats, good protein and complex
carbohydrates for energy, healing, health, existence AND
fat loss or muscle building. Deplete yourself of any one of
the three and you're heading for defeat." Another excellent
nutritional educator that I recommend is Dr. Christine
Northrup Ph D. Her recently revised book, "Women's Bodies,
Women's Minds: The Connection" is an absolute masterpiece
and includes information for all ages, especially for women
over 40. Ladies, let's live a life filled with love,
vitality and self fulfillment. The following ten habits are
so easy to break.....

1. YOU'RE A CAFFEINE-A-HOLIC! If you feel that you can't
function properly without your usual morning cup of brew or
that you can't go a day without it at some point, then YOU
are addicted to caffeine. Caffeine consumed in large
amounts on a regular basis is one of the most unhealthy and
harmful things that you can do to yourself! If you're
unsure of whether or not you are addicted to caffeine, test
yourself by trying to go without it for 3 days. If you find
that you get a headache or that you are very fatigued, then
yes, you are addicted to caffeine. Caffeine is an addictive
substance that stimulates our central nervous system and in
turn affects the function of important vital organs such as
our heart, kidneys, and adrenals. Please, if you are
abusing caffeine, make an effort to STOP immediately, or to
at least cut back. If you have a cup of coffee and begin to
get drowsy, LAY OFF FOR AT LEAST A WEEK! You are DESTROYING
your adrenal glands! Caffeine can be consumed in a number
of forms. Tea, soft drinks, chocolate, and even
decaffeinated coffee contains small amounts of it. Reserve
this drink for before a workout or other luxurious moments
and limit yourself to 4 times a week but never before 12
noon or after 8 pm.

2. YOU EAT ONLY FRUITS AND VEGETABLES! I can't tell you how
many women I have encountered who are guilty of this.
Eating only fruits and vegetables is not the way to go. In
a nutshell, all you are doing is eating fibrous carbs and
simple sugars thus depriving yourself of the essential
nutrients found in protein, fats, and other complex
carbohydrates. If this is you, I'll bet that most of the
time, you are either hungry to the point where you are
starving or you feel really bloated, gassy, and are
emotionally irregular. If you continue, you will eventually
end up with either an inflamed bowel, a serious ulcer, a
tiresome physical appearance or a very slow metabolism. You
need protein, essential fats and complex carbohydrates for
optimal functioning. Fruit and vegetable foods are
essential but they burn like paper towels in a coal stove.
You need slow burning fuel that nourishes you. Do not limit
yourself of fats and proteins. It's foolish.

3. YOU RESTRICT YOURSELF TO ONLY 1 MEAL A DAY! This is
alarmingly common. We all know or have met someone who is
guilty of this. THIS IS NOT A WEIGHT LOSS SOLUTION. IF YOU
ARE GUILTY, THEN STOP IT RIGHT NOW BECAUSE IN THE END IT
WILL ONLY MAKE YOU FAT! Following this type of eating
regimen can be very harmful to your health because again,
you are depriving your body from many essential nutrients
that can not possibly be consumed in only one meal a day
(taking supplements or not). You are not getting the
required minerals, essential fats and vitamins that your
body needs to be healthy by only one or two food groups.
There are 12. Further, your metabolism will slow right down
because you are not giving your body enough calories to
think straight. Thus, when you do increase the number of
meals you ingest, you will end up putting weight on,
especially if you're not exercising because the metabolism
has quit. That's why you bloat. But if you eat more meals
regularly, the bloating, and the body fat, will disappear.

4. YOU AVOID MEAT AT ALL COSTS! If this is you, ask
yourself why is it that the majority of fit and lean people
today eat meat? If you find that you can't answer this,
then why are you depriving yourself of yet another
essential nutrient? Because someone told you to? Please.
Look at them too. Unless you are a die hard vegetarian or
allergic to meat, there's no reason why you shouldn't be
eating it. Besides, NO ONE is allergic to all meats, only
some. And plants have lives too. Not eating meat because it
had a heart beat is like saying our ancestors were wrong by
doing it too. Let me make this abundantly clear, MEAT WILL
NOT MAKE YOU FAT OR BULGING WITH MUSCLE IF EATEN IN
MODERATION! When cooked to your preference, a nice lean
healthy cut of steak is actually good for you. If red meat
isn't your thing, then try some other form of protein such
as chicken breast, tuna, salmon, etc. It's all good!
Experiment if you have to find the source of protein that
works for you. Your bodies need protein for muscle growth,
tissue repair and a beautiful healthy appearance. Yes, tofu
and cottage cheese counts!

5. YOU ARE ADDICTED TO ASPARTAME! OK, I confess, I was
guilty of this at one point also. Please pay special
attention to this one because it has now been proven after
an extensive amount of research that ASPARTAME can kill
you. SO STOP RIGHT NOW! Most aspartame victims don't have a
clue that aspartame may be the cause of their many
ailments! Aspartame converts to dangerous byproducts that
have no natural counter measures. A dieter's empty stomach
accelerates these conversions and amplifies the damage.
Components of aspartame go straight to the brain, and this
damage causes headaches, mental confusion, blindness,
seizures and faulty balance. Don't be fooled by sugar
substitutes, they are detrimental to your health. If you
must have some form of sweetness for taste, then try
STEVIA, an all natural sugar substitute that you can get in
either liquid or powder form. Otherwise, you just may go
blind.

6. YOU LIVE ON SALADS! I once knew a lady that seriously
thought she could live on salads and salads alone.
Absolutely crazy! It's funny how so many people still think
that eating salads is the only way to lose weight. I
remember watching an episode of The Cosby Show once where
Bill was told by his doctor that his cholesterol was high
and that he had to watch what he ate. From then on, his
wife fed him salads at every meal and the funny thing about
it was that with any opportunity that he had to cheat, he
would. It made a very humorous episode, but on a serious
note, he was experiencing the need for REAL food because
his body was, you guessed it, deprived of nutrients not
possibly found in salads alone. Salads alone will not fill
you up, nor will it keep the weight off.

7. YOU ABUSE SUPPLEMENTS! If you are one of the many that
foolishly think that by taking additional vitamins alone
or, calcium pills, fat burners, meal replacements etc. will
make up for what you don't get through meals, then you are
kidding yourself. This can be DANGEROUS to your health and
even TOXIC. Taking an additional multivitamin will not make
up for the nutrition to be gained from eating real food and
most supplements are just CHEMICALS. Aside from the
nutrients and minerals you receive from food and because
it's almost impossible to meet all recommended doses
through meals alone, you need supplements but you would
still really only require the following 3 supplements. A
multi vitamin, a liquid mineral and essential fatty acids.
My husband will tell you that this is the key to optimal
health and healthy weight maintenance too. "This is what
you MUST HAVE to succeed, burn fat, build muscle, survive
and if you use these three products daily, and in most
cases, NOTHING MORE is needed. If you take a multi vitamin,
it only addresses 20% of your body's needs. Fatty acids are
10%, but this is misleading as it is the 10% necessary for
you to build muscle, burn fat and regulate hormones. And
minerals are the other 70%. Skip your 2 tbs of minerals and
you will realize what you are missing only after you have
started supplementing with them."

8. YOU NEVER EAT BREAKFAST! At some point in our lives, I'm
sure that may of you thought that this was also the answer
to maintaining your weight. You probably thought it would
allow you to have control over your appetite throughout the
day. Not true. Not eating breakfast not only deprives you
of the nutrients you need to kick start your body each
morning but it also leads to the loss of muscle tissue.
This in turn will leave you flabby and fat without much
muscle tone. The body eats muscle tissue in search of lost
nutrients when you are not providing it with sufficient
amounts of food and to top it off your metabolism will slow
right down again. Even if you start with just toast this
week. Add a fruit next week. A yogurt the next. Build up
slowly to doing the right thing if necessary. Work towards
having a full breakfast.

9. YOU SKIP MEALS SO YOU CAN EAT MORE LATER! The only
people I know that do this are over weight and usually
uncomfortable in a bathing suit. You know the type, yes,
the ones who wear t-shirts over their swim wear when they
go on vacation. Some claim they do not over eat, but they
are still out of shape even though they exercise daily.
It's common, but just as common are people who refuse to
accept this is what skipping meals will result in. Again,
it only slows the metabolism down. Skip a meal and you set
yourself back a day. Skip 4 meals and you are behind a half
week. Do it 2 days in a row and you are allowing your
friends to sit back and watch how fat you get.

10. YOU ARE OBSESSED WITH COUNTING CALORIES AND FAT GRAMS!
The bottom line is that most women need at least 1800
calories a day. It is not as important as how many grams of
fat you have, but whether or not you eat right at all.
Don't limit your fat, but you shouldn't try to see how much
you can ingest either. Shooting for 6 meals or snacks of
300 calories each a day and allowing 3 or four meals to
contain 100 calories of good fats is probably going to do
you more good than harm. I should know. Until I started
having the right fats again, I lost my menstrual cycle for
a full 2 years on a low fat diet. So if you are wasting
time calculating fat grams and every little calorie
ingested, DON'T! Just be sensible about it. The object is
to eat ENOUGH, not to LIMIT yourself. As long as you follow
the KNOW HOW 12 Food Group rules, you will always remain on
top!

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