Healthy Food

Question
If you're trying to lose weight, what do you eat? Am I supposed to eat what the food guide pyramid tells you to or not because it says you need carbs and dairy everyday but i heard carbs are bad and fattening and so are some dairy products like butter. Im really confused and I don't know what to eat in order to lose weight. I get that you should eat small portions but OF what? I mean if i ate pasta ut a small portion of it everyday i wouldnt lose weight, right? and yet the food guide pyramid says you SHOULD eat carbs everyday. I dont get it. Can you help me?

Answer
Dear Diana, You are confusing a healthy food diet with a weight control diet. A healthy food diet contains foods from all the food groups in portions that will maintain health and maintain weight. A weight control or weight loss diet is a diet that produces a calorie deficit so the body will burn fat. The healthiest way to lose weight is by eating smaller portions of healthy foods and exercising to help produce that deficit. You can lose weight eating any food you like, it's just smarter to eat foods from the food triangle. The foods found in the food triangle contain vitamins, minerals, protein, fat and carbohydrate; all nutrients your body needs to maintain health. You could eat pasta everyday and still lose weight, you just have to count the calories and measure the portion size. Some diets do limit carbohydrate foods because carbohydrates are broken down into sugar and sugar is easily stored as fat. Healthy carbs are those carbs found in whole fruits, vegetables and whole grain bread and pasta. Carbs that are not so good for weight loss are carb foods like mac and cheese, white bread, bagels, cookies, crackers, chips, fast food,etc.
So to lose weight, try to eat foods from all the food groups, count the calories of those foods, and try to stay around 1500-1800 calories per day. You will also need to walk at least 30 minutes per day to help the body burn extra calories. You could lose weight without walking, but it will take longer. Hope that helps, Laura Kraemer,Slimkids.com

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