Everyone knows that losing weight requires exercise and healthy eating. It's the Sunday school answer for all weight loss inquiries.
But here are some tips that veer from the conventional. They're simple, they don't require you to make any calculations about your Body Mass Index and they do make a difference (however small), so it wouldn't hurt to try them out.
The Golden Rule of Salad Eating
It's simply not enough to ask for dressing on the side. While drizzling it over your salad yourself is a better alternative to letting the deli man squirt on globs of ranch, there's an even better way to cut calories. Leave the dressing in its container and just dip the tip of your fork into it before stabbing a bite of greens.
If you're making salad at home, you can try this dressing substitute: Sprinkle on some Grill Mates Montreal Steak Seasoning, an aromatic blend of garlic flakes, black and red pepper, paprika and chunky salt. Then add droplets of Tabasco and vinegar. This low-calorie but flavorful dressing beats all the other fattening ones. Also, though it might sound weird, you can always spoon some salsa on your salad in lieu of normal dressing (it will go especially well if you add some corn).
Rainbow Eating
No, we don't mean literally eating a rainbow, but here's an idea: Make each plate a color palette of red peppers, oranges, broccoli and brown rice. The more shades, the better. Next time you head to the supermarket, pay special attention to the colors of the foods you're grabbing, because different hues represent different nutrients. For example, oranges have Vitamin C while broccoli has Vitamin K and fiber. But since it's tedious to keep track of all this nutritional data, just think in terms of color and you should be fine. Caution: If most of your items are white, that probably means you're eating a lot of refined carbohydrates (think pastries, white rice and white bread), which make up the BAD of healthy eating.
Battling Bloat
After a late-night studying session, you might wake up feeling like a puffer fish. Then you jump on the scale and all of a sudden you're two pounds heavier. No, you did not gain two pounds of fat in one night. That's all just water, and it was probably due to the 2 Bro.'s pizza you grabbed from St. Mark's plus that bag of Doritos you shared with your friend. Their sodium content causes water retention, so unless you're prepared to settle into perpetual puffer fishery, stay away from these salty minefields.
