How Many Calories Should I Consume?
I was talking to one of my friends the other day and before long she asked me about exercise and what she can do to get rid of a couple of pounds. We talked about the proper ways to exercise, how many exercises she should do, sets, reps, heart rate and so on. Then she asked the question that everyone wants to know the answer to, the question that everyone thinks they're an expert on and finally the question that no one really wants to know the truth about. "What should I eat?" I told her what a great question that was and provided her some basic information about nutrition. I didn't go in depth about the biochemistry, meal plans, or portion sizes but I did something better. I introduced her to mypyramid.gov.
My pyramid is a great educational source that can teach you about healthy eating and it can act as your own personal registered dietician. If you go to the website, you should check out the "my pyramid plan" section, which will estimate how many calories you need to consume based on age, sex, and activity level. If you want more from the program, you can get a detailed assessment of your food intake by registering for "my pyramid tracker." This area is basically used to record and analyze your food intake. When you input your daily food intake the program will calculate where your nutrients are coming from and also compare it to what is required. The only catch to the program is that you will need to be very truthful with your serving sizes and also understand how much you are consuming so that your results are accurate.
Eating healthly plays a very important role in leading a healthy lifestyle. More importantly, you need to get the correct information regarding nutrition. Therefore, I recommend looking into two USDA websites, mypyramid.gov and eatright.org, for nutritional advice. If you don't find these websites helpful, please see a registered dietician to aid you in your quest to lead a healthy lifestyle.
