Why Spring and Summer Is The Perfect Time To Start a Diet

June 17, 2011 by Weight Loss Tips
Filed under Weight Loss Tips

I really don’t know many people that like to “diet”.

Whether they are looking to lose weight, lower their cholesterol levels, help control their high blood pressure or just want to get healthier, dieting can be expensive and inconvenient.

For me it’s more about the expense than anything else. We’re on a very tight budget after both my husband and I had lost our jobs. Although he has since found a temporary job ( I still haven’t) his wage is less than half than it was before so while I would love to buy the healthiest food possible we just can’t afford it. If I can spend $1.00 on a loaf of French bread and that fills both of us up for the evening, then that would be our dinner. Yes, high in calories and simple carbs – but affordable.

Then along comes spring & summer.
During the end of spring and all during summer fruits and veggies are more plentiful and the prices are much lower.
Sure you have to spend a bit of time checking the newspaper to see who has the best deals on your favorite fruits and no I don’t want to drive to several different stores in one day to try and get the best deals ( remember that gas isn’t cheap either) so with my trusty newspaper ads lined up I’ll plan meals and snacks depending on what is a good deal at the time.

Right now berries are getting lower in price and grapes are bouncing around a bit so when I see the best deals on berries or grapes I’ll load up. I know what you are thinking – they will either go bad before we eat them or we’ll get sick of them.

However, that’s not true since berries & grapes freeze well. You can then pull them out of the freezer on a super hot day as a cold tasty treat or save them until winter ( when you normally can’t afford them) and get a but load of nutrition and taste for pennies. They are also great if you have a winter cold as the vitamins and micro-nutrients can work wonders.

Even if money is not an issue for you, just having the variety of fresh local fruits and vegetables is a big plus.
Imported food from other countries often have many more pesticides sprayed on them and they are picked well before they are ripe so their nutrition factor is way down.

Local food on the other hand has to abide by local health standards so while they may get sprayed ( unless you purchase organic food) you can wash off the pesticides – -and please always wash your fruits & veggies before eating. While it’s tempting to pop a few grapes into your mouth on the way home from the store – be sure to wash them first. Even if you purchase organic only washing is a must.

But anyway getting back to variety and diet. Most of us fail in our diets because we don’t have a variety of food and we get bored. While you may think that you are always hungry, it’s often food boredom that disguises itself as hunger.

When you have a variety of foods to choose from you don’t get bored and with fruits you can make them into smoothies, ice bars, eat them plain, add them to cereal and so much more. Your meals will always be changing. Since fruits go in and out of season, you will always be adding in new fruits and as soon as you start to tire of one you’ll find they their season is gone.

Probably one of the best reasons why spring & summer are the best times to diet is that with fruits & veggies you don’t need to count calories, fats, carbs or anything else. They are pretty much low in everything so you can eat to your hearts content.

Sure some say that corn or carrots are high in carbs. Who cares? We are not talking about processed white flour carbs but carbs from real food with real fiber. So if you want to have an ear of corn as a snack you’ll consume about 150 calories but they will be practically fat free, low in sodium, has no added sugar, you’ll take in about 4 grams of fiber, a bit of B vitamins and since corn on the cobb takes a while to eat, your mind will make your treat even more enjoyable.

Yes, the length of time that it takes you to eat a food registers in your brain and get calculated in terms of enjoyment!

So while the bounties of spring and summer are here take advantage of the low cost, lost calorie yet high in nutrition and flavor factors and eat healthy. You’ll find that you will naturally lose weight while not actually being on a “diet”.

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