What is a good diet for women who work in an office?

Answer 1

That depends if you're trying to lose weight or are trying to maintain your present weight.

If you just want to maintain your weight, the main thing is to avid junk food. Eat reasonably-sized portions of healthy foods and get exercise.

If you want to lose weight, note that doctors and dieticians recommend doing it gradually, allowing a whole month for every 4 to 8 pounds you want to lose. Do not starve yourself, or skip meals, or try throwing up.

Here's a program for the period in which you want to lose weight:

Get plenty of moderate aerobic exercise. Avoid junk foods and sweetened drinks such as soda. Preferably consume no sugar, and as little added salt and processed foods as possible. Our great-grandparents didn't have the epidemic of obesity we see today, because they had a less sedentary lifestyle, a much more natural diet, and they ate reasonably-sized portions.

Eat 3 not-large-portioned meals per day; do not skip breakfast; and avoid sugary snacks. Limit your calories (best to consult a doctor or nutritionist concerning the amount), and weigh yourself 2-3 times/week. If you see your weight diminishing at a safe, reasonable rate (1-2 pounds/week), keep it up.

Once you've reached your target weight, increase your calorie intake somewhat, so that you can maintain your present weight. And you can then have small amounts of sweetened foods or junk food on occasion (if at all), along with your regular healthy foods. But keep checking your weight 2-3 times/week.

Avoid crash diets, fad diets, diet pills, etc. Avoid fatty cuts of meat. Walk as much as possible. Bicycling and swimming are good too.

More guidelines:

Don't concentrate on specific foods so much as on a balanced, healthy diet plus exercise. Plenty of moderate exercise rather than intense exercise, which can damage your joints.

Healthy nutrition means eating what your body needs, while ingesting as few harmful things as possible. It has also been described as getting enough of each of the major food categories, in healthy forms (grains, fruits, vegetables, protein, dairy, etc.; plus plenty of water).

This will vary somewhat from one person to another; and I don't believe that there's any universal diet that can be prescribed for everyone.

In general, an example of a healthy starting point could be a menu of whole grains, whole-wheat bread, a good amount of vegetables, legumes, some fruits and nuts, fish, lean meats (in not-large amounts), and some dairy. However, this may need adjusting according to one's lifestyle, age, health, weight and other factors at the outset; and also later, as one sees what works for him/her in particular.

Also...whenever you feel queasy, nauseous, constipated or otherwise not completely well, try to remember what you've eaten over the last several hours or the last day. This is one factor in adjusting one's food habits.