Good Energy Foods to Help You Through the Day

Whenever one is trying to lose weight or just has a very busy day ahead of them, it is always a good idea to be aware of good energy foods to help get you through the day. In my experience, there are a number of such foods that can give you a lot of energy and have good nutritional content. I have made it a point to discuss some of those foods with friends and co-workers, regardless of why they were trying to get more energy, and here is what I came up with.

One thing that I always recommend as one of my good energy foods for breakfast is a bagel. Bagels are quite tasty, they are filling and they don't weigh you down. On many occasions, I have gotten a bagel for breakfast and had energy until lunchtime, when for me, it was time to refuel. They are wholesome, a good source of carbohydrates, they are not filled with fat, and they are pretty healthy. A bagel is never a bad option if you are looking for sustained energy for a couple of hours.

One of my favorite high energy foods to eat is grilled chicken. When I was overweight, I used to eat this stuff all of the time on the weekends, because weekends were always my downfall. I would eat properly throughout the week, and screw it all up on the weekends. Well, I started grilling chicken on the weekends and having that for lunch, along with some vegetables and apple sauce, and I really felt like I had the energy to work out, but did not really feel weighed down. Grilled chicken is always on my menu when I am looking for good energy foods.

It may sound odd, but I have always found bananas to be one of those good energy foods. It is a great source of potassium, needless to say, and is generally considered one of the healthier foods on the planet. For me, however, whenever I feel myself starting to fade at work and need a little boost, I don't reach for the coffee maker or energy drink, I grab a banana. It seems to fill me up and keeps me feeling satisfied for a long while.

Good energy foods abound, and I have really just scratched the surface with a couple of mine. I am always on the look out for more, because they really do come in handy and, well, I like variety. For me, good energy foods have to be ones fill you up and allow you to keep going without weighing you down. The ones I mentioned do just that!

Diet Food Plans That Work

When I was overweight, I used to try a number of diet food plans that I felt might help me shed my unwanted pounds. I discovered that not just one plan works, and that depending on how it is used, a lot of different approaches can be taken. Diet food plans are one of the key components to weight loss, and it is an area into which a lot of thought should be placed. I know that I had success with a couple of plans at various points in my weight-loss journey.

When I first started out on my effort to lose weight, I decided that I was going to try to eliminate sodas and fast food. It was not what I would consider one of the diet food plans that would yield a great amount of weight loss, but I was able to drop about 20 pounds just by doing that and exercising three times week after about two months. I was a fifth of way to my weight loss goal, and it gave me the confidence and motivation to continue on to my next phase.

I realized that the dinners I was eating were still way too high in fat and calories. I decided to start grilling out chicken and fish and eating fresh vegetables with it. I had decided that I needed to incorporate different diet food plans as I reached certain weights so as not to shock my system too much and to prevent myself from plateauing. Fortunately for me, it worked like a charm, and because I was already eating cereal for breakfast, I was able to drop 25 more pounds in two more months. Now I was nearly halfway to my weight-loss goal and feeling even better.

For the next phase of my weight-loss journey, I decided to try to deliver the knock-out punch. I prepared the most strict of all the diet food plans I had created by only having low- or non-fat meals for each of my three meals of the day and only eating fruit for snacks. I was also only drinking water and doubled up on my exercise. This really kicked my metabolism into high gear, and within 14 weeks, I had dropped the remaining 55 pounds to complete my weight-loss goal.

It is almost indescribable how proud I felt after I dropped all of that weight, and the diet food plans that I incorporated were a big part of my success. I have managed to find the right mix of caloric intake and exercise these days to maintain a healthy weight, but I will never forget my weight-loss journey.

Healthy Meal Plans Keep You Healthy

I decided one day that I was tired of eating fattening foods, and I was going to start making healthy meal plans to lose weight and get into better shape. I soon discovered that doing this made all of the difference in the world in getting me into better health and helping me to lose weight. Diet is so important when one wants to improve his or her overall health, and after a few months of following a plan, I could not imagine ever going back to my old eating habits.

The first thing I decided to do when I created my healthy meal plans was to make sure that each meal included vegetables or fruits. I wanted to ensure that my meal plans followed the famous food pyramid that we are supposed to follow in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle, and I would try to incorporate a total of 10 fruits and vegetables into the meals. I found that doing this was not as hard as I thought it would be, and that I was reducing my caloric intake drastically by doing so.

The next thing I did with my healthy meal plans was to make sure that the only types of meat included were either chicken, turkey or fish. In addition to being healthier and having less fat, I wanted to make sure that my meal plans were also heart-healthy. I knew that including things like beef and pork would be all right if they were lean, but I started to think about how much better they could be if they were all white meats that have hardly any cholesterol. I was glad that I did, because I have never had an issue with cholesterol.

The final aspect of my healthy meal plans was to make sure that I only drank water with them. The reason I did this is because a nutritionist once told me that I don't want to be drinking my calories. I have also always heard that water is great at flushing out your system and keeping you healthy. I started to notice an immediate impact when I began to drink water at meals. I did not get that stuffed feeling that I would get with soda, or that jittery feeling I had when I drank coffee.

I truly believe that my healthy meal plans are a big part of the reason that I am as healthy as I am today. I have made it a point to follow these plans to the degree that I don't even need to think about what I am eating these days. It has become second nature to me, and has helped make me feel a lot better.