What is a healthy option?

 What are healthy options for weight loss?

On a recent trip to Las Vegas, I kept seeing signs for healthy options one morning returning from breakfast, in the hotel casino shop there was one with a big sign saying 'healthy options' so it got me thinking what are healthy options when it comes to food and weight loss?

This particular fridge was filled with sandwiches now in the USA, a sandwich isn't just 2 slices of bread and a filling! We have been out the US many times before and generally the food is fast, loaded with calories and greasy. Of course there are lots of other options the majority heavily calorie loaded and definitely not what I would call healthy. This particular holiday, I'd watched what I was eating in particular as I've had a bit of a dicky stomach and aware certain foods that flared up for me such as bread and pasta. So taking into account the foods that flare my stomach would this have been a healthy option? The healthy option sandwich  wouldn’t have been particularly gut friendly.

Back to the fridge with the healthy options of the sandwiches they were heavily calorie loaded. Were they nutritious? Some of them may have had salad or good protein options. We need to understand nutrition to understand what a healthy option could be, just because it has a title of healthy option doesn’t necessarily make it one. Any one that has been to to the USA or knows much about it knows that the food there is generally very high in calories and finding anything otherwise can be hard at times especially in touristy areas. 

However I did notice while in Vegas there were better range of options to cater for everybody. So this was from protein pancakes in IHOP's now again you've got to also consider this, they had extra protein in them, they were also made with oat flour the reason I had them were because they contained added protein they were made with oats and cheeses (ricotta) and berries. Now if I had had the full portion, it was 800 cal, however, I only had half a portion more than enough for me and I was more than full afterwards. In every restaurant we ate there was some different options which hasn't been before whether these have been low calorie options, less fatty options or more nutritious options than just heavily calorie loaded which is nice to see because even though some of these were still quite high in calories, you can see that there is a change happening that we have hopefully crossed over and are now as public more aware of what it is that we are eating

So what are healthy options, It is being educated on what is a healthy option.

A healthy option could be different for everybody. If you eat a particular food that changes your bowel habits gives you a pain, makes you feel sluggish or tired, regardless of what that food is, it's not healthy option so first and foremost, it's knowing how to feed your own body and how it makes you feel. Secondly to look at the nutrition value of it. This is where we consider protein, carbohydrates and fats. Then  consider micronutrients your body needs all of these things to function, your diet should include all of these things, but for each individual person this might look differently. Some people might do better on a low carbohydrate diet, some people on a high fat diet or low-fat diet and it can be confusing. How do you know what's right for you, and the only way to truly know is to track what you're eating what's happening with your body afterwards how it makes you feel and including weight loss.

Healthy options should include a range of wholesome foods, although this is not to say any food  is off-limits because once you class a food off-limits what's the first thing that you do but crave it.. 

The photo at the bottom is what many may call a healthy option, however would you still think it was healthy if I told you it had 1200 calories in that one bowl, one meal? Yes I did eat it and polished it off with a cheesecake we were on holiday after all. 

All food can be eaten but some foods have more nutrients than others.