Whoever said, “You are what you eat,” could not have been more right on!

Look around you and you’ll see clumps of potato chips on your neighbor’s thighs. You’ll see cupcakes on your spouse’s butt. And the beer—well, that’s on your brother’s belly. Perhaps you yourself have hips of hot fudge sundaes with whipped cream, nuts and a cherry on top!

We definitely are looking like the foods we eat, and that means many of us aren’t looking so great—and so many of us aren’t feeling so great either. We’re overweight or obese, diabetic, fatigued, have high blood pressure and cholesterol, and we can’t even climb a flight of stairs without having to catch our breath.

How can we feel better? Lose weight? And become healthier? By making smarter choices about what we put into our mouth.

Here are some guidelines for what foods to eat to promote weight loss and maintain good health:

Including a rainbow of different colors on your plate each day provides you with the foundation of good health. Eat lots of colors like orange cantaloupe, red apples, yellow bananas, lime green kiwis, purple black raspberries, blue blueberries, dark green spinach and kale, yellow and red peppers, orange carrots, red radishes. Vegetables have few calories so you can eat to your heart’s content—but use a salad dressing sparingly since the calories in many dressings will add up, or find a low-fat, low calorie dressing. Avoid sweet peas, corn and potatoes while you’re working on your weight loss. Having these starches every once in a while is fine, just don’t make it a habit until after you reach your goal weight.
Whole grains provide much-needed fiber to keep your bowels running efficiently. Buy the densest, most whole grain bread you can find. When you drop it on your foot, it should hurt! Wild or brown rice (not white), slow-cooked oatmeal (not minute-cooked), amaranth and quinoa from the South American fields, and whole grain pasta (not white) are excellent choices for grains.
Lean meats should be included in a well-balanced diet. Fish and poultry (turkey and chicken—not duck) are the best choices. Eggs, low-fat cheeses and milk, legumes (like kidney beans, lentils and black beans) and soy products like tofu are also excellent sources of protein. Avoid processed lunch meats and high fat red meats (beef, lamb, pork).
Don’t forget the nuts and seeds! Walnuts, almonds, cashews, sunflower seeds, flax seeds give us essential fats and roughage. Eat them sparingly—a handful of nuts can have as much as 200 calories—and that’s a lot for so little.
Avoid fats like lard (used in a lot of Mexican foods), butter, margarine and other shortenings. Instead, use spices to flavor your veggies. If you must sauté your veggies, use olive, sesame, safflower or sunflower oils—however, steaming your vegetables is the best way to cook them—or better yet, eat them raw.
Refined sugar foods and processed foods and deep fried foods--the mainstays of a typical diet these days—should be avoided like the plague. These are the foods we wear on our bodies—the potato chips, the ice cream, the cupcakes, the beer and other alcoholic beverages, the French fries and fried chicken.

Once we start making smarter food choices, we will see it in the mirror. We’ll look younger, more vibrant, thinner, and even better—we’ll feel so much better. Wouldn’t you agree that you are what you eat and it shows!

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Ghislaine Mahler and Jane Wilcox, professional health and wellness coaches and consultants, have been working successfully with thousands of people to improve their health, lose weight and keep it off naturally, without the use of diets, harmful drugs or surgery. For further information please visit http://www.iamfitnotfat.com