I’m not suggesting that this be your menu choice.  I’m trying to suggest the ease with which you can make choices.  Try to get something nutritious and beneficial from each of the major food groups. It doesn’t have to be a whole lot. 

You could choose that broccoli that’s about to go bad in the vegetable drawer and a piece of cooked salmon left over from last night’s dinner.  This would give you a vegetable as your fiber rich carbohydrate choice and a fatty fish which has a good fat (monounsaturated) and is a protein. Done. 

The trick is to keep it simple.  You really don’t have to think that hard about it.  Just do it.  Get into the habit of doing it every day as if your life depended on it.  It does!

Lunch can be the trickiest because most of us are not at home and can be at the mercy of our environment for the choices we ultimately make.  Bringing food from home is always the best bet.  Barring that, it’s still necessary to recall that you want to opt for something fresh with fiber.  Salad is an option.  Cooked vegetables are another.  Soup with added vegetables or beans is another.  A sandwich on real whole grain bread, (not brown bread disguised as whole grain) is another.  Add a piece of fruit perhaps.

Hopefully, you’re home for dinner.  If not, use the same rules.  Make good choices if you can’t have food from your own kitchen.  We all grew up with the basic idea of getting a starch, a vegetable, and a meat with dinner.  This doesn’t have to change totally.  Proportionally, some alterations are in order.  I would suggest getting some vegetables (plural), a little whole grain carbohydrate perhaps, and a protein which could be a meat, some fish, or some beans.

The vegetables should be the focus of the meal, not the meat, and not the starch.  Try to get at least two different vegetables (different colors) in the meal.   These should comprise at least half of the meal.  The whole grain carbohydrate can make up a quarter, (think brown rice, pasta made with whole wheat flour, barley, quinoa*, or some other whole grain), a nice baked sweet potato wouldn’t be a bad choice either! 

A meat or fish serving is only 3-4 ounces.  About the size of a deck of cards, or because of our super sized mind set, the size most of us would think to feed a toddler, not our self!  A less calorie dense choice could be some beans or lentils.  You could have a bigger portion too.  A cup of cooked beans will cost you about 100-200 calories and give you about 12 grams of fiber.  A four ounce (if you only ate that little) pork chop with the fat trimmed (would you really?) would cost you about 250 calories and no fiber.  There are times when you’ll want to have the pork chop for sure.  Opt for the beans or some lentils a few times a week though.  Your waist line will thank you.  

Okay, so now you can begin to conquer the eating dilemma.  You have a few tools and rules to follow to get you a decent meal whether at home or away.  Now, it’s time to consider the lifestyle activity needed to maintain a healthy weight.  Exercise.  Yes, exercise.  I’d rather like to think of it as daily activity.

It’s a mindset.  If you think exercise is grueling, sweaty, strenuous, and basically unpleasant, you’re not going to do it for very long.  If you think about being more active, getting stronger, and living longer, then it shines a different light on the things you do to achieve those goals.

Once again the inclination is to get side tracked by the many messages from the mass media.  Try to resist the offers to join the latest and greatest health club with the low, low initiation prices.  Of course there is always the temptation to purchase the newest piece of exercise equipment or gadget. 

Keeping it simple, I offer the possibility that while these are, for some people, not only irresistible but viable means to a desired end.  Not necessary for everyone though.  The rest of us can get just as much benefit from a daily (yes daily) half hour, brisk (yes brisk) walk.  Walking 2 miles (that’s one definition of brisk folks!) in a half hour is an excellent way to stay fit and to be active.  Depending on your body weight you could burn up to 400 calories! 

Okay, so you think you can’t spare a mere half hour in the 24 hours we call a day.  Well, you could break it up.  Try 15 minutes twice a day.  Or find some other way to be active.  Take the stairs.  Opt to park your car farther away from the building you are visiting.  Get a pedometer and wear it.  Paying attention to the number of steps you make each day and try to reach 10,000 steps per day, everyday.

Are you a dancer?   I don’t mean professionally necessarily.  I mean do you enjoy putting on your favorite tunes and moving to the groove?  Do that.  Allow yourself a half hour each day to just dance.   That same beat might make vacuuming more pleasant, or dusting, or cleaning the bathroom.  Get it?

Got kids?  I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if you actually spent some time playing with them. You might have to teach them a few games to play which allow you to run or jump or at least move around a bit.  This could be a boost for their metabolism as much as yours, considering the epidemic of childhood obesity going on in our country.  That’s another story though!  It certainly is a way to share with them something that can’t be anything but good for all involved.

Exercise shouldn’t be drudgery.  You have to be creative at finding activities that you enjoy.  This could be the traditional structured aerobics class at your local health club, or video on your home television.  It could be cleaning the refrigerator out!  It’s just about getting a move on and maintaining that motion for a sustained period of time while at the same time trying to get the heart rate pumped up some.  It’s possible to exert yourself while having fun, or even while doing basic chores.

It doesn’t have to be aerobic.  You don’t have to be exerting yourself either. You can get just as much benefit from a consistent yoga or t’ai chi practice.  This is also possible using any other martial arts practice you enjoy. The key is that you do need to be consistent and persisitent with whatever activity that you choose.  Being active for the sake of doing so is a requirement for a healthy lifestyle and achieving a healthy weight. 

Learning how to choose and like what you eat in a nutritious meal and maintaining an active lifestyle are the basic requirements for diet and weight control.  It isn’t that difficult.  It doesn’t require an advanced educational degree.  It doesn’t require spending large sums of money on health club memberships or exercise equipment.  These are valid means to an end for some people.  They are not requirements for weight management.  You can do it without spending money.  You can do it by looking within and listening to what your soul tells you about what you need do for yourself and how you can do it.  You CAN do it.