Don't skip meals because you may be tempted to overeat at the next meal. Your metabolism rate will drop if you eat all your calories at one time. Plan healthy meals a few days ahead so that you have the necessary ingredients, or you might eat that cold leftover pizza. Always have a snack available, such as popcorn, veggie sticks, yogurt or fruit trays. If you don't, the alternative could be a few too many low-fat cookies, which contain quite a few calories.
Many diets eliminate food groups.
Select six to 11 servings from the bread, cereal, rice and pasta group, two to four servings of fruit and three to five servings of vegetables. Go for two to three daily servings of moderate amounts of low-fat foods from the milk and cheese group and choose two to three servings from the meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs and nuts group. If you choose not to eat animal products, be sure to obtain iron, zinc, vitamin B12 and calcium from other sources. Instead of featuring meat as the main attraction on your plate, serve smaller portions and add a lot of veggies, grains and fruits to the menu. Fats, oils and sugars fill in the smallest tip of the food pyramid, to be used sparingly.