Eat well to lose weight, gain weight or stay slim

Eating well isn't a case of eating caviar and kobe beef everyday. How do you know if you eat well? Take out a sheet of paper, and answer the following 5 questions honestly. It won't give you an exact solution to your nutrition, but it'll allow you to identify which areas are the ones you should work on improving first for the greatest effect.

1.What do you eat?

This is the obvious one. Do you eat a lot of deep fried food, fast food or take out? Do you get your 5-a-day of fresh fruit and veg? Do you eat 'treats' such as biscuits, cakes, milk chocolate, sweets/candy several days of the week. Do you eat a lot of ready meals, microwave dinners, or instant (just add hot water) foods? Do you choose lean or fatty meats? Do you trim the fat/skin off, or leave it on? Do you eat a lot of refined carbohydrates, such as bread, pasta or white rice? Do you drink plenty of water? The key thing here is to identify the foods you eat several times per week.

2.When do you eat?

Do you eat breakfast? Do you regularly skip meals? Do you frequently allow 6 hours or more to go by without eating, and then eat until you feel stuffed?
We've all heard that you should never eat after 'X' in the evening. The time seems to change every few months, depending on what fad diet is popular. A good guideline is to never eat a large meal within 2 hours of going to bed; make it fit your own lifestyle. 

3.How do you eat?

This isn't a case of knife & fork or chopsticks! Eating infront of TV leads to more calories being consumed due to delaying the onset of satiety. the brain body connection is important in experiencing the colour, shape texture and flavour. Without experiencing the meal, it's unlikely we will be satisfied by it. 
Example - in the cinema, you can taste the popcorn until the movie captures your attention. After that, the next time your brain is engaged by the popcorn is when your hand reaches the bottom of the container. 

4.Why do you eat

Serotonin levels are linked to blood sugar levels, in that when blood sugar rises, so does serotonin. High GI foods that give the quick sugar spike will boost mood in the very short term, but lead to a double dip when both blood sugar and mood drop, causing us to reach for more. 
Example - any sugary sweet/candy. Toasted white bread, when was the last time you had a single slice? 

5.Who do you eat with? 

There's a significant amount of research that tells us that birds of a feather flock together; we will tend towards the norm for our peer group. If our friends are mostly overweight, chances are we will be too. 
There's a school of thought that we are the average of our 5 closest friends, in terms body composition and physical health. Next time you're out with friends, thats something to think about..

Is That It?

There's more to eating well than just these 5 questions of course, as the different demands of our lives will place different demands on our nutrition (I hate the word diet).  Those looking to increase weight will have different requirements from those trying to lose it. I'll go into more detail on those in other posts, and link back to them from here.