There’s no cure-all for losing fat, but eating the right foods can get us going on a sustainable path towards better health and a fitter body.
No need to go crazy and put yourself on an extreme diet — going on a diet can be as easy as incorporating the right foods into your meals, eating less of the bad stuff, and finding a balance between enjoying yourself and feeling good about your body. That being said, the bottom line of losing weight is eating a calorie deficit, which can theoretically be accomplished with any diet. People soon find, though, that eating the right foods makes this so much easier, as healthy fats, protein, and nutrient-packed foods can help us feel more satiated and less likely to indulge in high-calorie snacks throughout the day. Without further ado, here are three of my favorite foods that will help you along the weight loss journey. 1. Chicken There’s a reason that you always hear about chicken breast when it comes to diets and weight loss. Chicken is a great source of protein, and chicken breast in particular offers you that protein without the extra fat and calories of other cuts of meat. Plus, the amino acids and lean protein in the meat satiate you and offer your body a prolonged fuel source. Obviously, eating fried chicken is not the solution here, as the additional fat and calories will add up pretty quickly, not to mention the unhealthy oils that fried foods are often cooked up in. 2. Broccoli You can’t go wrong with broccoli. It packs a high amount of fiber, is low carb, and offers you a number of nutrients your body needs to function well. Its high calcium content and relatively low calorie-to-nutrient ratio means that broccoli helps fill you up without breaking your diet. Just taking a look at some of the nutrition stats is astounding. For 1 cup of broccoli, you get only 30 calories, 6 grams of carbs, and 2.5 grams of protein, not to mention high amounts of vitamin C and vitamin K. 3. Nuts Nuts are another food that is low carb, high fat and offers a healthy amount of protein for your body. This is especially true for almonds and cashews, which have more good fat than potentially unhealthy saturated fats, and also give you plenty of protein, which helps your body stay full longer. This keeps you from overeating throughout the day. Plus, in my humble opinion, nuts taste pretty great. I like mixing cashews in with my Greek yogurt in the morning, or even as a snack when I get hungry at random times in the day. Conclusion There are many other foods that will help you along the fat-loss journey, and the list is definitely not limited to these three types. One thing to remember: Balance is key. Don’t make your life a living hell by depriving yourself of things that you enjoy, but don’t completely fall off the wagon either. There are lots of food out there. Start eating more of the good ones, and you’ll start to see changes over time. We Already Know the Best Diet for Humans Don’t worry: It doesn’t involve counting calories or nutrient scapegoatsheated.medium.com If you haven't checked out Medium for more of my stories, click here.
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Batman can't forget his first childhood crush In a recent interview, actor/superstar Robert Pattinson gushed about his first love, and how, after all these years, he still thinks about her. Of course, his first love wasn’t in high school or at summer camp: It was a character from a video game.
Pattinson told Gamestop that his first love was Aeris from Final Fantasy VII, a massively popular video game that captured generations of fans in the 90s (including me. I probably played the game for an embarrassing number of hours in my middle school years). Robert Pattinson Discusses Final Fantasy 7 Love TriangleThe Batman actor Robert Pattinson has further discussed his love of Final Fantasy VII, and specifically the two…www.gamespot.com He claims that his love was torn between Aeris and Tifa, two of the heroines in the epic story that came to define an era of gaming for young kids around the world. When Aeris dies in Final Fantasy VII, Pattinson was understandably devasted, as we all were when our young minds digested the loss of such a beloved character. But even more interesting is how such a storied video game affects the young mind of a boy, and what it says about fantasy and the world as a whole. The female characters in Final Fantasy VII are understandably problematic in the modern world, where such oversexed and romanticized female tropes have been identified as unrealistic elements of male fantasy. Is the first love of a man necessarily a fantasy? And are these fantasies analogues to the romance novels that have become tropes in the world of female fantasies? It’s a necessary conversation, and one that might reap benefits in understanding more about what machinations lie at the heart of love and desire. The Role of Fantasy In Life It’s appropriate that a game called Final Fantasy VII would be the object of a young man’s fantasies. The game is all about the vividness of imagination, centering on a complex world of fantastical characters, creatures, and adventures. Take one look at modern culture, from immensely popular books to blockbuster movie franchises, and you’ll see the marketability, and persistence, of fantasy in human life. It’s no wonder that Pattinson, an actor, would have a strong relationship with the fantasy elements of his youth, where he first learned to project his self onto fictional characters and stories. But how does this figure into real love? Can fantasy desires play a healthy role in the development of real love and authentic relationships with other people? Fantasy and Love Obviously, love and fantasy are often so intertwined in our minds that we don’t realize where one ends and the other begins. Sometimes I wonder if the whole thing starts as a fantasy, especially in those early stages when we don’t really know a person, and our mind fills the gaps with all sorts of imaginative personality details and stories. Fantasy can be a big part of love addiction, facilitating obsession with a person through the fantasy about what the relationship could be. But what’s the line, when that attachment to a fantasy narrative gets in the way of establishing a real, authentic relationship? If you’re ignoring parts of a person in service of fantasy narrative, it’s possible you’re getting yourself into trouble. If thoughts of them being “the one” or some sort of fated lover trump the actual process of getting to know them, then fantasy might play too big a role in your love attachment style. Fantasy, in small doses, can be fun and interesting in a relationship. Learning to temper that fantasy with realistic expectations and earned trust takes time, and a certain amount of discipline. The New York Times has a great article on the balance between fantasy and real life, especially when it comes to relationships. The link is below: The Good and Bad of Indulging in Fantasy and Daydreaming (Published 1996)Long Island Q&A: Dr. Ethel S. Person This is a digitized version of an article from The Times's print archive, before…www.nytimes.com But if you, like Robert Pattinson, still can’t let go of that fantasy lover, don’t be ashamed. We all have permission to dream a little. The imaginative life, after all, is integral to creativity, and you can use it to fuel your work, and move towards goals you wouldn’t have thought of otherwise. If you haven't checked out Medium for more of my stories, click here. There aren’t many subjects that have been as talked about and analyzed as love. And since it is such a ripe subject, inevitably us writers want to make lists that summarize pertinent information to love. We put together rules, good practices, and dos and don’ts for each other to help each other through the confusion and uncertainty of relationships. Lists, of course, can never cover everything there is to know about relationships, love or dating. What they can do is help us make intentions about specific things we want in relationships and then follow through on them. That’s why as tired and overdone listicles are, they are still useful. Without further ado, here are five rules we should follow to help build and maintain lasting love in our relationships. 1. Give Your Partner The Benefit of the Doubt Good relationships are built on the underlying assumption that the other partner has inherent quality and has our best interests at heart. If we believe that their core selves are, without a doubt, naturally good and looking our best interests, we can deal with any problems that come up. Conflicts start to really destroy relationships when we lose our basic faith in that other person. If we’re not giving them the benefit of the doubt in every situation, then we might not actually see their inherent quality anymore. Find someone that you care about beyond the superficial nonsense and conflicts won’t be such a drag on the relationship. 2. Be The Best You Can For Each Other Don’t stop trying to grow and change when it comes to being in a relationships. It’s when we stop trying to improve and become complacent that things can go downhill. When people become stagnant in their lives, this can also spread to the relationship. If you’re not continuing to put your best foot forward, you may have let laziness and apathy seep into your love life. It is possible to be vulnerable while also simultaneously trying to improve yourself, improving on unwanted behavior and working through issues that get between you and the other person. 3. Don’t Act Like You Own Your Partner Ownership and possessiveness is always a huge issue when it comes to relationships. Oftentimes one person in the relationship starts to be controlling of the other person, stopping them from doing certain things or seeing certain people. Although there is a degree of compromise in relationships, acting like you own and possess your partner is a sure recipe for disaster. In relationships, sometimes you have to step back and let your partner just be themselves, doing our best to curb any jealous or possessive feelings that might be developing inside us. Treading the line of accountability and control is the key here. 4. Understand Their Point of View Supporting your partner in their point of view can be extremely difficult during an argument. Even though it's hard, part of being with someone is practicing seeing things their way, even if you disagree with them. This allows you to have a discussion instead of a shouting match, seeing things from all angles and making the best decision you can about what to do going forward. This goes back to the “benefit of the doubt” rule, which makes seeing things from their point of view easier. 5. Follow Through On Your Promises Even when it comes to the little things, following through on your promises is a sign of mature and responsible behavior. That also means you don’t make promises you can’t keep, and you don’t make your partner believe that you can do things you’re not capable of. Breaking a promise can do lots of damage to a relationship. That’s why making a promise to your partner means you follow through. Every. Time. Follow these five rules, and you will be well on your way to finding lasting love in your life. Of course, there is no such thing as perfection, so even if you come up short, don’t get yourself down. We aim for our ideals, and strive to be better; for ourselves, and for each other. |
Wesley OwensI write about love, life, and all the things in between. Archives
April 2022
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