What to Eat to Stay Slim

Staying slim isn't only about fitting into a pair of jeans. More important, a healthy weight minimizes your risk of conditions such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, gall bladder disease, sleep apnea, heart disease and even certain forms of cancer. In addition to an active lifestyle, you can adopt healthy eating habits to help maintain your healthy weight.

Determine Your Caloric Needs

• A healthy weight doesn't come easily to everyone... especially with super-sized meals waiting at convenient drive-thrus and candy bars lurking in every checkout lane. But with some positive lifestyle changes, you can maintain a healthy weight.

  First, determine exactly what a healthy weight is for you. Body Mass Index (BMI) isn't an exact science, as it doesn't account for muscle mass, but a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 is considered normal. You can use an online calculator to determine your current BMI. Your doctor can also help you determine a healthy weight for your age, sex and body frame.

  Once you've verified that your current weight is healthy, you can determine your caloric needs. Enter your age, height, weight and sex into an online calorie calculator to estimate how many calories you should consume to maintain your current weight.

  You don't need to count every calorie you eat for the rest of your life. That's not a reasonable or sustainable practice. But consider keeping a food journal for three to five days--a short stint of marking down the calories you eat can shed light on your eating habits. Once you have a handle on your eating habits, you can put the food journal aside and remain aware of what you're eating.

Healthy Food Choices

• To stay slim, choose a variety of foods that are dense in nutrients and promote health.

  Fruits and vegetables should make up a large part of your diet. Different color categories of produce tend to be rich in different nutrients, so think of the rainbow when selecting fruits and vegetables---choose red, orange, yellow/white, blue/purple and green items to ensure you're supplying yourself with an assortment of vitamins and minerals.

  When it comes to protein, go lean. Choose poultry, fish and leaner cuts of meat more often than red or fattier cuts of meat. Eggs are also a good source of protein, as are beans and nuts.

  Whether it's oatmeal for your breakfast, whole-wheat bread for your sandwich, barley in your soup, or brown rice with your dinner, whole grains are a healthful and energy-promoting food. Don't be fooled by confusing packaging claims such as "made with whole wheat" or "multi-grain." These claims don't necessarily indicate that a product is whole grain. Instead, look for the yellow Whole Grains Council seal or check the ingredient list; a whole grain should be one of the first ingredients.

Portion Control

• So what foods are off limits? Simply put: None. Food isn't the enemy. In fact, food is meant to be savored and enjoyed. If you're craving double chocolate fudge ice cream, go ahead and have some. But have one scoop instead of a huge bowl full. And maybe lay off the hot fudge and whipped cream.

  Your body needs nutrients for health and energy, so it's important to first choose health-promoting foods. But, if you're still within your daily calorie range, it's okay to splurge on a treat from time to time. The trick is portion control.

  Everything you eat---from the healthiest of foods to occasional treats---needs to be in reasonable portions. Over the years, our concept of portion size has gotten out of whack. Many prepackaged items may appear to be a single serving, but when you check the label, you may learn they're not. When you don't have a nutrition label handy, some visual clues can help you with portion size: A serving of produce is about the size of your fist, a serving of protein is roughly the size of a deck of cards, a tennis ball is the size of a 1/2 cup of ice cream, and the tip of your thumb is a serving size of peanut butter.