Drink Milk Your mother was right. The calcium and protein in milk is fundamental to your diet, easy to eat, and makes eating breads and veggies more interesting.
Eat Breakfast I used to laugh at this one, thinking that if I skipped a meal before I was really hungry, it would help me keep my weight down. But, your body is going to demand a certain number of calories over the course of the day. If you put it off until dinner, you'll find yourself inhaling any kind of junk food you can get your hands on around 4pm, buying girl scout cookies from the annoying guy in the Accounting Department, or binging at dinner. Simple, quick breakfasts like a bagel, milk and glass of OJ take almost no time, keep you powered throughout the day, and most of all enable you to avoid binging at night.
Keep Good Food Around Trying to eat right is hard enough! If you have to go looking for healthy foods its even harder. Keep good food available and you are much more likely to eat it. Having it accessible also helps you eat breakfast and drink milk. Bagels, bananas, oranges or my personal favorite--Power Bars.
A Little Lean Meat There's about a jillion stats out there about how too much protein is wasteful (not to mention expensive) and will make you hair turn green, but the simple fact is that you just don't need all that much. About 6 oz. of low-fat, lean meat will cover your protein needs for the day, in conjunction with the other good foods that you are eating.
Hop on the Bran Wagon Bran rocks! It cleans you out, helps prevent cancer, and lots of other scientific stuff that just my having heard of should impress you. Eat it in muffins, breads, or spinkle it on salads. Use extreme caution when mixing bran muffins with coffee.
Put the Food in Your Mouth Duh! Jeez, why is everyone so serious?
Eat Low-Fat Foods Its pretty simple really: if the amount of calories that go in hole 1 are more than what come out hole 2, you get fat. Fat in moderation is needed for your diet, but chances are if you are normal and not some kind of diet nazi you will get enough fat while eating your salads and veggies and carbos. So, don't go looking for fatty foods. Also, if you are careful about the fat you normally eat, you can allow yourself treats.
Carbo Load The fuel used by your muscles for high performance is called glycogen, which is a byproduct of carbos that is stored in your muscles. So, if you want your muscles to perform, you need to give them fuel. There's actually more to it than this, but this simple version is pretty much accurate.
Rest Days This is another one I used to never believe. I thought a day off was a slack day. But, your muscles need to reabsorb carbos so they are capable of performance. If you constantly empty them and don't let them fill, you won't perform well. So, before big events and right after them, rest.
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