The first thing to look at is energy requirements. How many calories do you need to eat each day. From there you can lower or increase your intake depending on whether you need to gain or loose weight. Please remember that all of the methods used to determine your caloric needs are based on statistics and averages. You will need to play with them to find your individual needs. Basically it is a balance of input and output. If you eat more than you need you gain weight. You can reduce calories or increase exercise to loose weight. Most studies show a combination of both works the best. A quick estimate of the caloric needs is to multiply your weight in pounds by 16. For example someone who weighs 120 pounds would need roughly 1920 calories a day to maintain body weight.
Basically carbohydrates come in a two forms. Complex carbohydrates which include fruits, vegetables and grains and simple carbohydrates which include sugar, honey, maple syrup and corn syrup. They also come as unrefined for example whole grains and fruit or highly refined like white flour. The simple answer is strive to eat more complex unrefined carbohydrates and save the simple highly refined ones for a treat. No one expects you to give up birthday cake.
Fat is not bad for you. It does not need to be avoided like the plague. In fact fat is so important that I devoted an entire article to it.To read my article on fat http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/diet... One important thing is to avoid trans-fatty acids found in partially hydrogenated fat, to find out where trans fatty acids are lurking go to the following web site. http://onhealth.com/ch1/in-depth/item/it... Or, to read the full story on trans fatty acids see http://onhealth.com/ch1/columnist/item,5... The next thing to know is to use Canola and Olive as your main oils. This helps ensure adequate essential fatty acids intake. The last way to help ensure essential fatty acid intake is to eat fish 2-3 times a week or take a fish oil supplement.
Protein has been grabbing headlines lately. The debate continues on whether a high carbohydrate or high protein diet is best. It really depends on you and what makes you feel best. If you have been avoiding meat and dairy you might be falling short of your daily protein requirements. A simple way to find out how much protein you need is to divide your weight in pounds in half. So if you weigh 120 pounds you need 60 grams of protein each day. The Food Guide Pyramid recommends 2-3 servings of protein rich foods each day (a serving of protein rich foods is 3 ounces meat, 1 cup of beans, 1 egg, 4 ounces of tofu, or 1 tablespoon of nuts).
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